In truth, it was just the BBC being the BBC when it came to golf. Led by Barbara Slater, a TV sports chief executive who must have been hit by a wayward golf ball while in her pram, the corporation’s grand turn-off from the sport has been something to behold.
At the turn of the century there were 40 days of live golf on the BBC. And now? None. Not a single putt. Granted, they have had to slash their budgets and golf is not a cheap sport to cover, but even when they have the highlights they bury them, sticking the programs in slots beyond the graveyard shift.
In August, Muirfield, one of the world’s great courses, staged the Women’s Open and the BBC eventually televised the winning putt and trophy celebration at 12.45am, heading into the early hours of Monday morning.
Hall was not surprised. “We’ve had this situation before,” she said, alluding to 2020 when it was demoted on the schedule for the World Seniors Snooker Championship. At the East Lothian links, an air of resignation greeted that latest BBC rebuff, but watching at home in Cheshire Tommy Fleetwood was angry.
“It doesn’t seem fair,” he told me. “What’s the point of the BBC owning the highlights rights and then hiding the coverage? Don’t get it. You’d think they would read the room better after the women have just won the Euros.”
The BBC is simply not interested and this Fitzpatrick farce is the final piece of proof required. Imagine if he was a tennis player winning one of the grand slams, imagine if he was an athlete prevailing in such a sensational style.
But who cares anyway, will go the cry, it is only an entertainment show and has no intrinsic merit. That is no doubt correct. But it still has the power to offend and to do it so unnecessarily.
Who do you want to win SPOTY?
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