Not only was Thursday a big day in the golf world as it was the opening day of the 2015 United States Open from Chambers Bay on the Puget Sound, it was also the first time that Fox Sports 1’s new golf broadcast got their hands on a major championship. Did I mention that the course is right on the Puget Sound? Fox has just mentioned it a few times. We’ll start with some positive things because there are some things that Fox is doing incredibly well.
U.S. Open: Thoughts on Fox’s First Two Days Covering a Major
1.) The graphics are just phenomenal. No really, how have I gone this long watching golf without having a ProTracer live on every tee shot? I don’t care if they’re using it just to cover up for the fact that all their cameramen can’t follow golf balls during flight yet, it really helps you understand how bad Tigers round was yesterday.
The fact that Fox also leaves the scoreboard live during the entire broadcast is a great touch too, much like ESPN did debuting new graphics when they debuted the brand new College Football Playoff last year the visuals are the best part of this entire broadcast, that and the fact that this is the most interesting course that the U.S Open has ever been played on. Even if somebody “unplugged” the scoreboard for about half an hour cutting to live camera shots of the scoreboard was…fun?
2.) The graphics weren’t the only fun new gadget that Fox Sports debuted, previewing the holes by driving a RC car up the fairway couldn’t have come at a better course than Chambers Bay this year, it truly shows the elevation change in the holes and is just one of the ways Fox is already changing golf broadcasting with this new 10-year deal with the US Open. The drones! of the drones may be my new favourite way to view a golf hole, just another new way that Fox is changing the game.
3.) The chemistry is far from there between Joe Buck and Greg Norman, but I don’t hate the potential they show. Of the on air talent on Fox’s golf team they show the most promise. Greg Norman is phenomenal, Joe Buck has a great voice, can paint a gorgeous picture with words and sets a stage very well. The more tournaments these two get their hands on I can only see it continue to improve.
They did some fantastic things in these first two days, The combined audience of the first-day coverage averaged 2.0 million viewers, making it the most-watched opening round since the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. I’m also a huge fan of the online streaming of the featured groups. That’s something to be proud of Fox, but their have been a few things over these first two days that you shouldn’t be so proud of.
1.) I’ll say it, I don’t like Curt Menefee on golf. You can’t refer to a holed bunker shot as a chip shot, and the producer and director have to stop cutting to the desk and the panel during live play, especially during a Thursday and Friday when so much is happening on the course. There’s too much Curt Menefee on my TV and I’m tuning in to see golf, not NFL Countdown.
2.) It’s the little things I notice, to a crew like CBS or NBC who has gelled together for years the transitions are seamless, but Fox has a bit rougher transitions between the tower, the studio and the reporters all around the course. That’s something that is going to be fixed in time, the more comfortable this crew becomes the better this will become.
The group of people who watch televised golf are very against change, but I don’t hate it. Fox shows a heck of a lot of potential. If anything they need to hire a few more very strong on air personalities, get the crew more accustomed to broadcasting golf and before we know it it’ll be just like watching NBC or CBS, but with funky new gadgets and Joe Buck.
As much as people over social media cried out over the first two days of Fox’s work they better get used to it, they have 10 more years of Joe Buck talking about gorgeous landscapes and fathers day.
