Stop if you’ve heard this before, but the biggest talking point from NBC’s golf coverage of the Ryder Cup is the amount of commercials flooding the broadcast.
With just four matches on the course at any given time, golf fans should (in theory) be able to see a higher percentage of golf shots than at any other tournament where there are somewhere between 70-100 balls in play to keep track of during the PGA Tour season.
But between a massive amount of full-screen commercials and “Playing Through” breaks of side-by-side ads, it feels like the Ryder Cup is interrupting a several-hour-long NBC infomercial rather than the other way around.
And during the afternoon session, with Europe off to a hot start and the USA team needing something to hype up the New York crowd at Bethpage Black, the USA Network coverage missed the highlight of the day while on a Playing Through break.
Team USA rookie Ben Griffin rolled in a huge putt for birdie on the 7th hole from 56 feet. It was somehow followed by Justin Rose to tie the hole. Incredibly, both birdie putts were seen in silence while NBC was in the middle of a three-minute Playing Through segment.
Only after the broadcast returned to full screen did we see a replay of the putts, along with the reactions of the crowd. And golf fans watching on were in a state of continual shock and disbelief over what they were seeing on a very small portion of their screens, while having to listen to commercials.
The leadership of the PGA Tour has made it loud and clear that they hear the complaints of fans who are growing increasingly frustrated with the number of commercials overshadowing live golf. So why is it so hard for NBC and the Ryder Cup? It was the same story two years ago, when the tournament took place in Europe. It’s the same story when NBC televises the US Open.
The definition of insanity is supposedly doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If that’s the case, then it’s mission accomplished for NBC and USA Network, as they try to make golf fans go crazy.
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