Australian Senior Golfer

BRITISH OPEN boss Peter Dawson has given a blunt warning to the BBC to sharpen up its golf coverage or risk losing the rights to the iconic event.

Dawson, the chief executive of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, broke with established practice this week by airing his concerns about the Corporation while he was at the venue for this year’s Open, Royal Lytham and St Annes.

Dawson’s comments make you wonder what he would do if he had to embrace how golf’s most venerated event is treated by its free to air television rights holder in Australia. The short answer is that he would probably choke on his own vomit.

This year the BBC will cover just six days of live men’s professional golf and legendary commentator Peter Allis is one of a number within the sport who have been critical of the trend.

Dawson, one of the most powerful and influential figures in golf, has made it clear he is not happy and that the BBC’s association with the Open, which stretches back more than 50 years, could come to an end if the broadcaster does not tidy up its act.

Asked this week if he had concerns about the fact the BBC no longer covers such tournaments as the Scottish Open and the BMW PGA Championship, Dawson did not mince his words.

“Certainly,” he replied. “We have had that conversation with the BBC. They know we have got our eye on them. It hasn’t just been in golf but with the likes of tennis as well. You have to stay in practice and keep up with advances in technology. You need to be in practice to do it well. We obviously want the Open Championship to be seen by as many people as we can.”

Dawson also took a swipe at the BBC for using “celebrity” cricketers and footballers to front their coverage rather than golf experts. (Sound familiar?).

Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan didn’t help matters at the US Masters recently when Tiger Woods had to correct him during an on air interview about how many majors the American had won. Most golf fans know that figure only too well.

The British Open in Australia used to be an annual television ritual but a couple of years back the free to air rights holder, Channel Nine, ripped the heart out of many golf fans by relegating it to a nightly overnight one hour highlights package. (2010 Britsh Open TV coverage – an entire hour right after the midnight Skippy repeat)

Last year it slipped even further when the schedule was just for a single one hour highlight package the day after the end of the event.

Those of us with access to the full Fox Sports coverage are happy Nine and its celebrity cricketers have nothing to do with the event (though I am sure the cricketers are very nice people), but we can still feel the pain of all those who rightly expect that such iconic sporting events should still be open to all on free to air television.

SADLY, it seems free to air coverage of the British Open golf in Australia is now officially extinct.

In recent years the coverage has been a travesty, with Channel 9 showing a one day delayed one hour highlights package in the wee small hours (2010 Briitsh Open TV coverage – an entire hour right after the midnight Skippy repeat)

In 2011 things have gone backwards, with not even any delayed highlights packages scheduled.

If Channel Nine still has the rights – as they have had since the 80’s when Greg Norman was world No.1 and the late Kerry Packer was keen as mustard to broadcast the lot – then maybe they just haven’t realised the Open is on yet.

After all, we’re writing this Monday morning and the Open doesn’t start till way over on Thursday evening. That’s three and a half days away as the crow flies. They might have just overlooked it.

Last year we rang Channel Nine in Sydney a couple of days out from golf’s most hallowed championship and they had to check with Melbourne to try and find out what their final schedule might be (see Skippy story as above).

We also asked for some comment on what their whole overall contemporary British Open television broadcasting strategy was.

Strangely, we’re still waiting for the call back.

If Channel 9 no longer has anything to do with the rights and they’ve all been handed over to pay tv under the latest anti-siphoning laws, we’re sorry we said all this.  We apologise and admit we might be behavng like a grumpy old elephant who never forgets a slight. We are thinking of making a new phone call but we didn’t want to appear over anxious by calling (back) too soon.

If the Nine Network still has the rights, then the best non Fox Sport subscribers can hope is that some highlights packages will suddenly appear in the schedule. (Skippy is on 1.30am on Friday morning but that’s to soon for a delayed package.)

Even better, if Jason Day or Adam Scott is a few strokes ahead of the pack as we head into the final round on Sunday evening, then around 11pm the British Open golf could suddenly appear on free to air screens. That’s probably being over optimistic.

If you are one of us lucky ones who do have Fox Sports you’re laughing – you can watch more of the 2011 British Open than might be medically advisable.

You can watch the first round live on Thursday from 6pm to 4am, then backup and watch the 1^st round replay on Friday from 9am to 3pm – and continue much the same for the four days of the tournament.

If you aren’t a pay tv subscriber, and don’t have a very understanding mate who is, you can always watch the Open at your local club till midnight-ish, then go home and try one of the many internet live streaming services that are likely to be available.  Try something like MyP2P golf.

The Open will have its own new-fangled website this year that will over extensive live streaming of the event but is questionable if this service will be accessible from an Australian ISP address. But maybe so, the Open site is here.

As we said, if you are a Foxtel or Austar subscriber you’re laughing. As well as the live and replay schedule below, there’s also a swag of British Open “official films” this week and preview shows.

2011 British Open Fox Sports Schedule Australia.

1^st Round

Live: Thursday 6pm to 4am. Replay: Friday 9am to 3pm

2^nd Round

Live: Friday 6pm to 4am. (No Replay Saturday)

3^rd Round

Live: Saturday 7pm to 4am. Replay: Sunday 9am to 12.30pm; 4.30 to 8pm.

4^th Round

Live: 8pm to 4am. Replay: Monday 9am to 1pm.

ONCE again all those searching for live television free to air coverage of the 2010 British Open golf won’t find much joy.

Channel Nine supposedly has the rights sewn up to golf’s oldest and most loved major golf tournament but at this stage they seem to have more commitment to screening old episodes of Skippy.

Fox Sports will screen the championship, which at this stage features a dozen Aussie players, live beginning at 6pm on Thursday.

According to the Foxtel program the pay tv coverage of the first round goes through to 5 am.

I admit to being a little mathematically challenged but I reckon that’s about 11 hours of live coverage first up.

Channel 9 on the other hand, according to their latest program gude, will begin their coverage of the British Open with a one hour highlights package at 12 am on Saturday.

That’s at least better than what the Channel Nine Publicity Department in Sydney directly informed me last Friday.

It took them a day to provide the information that it seemed – the 150th anniversary of the British Open being held at the hallowed St Andrews was obviously very low on their radar – that their coverage began with a one high highlights show at 2 am on Sunday morning (It turns out Skippy is on at 1.30 am).

A spokesperson said under their contract they could only screen four, one hour highlights packages.

The thing is, the British Open is one of four golf events supposedly “protected” under the current Australian television anti-siphoning laws.

The other three are the Australian Open, the Australian Masters and the US Masters.

You’ll note the big difference between those three tournaments and the British Open – they get quite extensive television coverage, with the Ten Network and ONE HD providing quite decent coverage of the US Masters.

Channel Nine telecasts the Australian Masters and in this instance even they manage to squeeze in some golf around the Channel Nine talking heads.

From memory, last year Tiger Woods teed off in the first round at about 8am, the full Channel Nine telecast started at noon and they showed the first live golf shot some 45 minutes later.

Whilst the anti-siphoning legislation (it’s still under review by the Federal Government) might be complicated for the average Joe (and especially for mathematically AND legally challenged me) it seems patently obvious if a commercial free to air network has the initial rights to a “protected” program they can choose to telecast as much of it as they want.

If Channel Nine doesn’t think there are enough ratings or revenue in the British Open for them, why don’t they just hand it over to Ten and ONE HD.

It makes a mockery of all those ads you see from the free to air commercial channels wanting public support for their campaign of protecting big sporting events for the masses.

What will likely happen will be the same as 2009. If there is a favoured Australian player – or like last year if there is big public interest in the final run of a Tom Watson – Channel Nine will suddenly decide to screen the final round live from around 11pm on Sunday night. (The Foxtel final round coverage by the way begins at 7 pm)

The other alternative for those without a pay television subscription but with a half decent broadband connection is free live internet streaming.

Try places such as Veetle, Justin TV or MyP2P Golf when play is underway. MyP2P Golf is usually the best place to start as there are a number of alternatives. You may have to downloard some new viewer software which is usually safe. [Update: One of the best and easily accessible streams here during round one was "IraqGoalsTV" would you believe".]

I asked the Channel Nine publicity spokesperson to provide written confirmation of their 2010 British Open television coverage, and for an official statement on why their scheduled coverage is so poor.

We’re still waiting for the email. I think they’re getting Skippy to deliver it. He never was much of a typist.

LOTS of people are searching for where they can find live coverage of the 2009 British Open Golf on free to air television in Australia.

The short answer is that there is none.

Channel Nine has the rights but in a magnificent effort from a network that once prided itself on its sports coverage, will only telecast a one hour highlights package at midnight two days after the tournament is over.

Tremendous effort that, as one of its erstwhile sports commentators used to continually repeat.

Of course you will find it live on pay television but for those without the only other alternative is to watch one of the many live internet streams.

If you only have an average internet connection that may not be ideal, but it is watchable.

Just search for British Open golf live internet streams a little closer to the event and check them out for yourself to decide what action you should take.

Some of these include sites such as MyP2P, Justin.tv, and Sticktv.net.

Adam Scott will be the first Australian to tee off on Thursday. That’s at 4.25pm (AEST). The Fox tv coverage begins at 6pm, so even those with a pay tv service can give the interntet streaming channels a go.

Here’s to the (hopefully) near future when everyone has access to fast broadband and we can all watch or download what we want when we want, and we’ll no longer be at the whim of tired, dinasour televison networks.

And they wonder why they are losing viewers and viewer loyalty hand over fist.