The BBC and Augusta National have a long and cherished history together but those days are long since gone, and it seems the the broadcaster is set to give up its Masters rights this year.
For decades The Masters and the BBC went hand in hand almost as much as any sport and TV coverage ever managed.
If you wanted the perfect Sunday night tradition in April, then tuning into the likes of Steve Rider and Peter Alliss was the perfect recipe for perfect viewing. If ever a tournament lent itself to being beamed around the world it was the sights and sounds of Augusta National.
Sir Nick Faldo became hooked on golf at the age of 14. Before watching the 1971 Masters on his parents’ new colour television he had never even picked up a club, from there on after he was hooked.
Within the next 25 years he would slip into three Green Jackets, half the number of the winner that year, Jack Nicklaus.
We got to watch all of Sir Nick Faldo’s Masters wins live on the BBC
(Image credit: Getty Images)
For the UK golf fan of a certain vintage we were treated to a run of eight European victories in just 12 years as Seve, Langer, Lyle, Faldo, Woosnam and Olazabal did to Augusta what they were doing to the US Ryder Cup team – giving them both barrels on their own soil.
In the middle of all of this we witnessed maybe the greatest ever Masters when a 46-year-old Nicklaus landed a sensational sixth Green Jacket, the following year Larry Mize holed the most ridiculous chip from way right of the 11th green. And so it went on. For decades it couldn’t fail and millions would point to this corner of Georgia in getting them into the game.
Augusta was the first sign of the start proper to the golfing season, both in terms of professional golf and dusting off our own clubs. Ask any greenkeeper and Augusta has almost done more harm than good with club members up and down the UK somehow expecting their own courses to resemble ‘the National’.
The stunning Augusta National will no longer be shown on free-to-air TV in the UK
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Even for those of us who love to live in the past that ship has long since sailed. Golf and the BBC have not been happy bed fellows for years now with Sky Sports taking over the reins in 2011, the BBC would show live coverage from the weekend, and that was then reduced to a highlights programme in 2020.
If we were to take a look at the 2022 coverage on the BBC round one highlights (90 minutes) were shown at 8am on Friday, round two at…
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