Just over a week since it was announced that the BBC is to lose the live rights to the Open Championship it has been revealed that the Women’s British Open will follow the same path to Sky Sports.
The Ladies Golf Union and IMG who look after the championship have secured a five-year deal with the satellite broadcaster which will begin in 2017 meaning that all four days will be shown on Sky.
The statement read: “The Ladies Golf Union and IMG can confirm a new five-year broadcast agreement for the Ricoh Women’s British Open with the UK’s two largest sports broadcasters, Sky and the BBC, running from 2017-2021, in an arrangement similar to that announced last week by the R&A for the Open Championship.”
Similar but also different in that the BBC has been left with just a one-hour highlights package for the WBO as opposed to two for the men’s Open.
So, as from 2017 the only live golf that the BBC will televise will be the final two rounds of the Masters.
The BBC will be at the live controls for this year’s Women’s British Open at Turnberry before bringing the curtain down on a long-standing relationship at Woburn.
The brave new dawn gets underway at Kingsbarns in 2017, the first time the course has staged a Major.
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