The BBC have returned to live major championship golf and will broadcast the year's final major at the USPGA Championship
BBC To Show 2017 USPGA Championship
The BBC is back in the live golf game, after officially announcing that it will show all four days of this year’s USPGA Championship.
The tournament gets underway on the 10th August at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina, the site of Rory McIlroy’s first ever PGA Tour victory where he shot a blistering 10-under-par in the final round.
He won at Quail Hollow for the second time in 2015.
“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.”
The BBC’s TV coverage will be led by Eilidh Barbour, alongside Peter Alliss and Ken Brown.
BBC Radio 5 live and sports extra will also broadcast live from the Championship, led by Iain Carter and Jay Townsend.
Much of the broadcast will be behind the red button, on the BBC Sport website or on BBC iPlayer.
This is because the BBC is also showing the World Athletics Championship in London, here are the timings and channels…
BBC USPGA Championship TV and Radio times
Thursday 10 August
1800-0015 – BBC Red Button, BBC Sport website, BBC iPlayer
2320-0015 – BBC Two
2200-0100 – Radio 5 live sports extra
Friday 11 August
1800-0015 – BBC Red Button, BBC Sport website, BBC iPlayer
2305-0015 – BBC Two
2200-0100 – Radio 5 live sports extra
Saturday 12 August
1900-0015 – BBC Red Button, BBC Sport website, BBC iPlayer
2230-0015 – BBC Two
2200-0100 – Radio 5 live sports extra
Sunday 13 August
1900-0015 – BBC Red Button, BBC Sport website, BBC iPlayer
2200-0015 – BBC Two
2200-0100 – Radio 5 live
The BBC last showed all four days in a mens major back at the 2015 Open at St Andrews.
They pulled out of their contract with the R&A a year early in late 2015 and Sky Sports have exclusively shown the previous two Open Championships live.
The testing par-4 18th at Quail Hollow
Related: Sky Sports or BBC: Who covered the Open better?
The BBC aired two hour highlights of the 2017 Open each night, and announced they would be showing the USPGA Championship at the end of the final broadcast:
Screenshot from BBC iPlayer
Closing out the Open final round highlights, BBC Golf lead anchor Eilidh Barbour said, “But there is more live golf to come on the BBC.”
A video montage of previous USPGA Championships played before Barbour said, “Well it will be very exciting to see if Jordan Spieth can make it a grand slam in the majors and it will be live on the BBC.”
Related: Hazel Irvine to present final Masters
The BBC were expected to formally announce the deal last week but it is thought that negotiations over how many years the contract will be for were still ongoing.
Sky’s deal with the USPGA broke down and when it was clear that a deal would not be made, the BBC stepped up.
Rory McIlroy won the USPGA in 2012 and 2014
A BBC insider told The Daily Telegraph, “It was too good a deal to pass by.”
The Telegraph said that BT Sport and Twitter were also in the hunt, a sign that the BBC have pushed hard to seal the rights.
Related: BT Sport set to steal the Masters off Sky
The USPGA have apparently taken a financial hit, but are determined to make it the most-watched major, which should be a success.
Jeff Ritter, the chief commercial officer of the PGA of America, told the Guardian: “Ultimately one of the key things for us is scale of distribution and obviously with all the new platforms that consumers are engaging with, we want to make sure we reach all of them.”
Related: Spieth stumbles, then sparkles to win the Open
There’s no doubt that the BBC will attract a larger audience, with the 2016 Open Championship final round peak viewing times down 75% on Sky last year.
Stenson won the 2016 Open in Sky’s maiden broadcast of golf’s oldest major
In 2015, 4.7m watched Zach Johnson win the Claret Jug on the BBC, whilst just 1.1m watched Henrik Stenson become Champion Golfer of the Year in 2016 on Sky.
However, Sky were lauded for their coverage and even received a BAFTA for best sports production.
Jordan Spieth heads to Quail Hollow looking to complete the career grand slam, after a phenomenal finish to win the Open Championship.
Let us know your thoughts, is this good for golf, or a bad thing given how good Sky’s Open coverage was?
This article BBC To Show 2017 USPGA Championship – not Sky Sports appeared first on Golf Monthly.