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Has the BBC Done Enough with Planned Coverage of the US PGA Championship

By: | Sun 30 Jul 2017


THE US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow is one of the most hotly anticapted majors of recent years, if only because Jordan Spieth has a chance to complete his career Grand Slam at the impossibly tender age of 24 and Rory McIlroy is coming back to something like his best form. On top of that, this is a course that McIlroy loves, having won twice and finished second on a further occasion. He also holds the course record.

Spieth and McIlroy going head to head for the season's final major - what a mouthwatering prospect for golf fans all around the world. It could be a classic, a confrontation on a par with that served up by Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson at Royal troon in 2016.

The tournament should, of course, have been screened on Sky Sports, but they somewhat carelessly lost the contract and it was snapped up by the BBC. That should be good news, but before you get too excited you might want to recall what Martin Slumbers, the chief executive of the R&A, had to say during The Open Championship at Birkdale. "The BBC's coverage of The Open had become somewhat tired and predictable." He went on to praise Sky for their innovative approach to covering golf.

So the BBC actually have a chance to prove Mr Slumbers wrong. A golden chance. And are they going to take it?

Judge for yourself. TV coverage will be fronted by Eilidh Barbour, but have they taken the opportunity to ask the Sam Torrance to sit behind the microphone? Have they attempted to secure the services of Colin Montgomerie? You know the answer to both those questions already, don't you? The man behind the microphone will be their 86-year-old prodigy Peter Alliss. Seriously! Alongside him will be Ken Brown, so there will at least be some light relief from a man who is still in touch with golf in the 21st century.

And are they providing endless hours of coverage? Of course they are not. On Thursday, live coverage begins on BBC2 at 11.20pm, on Friday it starts at 11.05pm, on Saturday it all kicks off at 10.30pm and final-round coverage begins on BBC2 at 10pm, finishing three hours later. They will tell you that red-button coverage begins at 6pm on the first two days and at 7pm during the final two rounds, but it hardly represents commitment, does it?

There will also be coverage on BBC Radio 5 Live and Sports Extra, fronted by the superb Iain Carter.

"We are delighted to be able to offer golf fans free–to–air TV coverage of the US PGA Championship," said BBC Sport director Barbara Slater.“It brings together the best players in the world over four exciting days of action.” Yes it does, but we won't be seeing much of that action, will we, unless we can be bothered to press red buttons.

And will somebody please explain why Carter is not given the chance to strut his stuff on TV? This is a man who follows golf and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the sport. He is also a first-class commentator. You can also follow the action online, with additional live coverage being shown across Twitter in the UK and Ireland.

There could be further interesting news on the way too. BT Sport are making serious moves to snatch The Masters from Sky Sports. All this at a time when the satellite broadcaster has just launched a dedicated golf channel. Whoops!


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What do you think? post your thoughts and feedback on the Golfshake Forum: https://forum.golfshake.com/


Tags: us pga Sky Sports BBC



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