‘Ken Brown’ and ‘Peter Alliss’ would be my answers in a word association game beginning with ‘free-to-air golf’.
The Masters and The Open were in the same ballpark as Wimbledon, the FA Cup final, the Grand National and the Olympics in essential viewing, as far as the BBC was concerned. Until recently, of course.
I’m one of thousands of golf fans who gathered in their living rooms to listen to the cheeky sermons of two of golf’s greatest broadcasters.
But each event, including the Ryder Cup, has succumbed to the gargantuan paywall of Sky Sports at one stage or another, with freeviewers now restricted to meagre highlights shows put on at ungodly hours.
Big events draw big audiences on the ground, and big money – to draw an incredibly broad conclusion. I’m not alone in my nostalgic, romantic outlook on golf broadcasting though, as shown in a recent survey conducted by NCG in the lead-up to the 2025 Ryder Cup.
Coverage of the Ryder Cup: Our survey says…
Nearly nine out of 10 UK golf fans believe the Ryder Cup should be broadcast on free-to-air television.
The poll of over 2,000 supporters found that 89% want the biennial contest between Europe and the United States to be available beyond pay-TV platforms.
There we have it. It’s not a surprise that fans want to watch a big event for free, but we certainly have a resounding majority voting in favour of it.
Staying on the traditional side of things, the fans who voted in the survey also voted largely in favour of the Ryder Cup being kept in Europe or the USA, and not being held in a neutral location. 93% of respondents wanted it to stay put.
The Ryder Cup was first exclusively shown on Sky Sports in 1995 when Team Europe won at Oak Hill Country Club. All three days were shown, and then, in 1999 for the Brookline Ryder Cup, there was an interactive option for viewers to choose English or American commentary.
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The BBC’s enthusiasm to show golf has somewhat waned in recent years. In April 2024, it was reported that the corporation rejected the chance to show PGA Tour highlights for free.
2020 marked the first time that live golf from Augusta National wasn’t shown on the BBC.
In August of this year, Sky Sports announced that the US Open would be broadcast until 2030, further establishing the platform as the home of golf in the UK.
Sky secured the rights to The Open in 2016, and it’s theirs until at least 2028. It’s essentially the only place to catch all four majors and most tournaments on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.
Don’t fret, though. It’s completely free to watch Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau in the LIV Golf League in the UK, if you can be bothered going on ITV’s on-demand platform.
At least we have the memories, many golf fans could say, as there seems to be no hope that their wish for the Ryder Cup to be free to watch won’t come true anytime soon.
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What do you make of this article on how to watch the Ryder Cup in 2025? What should the coverage of the Ryder Cup be? Tell us on X!
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