Opening Round Open Championship Open Thread

I see it's the middle of the night on the west coast and past 5 a.m EDT, so ESPN is off and running. I'm trying to get a flavor of the BBC here, but no luck so far with their online radio. Wherever you are, all telecast and course observations welcomed.

Comments

[vwgolfer]

Road Hole Bunker Cam is awesome!!!! I am tripping my brains out!

[Bill S.]

Ky--as usual LOL LOL I agree....alas

[Tommy Naccarato]

FYI: They first used the Road Hole Bunker cam in 1995...

[dbh]

Ahhhh, the BBC2 stream. Hour upon hour of actual golf shots. Even the 1/2 hour wrap up show was entertaining for crying out loud. What kind of golf coverage is this?

[john]

Don't understand why GS can't get BBC in the US.

ESPN3.com offers the BBC stream. No commercials.

[old course]

80% shots on tape.....announcers talking over shots...mindless breakaways to an announcer babbling on about useless stuff....eroneous information being delivered by announcers......sorry! it wasn't a six iron like I thought but really a 4 iron! Camera's unable to follow the ball. It's amazing what is considered good television... or could it be preconceived perceptions? Please! American TV is not without it's problems, BUT! that does not make the BBC coverage good!

[Bob]

The one good thing about the ESPN coverage is that it starts at 4am, unlike year's past on TNT when it wouldn't start until 6 or 7 for the first two days.

[Lip Out]

Can somebody please explain why somebody is paying Rocco Mediate to provide commentary? The idea that he's a "personality" is a absolute myth. Was Duffy Waldorf unavailable?

[dbh]

Hey, old course, totally knock yourself out with the ESPN coverage. You probably know what Phil had for lunch today and I got to see a bunch of golfers from all corners of the globe play the Old Course...Different strokes...
What I will take exception with is your use of the apostrophe...you've really got to work on that. :)

[Tim in Hoylake]

I think the BBC wins with volume - 11 hours of commercial free coverage a day. Park the fridge by the couch and bring it on. The announcers do 2 or 4 hour stints, so after a while they will get a little punchy with their comments, and come Sunday, the biases make for some ridiculously entertaining commentary, but this may not be to everyone's taste. Must say, that today Hazel had a good wrap show - 30 minutes of entertainment indeed.

[Tim in Hoylake]

Oh yeah, and they do respect John Daly over here; and I like that.

[Tommy Naccarato]

Honestly, I'm so busy loving the golf course that I don't pay attention to the annnouncers and the coverage!

[adam Clayman]

Rab Scot, 10-14 days ago? Wow. That's cutting it close. I stick by my belief that the manicuring of Links courses, especially the Old, is a direct result of the American way of green is good golf. I have no problem with low scores, but with out the wind, the bounces off the tawny turf, it was not feeling like the Open Championship when I wrote that. Let's hope there's more wind and we some creative shotmaking, instead of this mornings stock wedges.

Press agent. If you think the Old course's 17th is suppose to have a 13 pace wide fairway, with iridescent Augusta Syndtome green fairways and rough, is not an infection from abroad, you must be either very young, and/or a coward, for calling others stupid, while being anonymous. Hell bunker shrouded in rough. Hmmm. Where is every fairway covered in rough. China? Chicken Sheit.

[Jojohn]

I agree that the BBC coverage has problems but it is the lesser evil. The US uses the feed so you get the same faulty cam work.

No commercials is huge. No essays or press injection.

I'd prefer BBC over ABC/NBC/CBS/GC 8/10 times.