The Masters - 2012

First topic message reminder :

So it seems there is only one story in town this week and we may as well have a thread about it right from the start of the week!

Obviously no golf to talk about yet (though last week at the Shell Houston may bring up some talking points) but at the moment it's the dreaded "Meeja" generating the talking points

Poulter not wanting advice from the venerable masters (with a small "m"). Rory splitting from Chubby last year hitting the headlines again- and of course in the UK, Sky Sports throwing the proverbial kitchen sink at the coverage

On the media front, I'm surprised to see Kirsty Gallagher getting an apparent top billing on the SS shows. I'd much rather see Rob Lee in the hot seat (at least Kirsty is taking the limelight away from the dreadful David Livingstone though) - and what has Sarah Stirk done wrong? She seems to have made a good start as TV anchor-person

Of course Roey is also there so we can expect the Tiger/Coco-fest to continue - from what I've seen of coverage so far anyone would think the world #1 isn't even there!

Worst of all, Sky have announced that they have Jack on their team this year so expect the sycophancy to reach levels even greater than we saw at Arnie's party.

Having said all that I'm still glad that we have them to watch rather than Steve Ryder or Gary Lineker on good old Auntie Beeb and we should all say a prayer of thanks (could we get Zach Johnson to lead the prayer circle?) that ITV don't get the coverage or it could be the execrable Jim Rosenthal or that prat that now does the football (Adrian Childs?)

My own hopes for the week are that Luke consolidate his #1 spot and breaks the duck in the Majors - either him or LW would make my weekend. Bradley or Rose to get into the mix and I have a sneaking feeling that Jason Day could once again feature at ANGC when he's had a very quiet year so far.

Yes - suffering from post-Masters blues here too.

Have really enjoyed all 4 evenings this year - nice to be able to spend some quality time watching it with the offspring.

I thought it was a great tournament this year. Maybe the fact that the much hyped McIlroy / Woods showdown failed to materialise made it more interesting to me, although probably less interesting to the casual observer. It's always boring when one player pulls away from the pack.

I started off watching on Sky then switched to BBC to avoid the adverts. However, I became increasingly annoyed by the inane and inept commentary of Peter Alliss.

We have this debate twice every year following the Masters and the Open and I used to think that Alliss had a place in the BBC commentary team as he is a bit of an institution. However, it was apparent on Sunday that he didn't have a clue what he was talking about. He was unable to tell from the player's swing where the ball was going, he couldn't pick up the flight of the ball, he seems to have forgotten his course knowledge and wasn't sure which way putts were breaking. He would comment on the position of a player's tee shot and then 5 mins later when we went back to the player to watch his approach, Alliss had already forgotten the tee shot and would be asking how that player got there. Clearly his eyesight and his memory have gone. It was embarrassing.

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:Wonder what will be on the champions dinner menu next year. Looks like the chef maybe from Baghdad

Road kill and moon shine I would guess.

raycastleunited wrote:I thought it was a great tournament this year. Maybe the fact that the much hyped McIlroy / Woods showdown failed to materialise made it more interesting to me, although probably less interesting to the casual observer. It's always boring when one player pulls away from the pack.

I started off watching on Sky then switched to BBC to avoid the adverts. However, I became increasingly annoyed by the inane and inept commentary of Peter Alliss.

We have this debate twice every year following the Masters and the Open and I used to think that Alliss had a place in the BBC commentary team as he is a bit of an institution. However, it was apparent on Sunday that he didn't have a clue what he was talking about. He was unable to tell from the player's swing where the ball was going, he couldn't pick up the flight of the ball, he seems to have forgotten his course knowledge and wasn't sure which way putts were breaking. He would comment on the position of a player's tee shot and then 5 mins later when we went back to the player to watch his approach, Alliss had already forgotten the tee shot and would be asking how that player got there. Clearly his eyesight and his memory have gone. It was embarrassing.

I didn't notice any of the above.

ScottieD18 wrote:

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:Wonder what will be on the champions dinner menu next year. Looks like the chef maybe from Baghdad

Road kill and moon shine I would guess.

I don't suppose there will be any French dishes on the menu!

Mercurio wrote:

raycastleunited wrote:I thought it was a great tournament this year. Maybe the fact that the much hyped McIlroy / Woods showdown failed to materialise made it more interesting to me, although probably less interesting to the casual observer. It's always boring when one player pulls away from the pack.

I started off watching on Sky then switched to BBC to avoid the adverts. However, I became increasingly annoyed by the inane and inept commentary of Peter Alliss.

We have this debate twice every year following the Masters and the Open and I used to think that Alliss had a place in the BBC commentary team as he is a bit of an institution. However, it was apparent on Sunday that he didn't have a clue what he was talking about. He was unable to tell from the player's swing where the ball was going, he couldn't pick up the flight of the ball, he seems to have forgotten his course knowledge and wasn't sure which way putts were breaking. He would comment on the position of a player's tee shot and then 5 mins later when we went back to the player to watch his approach, Alliss had already forgotten the tee shot and would be asking how that player got there. Clearly his eyesight and his memory have gone. It was embarrassing.

I didn't notice any of the above.

Me neither in all honesty
Give me Peter Allis over Mark Roe or Jack Nicklaus any day!

Plus, who doesn't love Ken Brown?!

I love Ken as well but I have to agree with Ray re Alliss. As a rule I will always choose the Beeb over Sky but Alliss was doing my head in to be honest, but he has been getting on my wick for a long time now its not a new thing.

In many ways for me it boils down to who has the best "supporting cast" - I find the main names on both Beeb and Sky to be irritating. Alliss, Torrance, Brown, Hazel Bloody Irvine, compared with Livingstone, Critchley, Roe, Murray and even Butch Harmon is getting quite annoying lately.

Of the supporting cast however, I quite enjoy Rob Lee, Sarah Stirk (maybe it's the legs), Denis Pugh and a lot of their regular guests are entertaining (Coultard, Howeller, Simon Holmes, Wayne Riley, Hawksworth and the Saffer whose name escapes me just for a moment)

Peter Oosterhuis?

Howeller is brilliant i will give you that.
I just think for the extra golf the Beeb shows i can overlook not having him to listen to.
Had Kirsty Gallagher remained on the Sky golf for the entire thing though things may have been different

I can't stand Ken Brown!!!! There, I've said it

Davie - I think you mean Tony Johnstone (although he's from Zimbabwe). I agree, I much prefer the Sky supporting cast- at least they had Tim Barter interviewing the players at the end of their round and not a cricketer who didn't seem to know what he was talking about. WTF was all that about??? The Beeb's just got rid of Gary Lineker for the same reason!

I thought the Master Breakfast programme each morning was fantastic with interesting (and entertaining) insight from Messrs Lee, Howell and Holmes in the Shot Centre. I didn't bother with BBC because the pictures - and the breaks - were the same anyway. Can't stand the sycophant that is David Livingstone, or his mate Ewan Murray, and I never used to like Bruce Crutchley (that's not a typo!) but some of his one-liners recently have been classics. They could well do without Howard "doom and gloom" Clark as well.

LP completely agree re the Masters Breakfast shows on Sky, they were excellent and have been kept on my Sky planner for rewatching later

The whole Michael Vaughan fiasco must have been very embarrassing for the Beeb and i noticed he disappeared not long after the Tiger interview. Not sure if that was coincidence or common sense!

The big advantage the BBC had for me was when Sky went to an (all too regular) break, the BBC continued to show golf, shots that never appeared on Sky

I think the only person I don't particularly like/rate is Mark Roe.

My favourites are Alliss, Ken, Faldo and Wayne Riley (is he still working for Sky?).

Oh, and Tom Abbott from the Golf Channel - I'll be surprised if he doesn't become one of the top commentators.

I didn't notice Alliss making mistakes either - Critchley I did, though. Not much in it when all's said and done, but the lack of ads swung it for me.

I love ken on the course, but that was about it for insight from the bbc. I've got used to watching golf on sky where the commentator can tell you what side of the fairway the player is aiming for and what is a good miss and what is a bad miss. With Alliss we had "where's he hit it? Is it left? Is it right?" that's just not helpful. On the 10th, bubba's drive caught the spectators path and rolled a good 50 yards down hill. We saw it live, then they showed it again with several people running alongside then they showed it a couple of minutes later to highlight some loser falling over in his excitement (quite funny). Then when it came to his approach Alliss was shocked at how far down bubba was. We had just seen why!

I think next time i will endure the advert on sky. Just watch with a bit of a delay so i can fast forward the ads and mark roe .

The only Golf I'd watch on the Beeb now is the Open and that's only because Sky don't have it. The only downside to sky imo is Cod Roe, but rather see his trouser shuffling over Tiger than sit and listen to Alliss.

Used to like Alliss and his eccentricities and little ditties about days of yore and things about lesser known clubs, now though he seems to have just become a bumbling old fool. I mean no disrespect to anyone but Alliss. He doesn't have a clue anymore and its about time he was retired off because he is making golf coverage for the bbc dire. Not a fan of Andrew Cotter either and his ramblings but still better than old pete.

I never saw any beeb coverage but from what everyone is saying about Vaughan to surely the bbc heirarchy need to think maybe we should get a golfer to commenate on golf or is that to novel an idea!

With all those players out there retired or even not playing in these events you'd think auntie could put a decent field together.

Vaughan was a great cricketer, but an absolute joke as a pundit at a prestigious major event in golf. I was embarassed for him and some of the opening questions he used to top players was crigeworthy. To Woods he may as well have said' so you were shyte out there then'. To Westwood ' if only you could putt'. To Pod ' no chance again this season then mate'. Most of the players didn't even know who he was.

I'm sick of Hazel Irvine and although I've loved Allis over the years (He's been ever present since I was a kid) he's finished and lost the plot so the beeb need some new golf blood and Howler could do it