Classic TV's 2015 Open Championship Shot Tracking...

Reveals that ESPN showed many more shots during Monday's final round from St Andrews than last year at Hoylake.

From their write-up, which includes links to the breakdowns at the year's other majors.

ESPN showed 358 shots during this period which worked out to 1.23 strokes per minute - a sizable increase over the ESPN shot rate of 1.01 from the 2014 Open Championship.

This was also a higher shot rate than I tracked for CBS from the 2015 Masters and Fox from the 2015 US Open, but trailed the rate that NBC showed during the 2015 Players. The Masters post contains links to the shot charts I did for the 2014 majors.

As WatchESPN was blocked here in the UK, I wasn't able to see much of the Road hole coverage or other digital feeds. Anyone watch and any thoughts?

Comments

[RM]

It would have been nice to watch players actually play The Road Hole, rather than drive in to the 2nd fairway, hit long iron short of green, and then (mostly) fail to get up and down.

[Bogey]

I am not a big ESPN fan as far as the British open, but I thought they did a really good job this year, not perfect but a whole lot better than the last 2 years, it was actually watchable this year.

[GW]

I think the way the tournament played out helped--a total of 8 players had at least a share of the lead on Monday with a lot of jockeying as guys were going low going out and trying to hang on coming in. Last year Rory was leading comfortably most of the way so there was fewer shots that were of any significance to the end results.

[PA PLAYA]

The only issue I had with ESPN was the first day (I think) as they were focusing on the Johnson-Spieth-Matsuyama pairing. Matsuyama birdied the first four holes before he even got a mere mention on-air. I guess someone rushed them the memo that the third wheel in the pairing was actually playing some pretty good golf and maybe they should include him in the coverage.

Outside of that, I thought there was sufficient coverage of the closing holes, at least the last several groups that were still somewhat in contention. For the first time in what seemed like a long time - there appeared to be a balance between full shots and putting being aired. Most of the time we're seeing 3-4 putts for every one full swing, but it seemed much more balanced this year.

One feature however they could improve upon - the wind direction arrow. It would've been nice to see them use that more often than they did, just to give the viewers an idea of what the players were facing.

[Adam Clayman]

The DTV Road Hole coverage wasn't the most exciting, but it was the most informative. They had lots of fill spots with old highlights and pix. The swoosh of the recent back left of the bunker dirt work, was almost unbearable to look at. Even more so the more monochromatic green it became. The live coverage of the hole was more like the Tiger era of watching golf on TV. Lots of walking off the tee down the fairway etc. All in all not too bad depending on who was playing at the moment. It was better on the first two days were everyone was spread out.

[Pasaplayer]

Agreed. More full shots were welcome. But still too many putts cut to quickly and shown just at the moment of the stroke, without context or any preceding description of the putt required. Even among the full shots, but for certain "story" players, there was little in the way of set up or description of the shot required and why, or possible alternatives. I think there was a story to be found in the common use of high-lofted clubs rather than the bump-and-run from near range. What's with that? Why do these guys play this shot when so many teachers advocate the ground shot? No discussion of the nuances or reasons for much of what we saw.

[Jock]

How embarrassing it was to be watching final round live coverage from ESPN in the tented village, while BBC could not be bothered.

[The BIg K]

I use a quick and deft thumb while wielding my DVR control, and I spent a lot of time Monday skipping views of players warming up and announcers discussing the tournament, instead of watching the shots of golfers on the course. For example, Harrington's move to -11 went almost unnoticed. I mostly enjoy listening to the comments of Azinger, Strange and the others, but I prefer to listen while watching golf being played. I don't tune in to watch them talk.

[F. X. Flinn]

It was disappointing that the DTV Open channels were not functioning on Monday for the final round, which meant that I had to watch ESPN instead of the international feed. I didn't check to see if those channels came back on once the last group teed off, though, so its possible they came back on. Based on Jock's comments about having to watch ESPN in the village I doubt it.

As usual, far too much putting and very little contextualizing. There were a couple of holes where they managed to find time to talk about the task at hand and show the green slopes, and that was fabulous stuff. More of that, please.

[gordon langseth]

The Live@ was the only feed i could get for free. it was usually pathetic as the "talent" was on the air way too much vs the actual golf. if the players weren't famous they weren't shown.

I "cut my cable and threw away my dish" several years ago. the major golf tournaments have put so much of their content on channels that require cable or a dish (BTW, my cable provider is Century Link and they don't even show up on the drop down menu on the ESPN site).

The Golf Channel should be available for afee through Roku and the like. Plus, why put a national or world championship on and severely limit the people able to watch? just my .02

[Mac]

After that horrid Fox US Open listening to dumb Zinger was tolerable

[G-Man]

I watched the Live From The Open coverage of the 17th hole, accessible via The Open website, and found the coverage sub-par. While I did enjoy insightful coverage of professionals playing one of the most famous holes in all of golf, I ultimately turned off the coverage because:

1. They kept cutting from the action to show #openselfies!!!! Honestly, if I want to see #openselfies I'll just go on twitter and see them. I don't need to be shown them on the live coverage. I'm a social media using millennial, and I couldn't stand it.

2. Lack of flexibility. With feature hole coverage, their needs to be some flexibility to show historical moments happening on the course. For example, I watched Tom Watson play the 17th for the last time. It was fantastic. But, then when he got to the 18th tee (which is less than 20 yards from the 17th green) they turned off the coverage and went up to the booth. REALLY!!!! I mean you couldn't just point the camera down the 18th and watch him tee-off and cross the Swilcan bridge!

That's when I gave up on that coverage and found International feed via the Watch ESPN mobile app. That was fantastic. I got to listen to Peter Alliss call the action! I think he is the best golf commentator ever. He has the right blend of insight and humor. I don't care if he got scolded for what he said. It was funny. I may just watch that coverage from now on.