SKY'S Ryder Cup Coverage

Your recent movies have been utter trash Clint. And yet you come here and back what others serve up. Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby were excellent, what happened to you since then?

missing radar riley, just because he is an aussie, why would you not have the best on course reporter in golf, better than clark,boxall and coltard all put together.

surely not better than Feherty

you would have thought that covering just four matches that they could at least show most of the shots rather than trivia,interviews and sky team egos. Absolute disgrace they cant blame CBS or golf channel this time.

Lester

I'm watching a golf channel stream - more adverts but no sh1te

and monty free zone

rofl I love US adverts - there was just one there that ended "Bloomberg keep your politics in New York and your hands off out guns"

I don't think in all my time watching golf I've seen a worse day's coverage than that Sky produced today.  Considering the hype they put into this the amount of golf they actually showed was disgraceful. 

At no point in time were there more than eight guys on the course.  Obviously not every shot can be shown live, but with that few guys you could have a reasonable stab at it.  All the extra guff (interviews / comprehensive coverage of men standing about on the first tee) could be put in a split screen / in-picture box while showing the golf.

The biggest problem is that they seemingly have no understanding of how matchplay golf works.  Showing one shot from a group is completely irrelevant when it's totally out of context.  There's no point showing us a good / bad shot if we have no idea if an opponent has hit a better / worse one.  It completely ruins all the fun of matchplay golf if you can't see all the shots in order, because so much of the excitement is how you react to what your opponent or your teammate is doing. 

A single shot in isolation is meaningless, and just showing a putt drop (with, of course, 2 minutes of slow-motion analysis of the resulting fist-pump) without any idea of what went before or what the opponents have done is really just the laziest and most boring coverage they could produce of what they keep reminding us is one of The Greatest Sporting Events On The Planet.

Hope they up their game over the weekend but I doubt it.  All style over substance.

putting tape over mcginleys mouth would ensure much more airtime players

This mornings efforts were lamentable. I, along with every other golf fan, do not want to see 4 golfers shaking hands and whipping up the crowd on the first tee when there are groups all ready on the course. Just record the tee shots and focus on the guys putting on the first green and teeing off the second hole.

I hope Sky never get the TV rights for The Open Championship.

I could not agree more. When Bjorn holed a putt on the 2nd this morning on Sky, my brother in Ireland had texted me 3 minutes earlier to say that he had holed it. We hardly saw anything this afternoon of Gmac and Victor.

US coverage on red button is useful here but not foolproof.  While it cuts to adverts a lot, it seems to be way ahead more often than not, and even when it's showing shots simultaneously with main channel they seem to be able to fill-in showing other shots where main channel just waits and catches up later. 

Probably because they're not cutting away to do a segment on how the postman always delivers and refuses to lose or some such sh1t every 2 minutes.

Radar was there yesterday working on the celebrity match. Surely he wasn't dragged all the way to Scotland just to work on a fun 9 hole celebrity game.

I found it strange I did not hear him today.

Agreed. He is much better on course than any of the others.

Rob Lee - decent fella, good anchor but a bad commentator, should be nowhere near the commentary booth
Howard Clark - how many times does he describe a shot as nearly impossible, "do well to get this on the putting surface" before golfer nonchalantly knocks it to within birdie range?

Coltart hasn't much to contribute, Butch is ok...putting Darren Clarke on the commentary added nothing, all in all a terribly lame effort as most have suggested. Sky obviously assume as we're in europe we all want biased commentary, hence no radar

Dont much like him as a person, but faldo knocks the socks off anything on sky

Darren Clarke has been very good IMHO

love it the best

I agree with all of the above but funny how every July there's a similar thread slating the BBC. Say it then and say it now it's far superior to Sky and hopefully they'll always have the open.
As for commentators I think Rob Lee is very good-get some sense he's researched the golfers. Not obvious this week but anytime he's on US coverage he's far ahead of Critchley and Murrary.
Thought Darren Clarke was an excellent addition. Wasn't afraid to interact with the on-course reporters too to get a fuller picture of the shots.
Monty.....just hit the red button when he's on!

SADLY - what your forgetting is part of the reason the RYDER is successful is because theres treble the people watching meaning 2/3rds ARE NOT REALLY INTO GOLF!!!

And sad as it may be, these people WANT to watch every detail of their first tee off with the crowd, i fear this is a battle we will never win.

If Critchley had any self respect he would have retired years ago. Makes more mistakes in an hours commentary than should be possible.

Peter Alliss, Radar, Boxall, Ken Broon.

They would do for me.

Ive been watching the yank coverage under the red button, not in hd, but they show more shots live, show everyone hitting shots and i much prefer their commentators.

Sometimes they have been minutes ahead of sky and they have many less commercial breaks.

In other news Faldo ripped apart by Garcia & Gmac for his "rubbish" comments over Garcia at 08 Ryder Cup.

I haven't turned the Radio on all day in case that irritating w*nker Inverdale is on there. I would rather read about the Ryder Cup in the newspaper on Monday than listen to that ignorant tw*t.

I listened to the USA commentary at different times today - far superior to Murray & Monty et al who continuously give out the same drivel as in previous Ryder cups

Oh you should have the radio on, the couple of times a year commentators can tell you the ball is 4 foot away when it is about 12 and they let you know that Fowler is just off the edge of the green and should get relief from the water hydrant?

Is there a contractual reason why so few shots are being shown?

Focus was there on five minutes inactivity on the first tee while USA were winning the first hole with birdie.

Heard about the Mahan  birdie on radio.  Cleaned my teeth and 4 minutes later watched it "live" on sky!

Coverage really isn't improving we get to see both european shots into 2nd green but no idea how the yank balls got where they were

I will add my piece ... Sky coverage = Mince, doing me head in

I have heard other broadcasters are just showing nothing but golf, no adverts, no interviews ... just every single shot

camerawork has been bobbins. especially when the ball is in flight

There's a good example of what I'm on about.... nothing from the Spieth / Reed match for an age, then they just showed a shot from Reed into about 20 feet.  What's his playing partner doing?  What are his opponents doing?  Just showing single shots in isolation is completely meaningless.

2 balls in play and they dont even show all the shots utter cnts

Sky are almost obsessed with showning crowd reactions rather than the shots themselves.

sky coverage is pathetic - that said listened to a bit of the BBC radio coverage earlier - ffs where do they get these people from - they certainly don't represent the majority of listeners shirley!!

The americans show all 4 players shots both from the tee and from the fairway.

in the afternoon whilst sky were talking shyte in the studio, the yanks where showing all the shots from
the tee and the fairway from the 1st foursome match.

the other crap thing about sky is that they will randomly go at a tee shot at a par 4 from one player. you know instantly that the tee shot is in trouble.

*to a tee shot

did anyone see that putt today  where they showed the ball on the way to the hole and then went to another shot on a different hole

Increasingly, for all the big sporting events that Sky cover, the production values seem to mandate that their coverage is the story as opposed to the event itself.

I will not be voting for the best celebration.

Usually like SKY coverage compared to BBC but good grief its been desperately poor.

As others have mentioned not showing all the shots live or as close to dammit is not good enough. Something that has crept into coverage in recent years but has reached a new low this time is the obsession with showing the player rather than the ball.
Several times the camera has only cut to the ball AFTER the ball has pitched!

Has the Channel 4 racing director been let loose. Art before information has no place in sports coverage.

We're unanimously agreed Sky 's coverage has been carp,also LMAO at these hologram figures walkin out beside Livingstone this anoon as he announced the Foursomes pairings,as the real action was going on behind him.
I'll be switching to US comms tommo.

Way too much focus on the first tee - players walking through the tunnel, high fiving with Michael Jordan etc, while live golf is going on elsewhere

My biggest gripe is not filtering out raucous cheers from up the course - while they are showing a bunch of cnts in the grandstand with stick on sideburns and moustaches, a HUGE roar goes up, meaning Europe have made a putt - that they show us 30 seconds later as 'live' - but we already know he made it

What US coverage are people talking about? I tuned in to the feherty channel for a bit this morning - abc maybe? - and watched feherty sitting in a studio with duval, leonard and some other dude shooting the breeze while the golf played on a tiny cutaway screen in the corner. It was like watching sky soccer centre without the "unbelievable jeff" moments

Anyone that posts on this forum would make a far better director than those currently on Sky or the BBC

Imagine golf coming on air at 9am, 1 minute of hello's, then at 9.01 we get live coverage, with any player interviews shown in a small screen in the corner. No musical montages or repeats of yesterday's play, no showing Rory from last week - just live golf as it's happening

So simple, but apparently beyond the comprehension of Sky and the BBC

best I've seen must write and tell them

cluosou    27 Sep 14 20:43 
did anyone see that putt today  where they showed the ball on the way to the hole and then went to another shot on a different hole


Yeah in fairness that was lee westwood putting out after the hole was over, and they said that too

any chance of some live golf today?? - if the USA actually make a decent fightback sky won't dare show any coverage - we'll probably have an empty screen to view

Another thing I don't get is why they show players on the practice range instead of live golf. The players they tend to show are the big stars, who will be getting blanket coverage when they start playing anyway

I don't really want to see them warming up as well, at the expense of other players out on the course

I know it's only the odd minute here and there, but it's frustrating when you know your player is putting for birdie at the same time, and they'll probably only make time to show it if he makes the putt

I wish they'd drop the cliches as well during commentary - how many times do we hear a player's made a 'brave' putt? Some are more important than others, but there's nothing brave about it. Does it mean the player's a coward if he misses the same putt?

Or a player's 'unlucky' because 'if he hit it another 6 feet it would have taken the slope and been stone dead'. It's not bad luck, it's a miscalculation

Agree with everything said here, its been endless patriotic garbage from start to finish. Hate the way that there is a prestige game that gets all shots shown regardless of whether its looking like a landslide victory - Sky appear oblivious to the fact that points won by less flamboyant players count just the same as from the stars - with an entire channel dedicated to the event, its not rocket science to just show some f****g golf

with all the money sky have i have no idea why every match on the 1st 2 days was not shown live under the red button. then we could opt out of Livo and the boys.

ive just hit the red button to watch the yanks. they will show more golf, more live golf and they are not biased.

seeing players on the practice range is great...i love to see it

but should not spoil the live coverage

dlarssonf my apoligies  I didn't realise that the hole was lost

Could listen to nicklaus all day, brilliant insight

Yep me 2 just a pity we have to listen to tell them Darren sent you could really do with sub titles

Whoever sold the rights to the Ryder Cup to Sky should be sacked. Sky should never be allowed show any golf ever again.
Do sky know there are 12 matches going on today. They have concentrated exclusively on the top 6 matches. They show an odd shot from matches 7, 8 and 9 and I have not seen a single shot from any of the 3 bottom matches.
What an absolute joke this so called coverage is.
The golf authorities need to do something about this and ensure Sky are never let near a golf course ever again.

My problem is similar to the cricket. We're given info on the screen which the commies feel they must read out to us...all the damn time!

So on screen it says Rose, 2 Down, 2nd shot 10th hole. Commie says, 'Here's Rose, he's on the 10th, he's 2 down and he's about to play his second.'

or not sure which.

its 16.40 and we have not seen one shot from Victor - Sky coverage has been terrible

We've seen more from victor chandler on the ads.

Jimmy Walker is playing well according to sky commentators, i must have missed that bit.

Far too much hype for me.  If you listened to their commentary without knowing the scores you would think this was as close as Medinah, Brookline, Oak Hill etc etc.

Woeful - Kaymer chipped in to win at 3.48pm, Sky show it at 3.54pm.
At the end, we went from the 18th green, to commercials, to Dubuisson getting sprayed with champagne, and Livingston said "Looks like there's been a consession" (whilst NBC had shown live Johnson's winning putt).
Only The Verdict (Stirk, Dougherty, Howell) escape with any credit in this mess.