NBC Sports and Golf Channel employees may want to stay off social media for the next few days.
Not even two hours in to the coverage of the Friday foursomes matches at the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Italy and television viewers who were awake at 1 a.m. ET for the start were already fed up with the coverage (or lack thereof).
Airing on USA Network, the broadcast missed the introductions and tee shots from the third match of Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka vs. Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa and showed more commercials than golf shots.
This year’s broadcast features a score bug in the bottom right of the screen that shows the matches and live results, which is a nice innovation, except when the coverage doesn’t provide context for how those scores came to be.
Check out the early reaction to the TV coverage of the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy.
'I might go back to bed'
I might go back to bed.
There are currently 6 balls on the course and they’re missing about half the shots and completely lost track of the action. It’s that bad. No idea what’s happening or how each team has gotten where they are.@NBCGolf @NBCGolfChannel @GolfChannelPR
— Tron Carter (@TronCarterNLU) September 29, 2023
'No idea how we even got there'
we just came back from commercial to a scottie putt to win the hole — no idea how we even got there — and then immediately cut to needless overhead shots
— Paolo Uggetti (@PaoloUggetti) September 29, 2023
'Bombarded with commercials'
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
Missing shots
There are four alternate shot matches on the course. How is any shot missed?
Omg they just missed an entire shot by Fleetwood because they were showing Xander standing there and waiting for Fleetwood's shot.
I gasped
— Brody Miller (@BrodyAMiller) September 29, 2023
Zing!
Solid joke given the fact that Europe led in all four matches when this was posted.
https://twitter.com/realsportspost/status/1707664367032901675
'I have no idea what's happening'
It’s almost like it’s a bit. I have no idea what’s happening and it’s not because it’s 120am
— Turner Thornton (@turnerthornton) September 29, 2023
Can we get Sky Sports in the U.S.?
Can someone send the Sky link to sign up for streaming?
— BigGolfer (@spartanftball) September 29, 2023
Conspiracy?
Is this #ryderCup coverage trying to bully me into falling asleep on my couch with the TV on so they still get the viewership ratings?
— Jason Askvig (@jasonaskvig) September 29, 2023
Who needs a broadcast when there's Twitter, or X, or whatever it's called now
Love that I’m getting a better grasp of what is going on at the @rydercup by just scrolling Twitter over the actual broadcast @NBCGolf @NBCGolfChannel
— UNDERPERFORMING TIMMY 🐆 (@Golf_Tacos_Tim) September 29, 2023
Is it April yet?
Ryder Cup broadcast showing roughly 25% of total shots is frustrating to say the least. It’s times like this where you grow to truly appreciate how special the Masters app is
— Greg the Egg (@UnitCollector) September 29, 2023
