At approximately 6:45 p.m. on Saturday, a raucous "WHOOOOOOO!" erupted from the depths of my basement and shook the house.

It wasn't because Tiger, or Phil, or Vijay had made some spectacular shot.

It was because Jim Nantz stunned golf fans with the news that - I hope you are sitting down for this - the USA Network would carry live coverage of the rain delayed third round conclusion at 8 a.m. on Sunday.

"Holy mother of God," I muttered to myself. "I think the starched shirts on Magnolia lane just hyper-spaced into the 21st century."

What would normally be a "duh, of course" move by any other major sport that televises its championship to a worldwide audience, this was big stuff for Augusta National.

Why, it was only last year that rain forced a similar Sunday jumble with tee-times and re-starts. Then, Tiger Woods began an assault on Augusta not seen since Sherman ripped through Atlanta.

Seven straight birdies to tie a Masters record and rocket him up the leader board. It was truly incredible.

Well, sort of. We all just wish we had actually SEEN IT!

I remember me and everybody else in the clubhouse at the Pete Dye Course in Myrtle Beach straining to get updates and find out what's going on any way we could. All this from people telling us on a cell phone sitting home in front of their computer, or by watching dry, non-highlight coverage on the golf channel and ESPN.

Hell, we might as well have all been gathered around a giant 300 pound Victrola radio listening to Red Barber deliver the play by play.

How come the Masters didn't allow USA or CBS or the Golf Channel or ESPN9 to carry the Sunday morning re-start live last year? Who knows? Ask the club.

Oh wait. Don't bother. I know the answer. "Uh suhr, that thare's a club mattah. And uh we prefuh to keep that prahvate."

I tried to get the scoop last year on that ultimate TV gaffe, and all I got was a bunch of half-sensical jive about "rights fees" and "broadcast windows" and other timid guesses by various TV and golf insiders.

Well, thankfully, somebody else with more power got Hootie's ear, and delivered the message at full decibel.

WE WANT TO SEE EVERY MINUTE OF MASTERS COVERAGE POSSIBLE! HELLO?! IS ANYBODY LISTENING!?

I remember how I was seething then, and I was seething again all day on Saturday. The rain trough that swept across the entire east coast, left me damp and housebound here in D.C. and also knocked out the Masters to boot.

I was grumpy. Colin Montgomerie grumpy. Just ask my wife.

Making me even more hot under my Ashworth collar, was that the Wise Old Green Jackets refused to move up the tee-times, even though you didn't have to be Willard Scott to see that Saturday was going to be a soaker.

They let perfectly playable morning weather just sit there and rot until 10:40 a.m. when Jim Furyk led off the field as a single.

"Ten-f'ing-forty," I was muttering to myself at 5:05 p.m. in the East, still waiting for live golf shots to grace my HDTV. "Here we go again," I thought. "It's happening all over. It's 2006! How can this be?"

I was stunned.

Then, like a miracle, ol' Nantzie dropped the mother of all "oh-by-the-way's" on our heads. Indeed, USA Network would carry the rest of the third round.

"WHOOOOOOO!!!!"

Mind you, not a single other publication, news organization, TV critic, or other media outlet had ever mentioned this possibility going into this year's tournament. So I'm going to have to guess, that Hootie and the boys just figured it out on the fly sometime Saturday.

How nice of them.

It's pretty funny how hip to the times they are when it comes to trampoline-faced super-drivers. And rocket-ship two-piece missiles that come in 3-pack sleeves. All the things that are threatening to make their course a pitch-and-putt.

They get that.

I guess they just don't get how much golf fans live and die with this week on the golf calendar.

It's not an exaggeration to say that if you didn't let me watch another Masters again in my life, that the thought of slitting my wrists would be somewhere in my brain. I could easily round up a dozen or so of my fellow golfing fanatics and say: "OK, fellas. Bring your Foot Joy's and a 12 ounce cup, I'll bring the Kool-Aide. Time for checkout!"

I know it's not a matter of life or death being able to watch all four rounds of the Masters.

It's more important than that.

Imagine this scenario. The World Series between the Yankees and Dodgers gets rained out in Game 3 around the 4th inning. They'll play two the next day. But they'll finish up the 3rd game in the morning. MLB then says that even though it won't be on TV, "don't worry, we'll show you highlights."

How would that fly?

Thankfully, that Sunday conclusion of Round 3 on Saturday was the sweetest of golf double-headers ever! Like "Breakfast at Wimbledon" - only 100 times better.

Next year, if they put a camera on the putting green in January, just so we can log in to a Web site and watch the grass slowly turn green - I'm there.

Memo to Hootie: there is no such thing as too much coverage of the greatest golf tournament on Earth.