Many of today's golf heroes -- including Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus -- came from the NCAA ranks and have helped shape the age-old game into one of the world's most popular sports.

Past champions of the event include names that are consistently strewn across PGA Tour leaderboards: Woods, Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard, to name a few. With the major networks clamoring for professional and amateur events, it's surprising that the Division I Men's Golf Championships goes uncovered on television -- even on a delayed basis.

With some of the world's best amateur talent to offer, the tournament would seem to have a strong selling point to the networks and corporate sponsors: See tomorrow's professionals today.

"The committee sees this as a top priority," said John Cochrane, assistant director of championships at the NCAA and staff liaison to the committee. "The feeling is that the championship offers a unique brand of golf with some high-quality competition."

Nonetheless, the event goes without television coverage, largely because of the high costs associated with producing a golf tournament for the small screen.

The labor involved in setting up and operating the equipment also is significant, considering that some holes are more than 500 yards, and covering four holes would be around 1,200 yards. Unlike at indoor events, power is not always readily available on the course.

Another major fee involved is the purchasing of broadcast time on a network. Because the Division I Men's Golf Championships is not part of either the current CBS or ESPN contracts, the NCAA would need to secure funding for the air time, in addition to production costs.

The geographic size of the event -- more than anything -- is what makes golf so expensive to cover. The necessary adjustments to make the event presentable on television come with a hefty price tag.

For example, volleyball is generally an easy event to cover from a television standpoint. The cables and wiring are easily set for television coverage because the size of the venue is much smaller.

The Division I Women's Golf Championships has enjoyed coverage in the past, but because its sponsor, State Farm Insurance, decided to drop funding for the event, the championships will not be televised this year.

There is interest, however, from groups looking to produce and sell the men's event. Rinebold had calls from two television production companies that proposed airing the third and fourth rounds of the championship.

"Both groups saw the attraction and value in this championship," Rinebold said. "However, neither group could elicit sponsorship to underwrite the production costs involved, which is what stopped it from moving forward."

"The team race is really the focus of college golf," said Oklahoma State University coach Mike Holder. "This is something that could be very exciting because team races can have dramatic shifts over one day of the tournament. If we could figure out a way to make that easier to understand, it would help the general fan."

"It's disappointing and frustrating to us that the tournament is not on television," Livingstone said. "We feel like people are missing some phenomenal golf and that our student-athletes deserve the coverage. There are many angles to college golf that would make for good television."

"It was amazing, high-level golf," Livingstone said. "Unfortunately, only 1,000 people were there to see it."

The difference with Division I men's golf is that the championship has no guarantee for coverage from ESPN or CBS.

"We have 19 championships currently in the ESPN contract and four in the CBS agreement," Rinebold said. "The discussions surrounding those championships involve air times and production operations. For those outside the current ESPN and CBS contracts, the discussions are about whether coverage on any network can be secured."

Cost factors aside, the tournament consistently offers some of the best amateur competition in the world. For example, last year's tournament included Charles Howell (Oklahoma State), Luke Donald (Northwestern University), and Bryce Molder and Matt Kuchar (Georgia Tech), players who have competed in several professional major tournaments this year.

"The caliber of student-athlete is very high," Cochrane said. "The players in our tournament will be the top players on the PGA Tour in a few years."

From a coaching prospective, television coverage would not change the sport that much.

"I think it would be nice to have it, mostly for the student-athletes who have dedicated themselves to the sport," said Holder, who has led Oklahoma State to seven national championships, including last year's. "As a coach, it really wouldn't change what we do very much. It would be a great thing for the student-athletes, though."

With this tournament, the bottom line seems to be the bottom line. Without monetary support, the championship will not be televised.