Golf coverage/commentator discussion thread!! Mod note #12

Unless I'm mistaken Butch wasn't on the coverage last year? Or maybe I'm thinking of the Ryder cup. Thought he'd retired. Great to have him on.

Faldo is a very tough listen. Thoroughly unprofessional at times I feel and not funny at all.

I can see how he fits into American coverage well though.

First time we've agreed on something!

This "Live from the Masters" show is absolute rubbish. Where are the featured groups?

The Masters is a million miles behind the other majors in terms of coverage.

No red button for me sadly, I'd have thought putting the featured groups on the main channel would make more sense, with the talking heads on the red button. Especially when they have their own commentary on featured groups

I find Nick seriously annoying. Comes across smug and if he's trying to be self-deprecating/funny; is he?; not sure, either way, its not working, something muppety about him. Wouldnt be a fan of Henny either. The rest are ok. I like Radar and the old lads. Iona is ok, too, and Allison has something fresh about her, but they're not around this week. afaik

McGinley I have nothing against but would second the 'very small doses' sentiment.

Henni in an evening dress and heels demonstrating Collin Morikawa's swing. Is this really the way to get women on sports tv taken seriously?

Far too much about players who have had their day. Tiger was about 10 over and they were still showing him despite the leaders being out on the course. He was a great player but this sentimental showing of him is a bit much.

So they showed a stat that Scottie will need to remain world number 1 until 2035 and Andrew goes another 14 years. You’d have thought basic maths might have been better with coltart

Hopefully the coverage improves over the weekend. I've no interest in watching a broadcast that's essentially CNN news with a few golf shots thrown in.

Also, what's the obsession with discussing golfer's kids/whether they've recently had a kid/whether they're about to have a kid. I can't think of another sport where it's fixated upon anywhere near as much. I couldn't tell you how many kids Kevin de Bruyne or Novak Djokovic or Lewis Hamilton has, mainly because it's rightly never mentioned.

Not just golf I've listened to increasing amounts in these recent woke years in other sports on various networks drowning their broadcasts about newborn babies, engagement rings, weddings… yeah congrats and all that on your private life but I tuned in to watch the action FFS

Woke? 🤣

Henni Koyack continues to be an absolute pain to listen to. The fact that she's been promoted to a main commentator is an abomination. Feedback on social media is universally negative too from what I can see.

Did they show Brooks putting into the bunker before he made that triple? If they did I must've missed it

And that's after already showing us Bryson's interview with Sky several hours ago. Sky's coverage has definitely gone downhill in the last few years.

The thing is for PGA events Sky is just piggy backing on the signal from US broadcasters. And those have a lot of weird stuff going. Like from 1 to 4 its golf channel then for an hour or two its Peacock, then for the rest of the evening its CBS. When it goes from one to the other there are often longish breaks with hardly any live pictures. Sometimes Sky even says this out loud. Regular viewers will know this. Also we all know the US broadcasters have wicked ad schedules.

Sky then takes all that and cuts and mashes and glosses over so that it almost looks like as if it was 'their' signal and gloss over all the US interruptions. Most likely the Bryson interview is such a gloss over of either a broadcaster switch or something or other that would be even of less interest to a European audience.

You can say a lot about Sky like too expensive anyway and too much former greats coverage and yay Scotty had his second daughter and Henny and Nick and Laura and all the rest of it. But on a technical and professional level they know what they're doing. They're doing this for a long time.

Henni getting her Rodgers mixed up

Hard enough to watch today with all the rain on the camera lenses. You’d think in 2024 they’d have some technology to counteract this.

Golf keeps cutting out for me on Sky Q. Regular thing across multiple channels for the last few months but this is the most annoying it's been…

A McGinley boo boo today at Wentworth on Sky. Forgot his microphone was still on and effed about Coultard. Was funny. Murray had to apologise for him after.

So McGinley who likes to come across as whiter than white makes himself look like a right ……….. but talking about a work colleague

Paul at it again working the Presidents Cup. Tom Kim makes a 30 footer and its all very exciting, with PMcG exclaiming how much momentum has been gained. Forgetting, of course, that Scheffler has a putt from 15ft for a half. Which he makes. Momentum quelled, Paul goes radio silent. But regretably, for only a minute or so.

He has such a lack of composure in the box its astonishing. A charlatan.

He is though, as far as his commentary is concerned. Ive nothing against McGinley personally and frankly, never thought he got the credit he deserved for not only being a part of 3 consecutive Ryder Cups, but for being a part of a winning team every time. His singles win over Stewart Cink in 04 was particularly impressive, even though its the half V Jim Furyk in 02 that he is remembered for.

But being a fine player does not always translate to being a good commentator. It didnt for Monty. It doesnt for Davies. And it doesnt for Paul. Hes well able to crack out a few stats but he has no composure in the box, he gets way too excitable at times and comes across amateurish as a result. It also affects his delivery, to the point where he trips over his own words quite often. Not as badly as Faldo, but if you compare him to Murray, Radar or even Dougherty, (who I was v unsure of when he began), the difference is significant. His named colleagues are grounded, objective and professional and, frankly, more coherent as a result.

Trying to defend the above example is beneath you. He gushed it out with ridiculous prematurity and was made to look like a fool when the world number 1 stepped up and did what world number 1s do and followed him straight in. Anybody who knows how matchplay works wouldve held their tongue; Paul cant. Its endearing at times because hes so in to it, but not sustainable.