The final round of the BMW championship saw Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Hideki Matsuyama and Joaquin Niemann fight to the limit on a course finally willing to accept some scores in the mid-1960s after the historically miserly first three days. It was quite fun as Sundays tend to be on tour. That is, when NBC actually deigned to show us golfers hitting golf shots. That was quite a rarity for some reason.
In a confusing display of unnecessary retention, the broadcast was chock-full of commercials, cartoons, and action-free breaks from the FedEx Playoffs. We knew we were in trouble when the first 10 or 15 minutes of the network feed was about storytelling with action on the pitch relegated to the audience’s dessert, something they would only get if they did well.
In the interest of fairness, this is basically how golf has been televised for many years. Only recently did CBS and ESPN debut coverage that explores the revolutionary idea of showing more damn golf. So there is that. But my lord. We simply cannot go back. We can not.
It was almost painful how big a step back from NBC’s efforts from the recent PGA championship. Not to think the misstep is overselling, consider Niemann, a 21-year-old Chilean with a bright future. Following Rahm by two shots and needing birdies at both # 17 and # 18 to force a playoff, the youngster lined up a long look for the first pass. For reasons beyond comprehension, this pivotal moment was featured during a Playing Through commercial with a Just For Men commercial, getting better billing and audio instead.
@GolfChannel @NBCSports @GeoffShac @HousefromDC @usopengolf the game at a critical moment from @ NBC it must end! You’re ruining golf broadcasts. Complete failure with this critical putt. Do a normal commercial and record the putt. Solve the problem for the winged foot. pic.twitter.com/7zIJsyTyFV
– Michael Callahan (@ mjcallahan7) August 31, 2020
Yikes. Nobody wants it. Except the sponsors, of course. And maybe there was a lot of inventory to check. Sometimes manufacturers have an impossible task. This doesn’t make the viewing experience any less annoying.
What’s done is done. But it can’t be blown away because NBC is the new home of the US Open in just a few weeks. They simply cannot have a repeat performance. They can’t jam what feels like three hours of commercials. human interest stories and explainers. It would be an abject disaster.
Look, obviously something happened to make things go like yesterday. If the Peacock bigwigs read this, hopefully they know it better than anyone that yesterday wasn’t up to it. Or below par in this jargon. Everything.
