The Open 2024: NBC torn by golf fans over ‘boring’ and ‘terrible’ major coverage

This year, NBC has taken the lead in broadcasting The Open Championship to the American audience, while the nation’s favorite tees off in the United Kingdom. But back-to-back commercials interrupting the stream of The Open have annoyed golf fans with the coverage. Even during the broadcast of the first event of the PGA Tour season, the Sentry said, there were more “advertisements than golf balls.”

Fans faced the same issues even before the Open Championship. As this user complained, “NBC should be ashamed of themselves. This is the worst coverage of a major tournament I have ever seen, with more commercials than golf.” In addition to the ads showcasing the golf fans’ experience, fans also complained about the camera focusing on just a few golfers or missing crucial shots. This fan who was irritated by the coverage said, “NBC is unable to show more than four golfers.”

Since the Open Championship is held in the homeland of golf, the commercials that viewers see are related to Scotland and a way to promote Scottish culture to the deeper part of America through the game of golf. However, seeing the constant promotion instead of the event has left this fan frustrated.

They tagged NBC and told them: “I detest watching a major golf tournament on NBC! So much for cutting commercials by 70 minutes. The Open Championship is basically an infomercial for products and services, along with promoting tourism for Scotland, with very little live on-course play. You are worthless!” Another seemed to have a similar sentiment and was about NBC’s poor reporting. They said: “The coverage of the open is terrible! These bunglers couldn’t beat a 3rd class sack race!!”

The declining ratings pose a threat to the marquee event in the 2024 season, as the Masters saw a roughly 20% drop in viewer retention compared to last year. Frustrating coverage of the 152nd Open Championship on NBC, which may be bugged, turned this viewer away. They explained: “NBC is now broadcasting the Open Championship live, but they have a “previously recorded” bug in the bottom right of the screen. Why? I’m following the live score on PGATour.com and it’s identical to what NBC shows.”

As is well known, the Links course is very different from any other course on the PGA Tour or LIV Golf program. Even top stars like Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Aberg and Bryson DeChambeau could not conquer Royal Troon and missed the cut. That is why commentators usually praise the Links course above the course. But this user does not like that. They said: “Some guys at NBC make PGA Tour courses sound boring when they promote links golf. I don’t know if they realize that or not.”