Golf Channel has Gentle Ben Crenshaw for 'Live at the Masters'

There might still be two-and-a-half rounds left in the Shell Houston Open, but it’s not too early to start preparing for next week.

If you love the Masters, you’ll love this: Besides the TV coverage on ESPN and CBS, the Golf Channel will be all over Augusta National with “Live from the Masters” from Tuesday afternoon to Sunday night. And it’s added two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw to its analyst team. (Who will ever forget Crenshaw’s Masters’ win in 1995 following the death of his longtime mentor and teacher Harvey Penick?)

Here’s what Crenshaw had to say about joining the Golf Channel:

“When you start talking about Augusta, you can talk forever. Through its inception, it has been the place for drama and excitement, and you really never know what is going to happen there. That is a part of its mystery.

“Hopefully, I will help get into the player’s minds about the decisions that they will make on certain shots. As a player for some many years, it requires thought and patience as to how to get those thoughts across to people. What are the players thinking? Are they thinking about the breeze, the elevation change or the contours on the greens? You know, there are just a million things. Playing Augusta is different; you have so much to think about. It is not a prescribed thought process in playing a golf shot.”

“Live From the Masters,” presented in high definition for those lucky enough to get it (not at my house, of course), will deliver 35 hours of live news reports, inside analysis and features.

Sounds like a good week to take a vacation and park it on the sofa.