Each and every major, American golf fans voice their complaints about TV coverage loud and clear. Missed shots, commercials, Playing Through, Kevin Kisner. You name it. But if we Yanks think we have it bad, it pales in comparison to what Canadian golf fans had to endure (again) during the first round of the Open Championship on Thursday.
So it appears for the second year, the folks at Rogers cable haven’t flipped the switch to allow the Open coverage on Golf Channel over its cable network in Canada. Bell and other providers are showing it.
— Bob Weeks (@BobWeeksTSN) July 16, 2026
So it is not just Rogers. A number of cable companies haven’t made the switch and folks are stuck watching golf instruction rather than The Open.
— Bob Weeks (@BobWeeksTSN) July 16, 2026
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That’s right. This morning, Canadian golf fans woke up bright and early to watch the final men’s major of the year and were greeted by golf instruction content instead. Worst of all, this isn’t the first time this has happened, with the exact same phenomena reportedly occurring last summer as well.
2nd year in a row @GolfChannel have geo-blocked us in Canada for the opening round of The Open. I deeply understand the world of TV rights, but to not be able to watch @TheOpen is ridiculous. I imagine the @RandA will be sorting this issue out asap.
— Luke Elvy (@Luke_Elvy) July 16, 2026
So there's just no way to watch the Open in Canada today and tomorrow unless I have the Golf Channel on cable?
I take back everything I said. Make us the 51st state.
— Iain MacMillan (@IainMacBets) July 16, 2026
Just wanted to say a huge thank you to @Rogers for not carrying @TheOpen this morning….. not….wonder if the @bell is showing? The number 1 participation for golf in the world is Canada…. But… why give your customers what they want?
— Bruce Carroll (@BruceCarroll11) July 16, 2026
https://twitter.com/leaningcowboy/status/2077743338808021417
We're sorry to hear the feed for the British Open Championship wasn't airing as it should be this morning on The Golf Channel, we have advised our partners who are investigating. ^rm
— RogersHelps (@RogersHelps) July 16, 2026
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The confusing part is that large Canadian cable providers like Bell and Rogers have the rights to air the Open Championship. It was even listed on Golf Channel’s schedule as airing, but several local affiliates simply forgot to switch over to the Open feed. Some viewers on X claimed their outage lasted for up to five hours before it was fixed, while others said it was the third year in a row they had experienced such issues.
Rogers’ IT X account tweeted that they had alerted their various affiliates and promised more fixes would be coming before Friday’s second round. Here’s hoping that’s the case, but it’s a useful reminder for us Americans that no matter how bad it might get here, at least we aren’t waking up at 4 a.m. to find swing tips instead glorious Open coverage beaming into our living rooms
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
