Should You Watch The Masters On Sky Or BBC?

Apr 13, 2019

The Masters means golf on the BBC, but Sky are showing the action too...

Should You Watch The Masters On Sky Or BBC?

The season’s first Major is upon us once again, which delivers the dilemma of whether to watch the Masters on Sky or the BBC.

Below, our writers Elliott Heath and Sam Tremlett argue either side…

Why Sky Sports’ coverage is the best – Elliott Heath

Every year The Masters divides golf fans, half of whom watch as usual on Sky whilst the other half watch on BBC.

The BBC and golf used to go together like wine and cheese, but, understandably perhaps, budget cuts meant that golf was one of the first things to go.

The result of golf leeving the Beeb has meant that standards have slipped in recent years, with the commentary team receiving plenty of complaints.

The 2017 USPGA Championship springs to mind, with Peter Alliss and Maureen Madill often calling players by the wrong name and Madill saying something along the lines of ‘Matsuyama will have heard that roar but he won’t have known where it came from’ after Justin Thomas chipped in for birdie…Matsuyama knew exactly where that roar came from because he was playing with Thomas!

Anyway, stopping with the Beeb bashing and starting with the praising of Sky.

Nick Dougherty has and is turning into a phenomenal presenter, with charisma, knowledge and experience of competing at the highest level. Let’s not forget that he played with Tiger on the weekend towards the latter stages of the 2004 US Open at Shinnecock Hills, and won three times on the European Tour.

Broadcasting golf is what Sky does, and unfortunately it isn’t what the BBC does very much of anymore.

Yes, we do have some adverts to contend with but they simply replace the meaningless shots of trees and the leaderboard that we’ve seen over and over again.

Sky’s team simply cannot be beaten. With Dougherty, Ewen Murray, Tim Barter, Rich Beem, Sarah Stirk, Butch Harmon (for the Majors) and many others like Wayne Riley, Andrew Coltart, Howard Clark and the ever-brilliant Rob Lee.

Why you should watch on the BBC – Sam Tremlett

No Adverts

Let me state the obvious as to why you should be watching the golf on the BBC. There are quite simply no adverts and as a result we literally miss NONE of the action. We see shots as they happen rather than ones that have to be repeated because Sky are advertising something.

Additionally there is none of this swing analysis rubbish that often frequents Sky’s broadcasting. No instead the BBC just delivers exactly what you want, the golf at its uninterrupted best.

Everybody Is Shown

This is a common complaint I see from people on Sky. When you have a lot of big names in the hunt they take precedence over anyone else regardless of how well they playing. Whereas on the BBC, I just checked the leaderboard and every single person on the top pages has been broadcast playing a shot.

Padraig Harrington

The 2010 Ryder Cup captain joined the commentary team during the tournament and is insightful, knowledgeable and brilliant in just about every way, especially in relation to articulating what he is trying to say.

Ken On The Course

We all love to see his little snippets from around the course. It gives us just a little bit more insight into the difficulty and hazards these golfers have to deal with.

Limited Availability

We don’t get a lot of golf on the free channel anymore so we should all appreciate and acknowledge when it is on there. I know this may shock some of you but not everyone can afford Sky, nor do we want to spend £15 on two days play. No, golf on the BBC is always where I have said it should be and I couldn’t be more glad that we get two days worth of The Masters.

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Expand US Masters TV Coverage 2019 – Times Moved Forward On Sunday