I think they were talking about the camera work and editing more than the shot itself. It's a fantastic piece of work if you look at it closely. Starting with a close up shot of the ball, slowly zooming out to show you the predicament while seamlessly transitioning to a pan of an anxious Tiger surveying the ground. Cut to sweeping shots of the beautiful scenery around and timing the pan perfectly to stop at Tiger as he readies to play the shot while bringing the flag post in view at the other end preparing the viewer to bring their full attention to the shot.
There's a lot more that goes into that piece end to end. The more you watch it, the more you tend to appreciate and marvel at the fact that it was all done live. It was probably just another round of play and day in the office for the production team, but when you shoot sports at the highest level, you better be prepared when you get that once in a career shot.
they probably only realized they were in their career shot when the ball started rolling down the slope towards the hole. You can kind of tell because the camera operator zooms in but is a little shaky until the ball slowly almosts rests before dropping in the cup. Producer A immediately cuts to Tiger yelling cheers of joy and several more cuts showing reactions and congratulations. I bet they were all just sitting there like "What just happened?".
Yeah, having a set timeline like the article’s shot where you have to kinda deliver 10 seconds in 10 seconds so that it ends with the rocket ignition was a clever use of timing that hasn’t been used since in that magnitude. I guess the OP was referring to “The best shot in TV history” rather than timed shot.
For timing, The article’s example is pinnacle. For just best shot, Tiger Wood’s 2005 shot. Best photograph shot: Earthrise from Apollo 8.
