ROME—The Ryder Cup’s Friday morning session was not short on excitement. Unfortunately, that excitement was barely seen in the United States. “Not enough golf, too many commercials” has been a long-standing complaint from golf fans, but fans seemed particularly aggrieved during the opening play at Marco Simone. Many took to X (formerly Twitter) expressing their disdain over the coverage—or lack thereof—of the Ryder Cup broadcast, with the outraged focused at the commercial load and lack of actual golf shots shown:
The initial coverage of the #RyderCup is awful by @NBCSports & @USANetwork. How do we not see every single shot with only 8 balls being played on the course? Between that and the incoherent scoring graphic in the corner. The biggest event in professional golf deserves better. pic.twitter.com/XudSKpBkDb
— Kyle Bundy (@kc_bundy) September 29, 2023
https://twitter.com/KThompkins85/status/1707659381704143217
This golf coverage is a hostage situation – they know they have us
They will not have us tomorrow
— Nathan Hubbard (@NathanCHubbard) September 29, 2023
Biggest event in golf happens every two years and we are just bombarded with commercials. Gotta be a way to offer a commercial free version that shows every shot that people can pay for.
— Aaron Flener (@AaronFlener) September 29, 2023
Waking up to watch the Ryder Cup vs. watching the commercials pic.twitter.com/L8okvkT0Zo
— claire rogers (@kclairerogers) September 29, 2023
https://twitter.com/henrybartonlane/status/1707656040811229456
When more commercials come on the Ryder cup coverage @wmillerlewis pic.twitter.com/CDgqiLpPjW
— BayouBryan (@BayouBryan2) September 29, 2023
I literally have no idea what’s happening. Situation is particularly dire for those of us who are operating on about 2 and a half brain cells and espresso https://t.co/amq1za1UI2
— Gabby Herzig (@GabbyHerzig) September 29, 2023
Making matters worse was the six-hour time difference between Rome and the eastern time zone, meaning many stayed up from the night before, or woke up extremely early, to watch the proceedings, only to feel like their loyalty to the event was betrayed.
This is far from the first time a professional golf broadcast has received negative reviews, and there were similar issues at last week’s Solheim Cup, with even the event’s broadcast team chiming in about their disapproval with graphics and the world feed. But it appears the problems have not been addressed, leaving viewers at home feeling left out in the cold.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
