English golfer Lee Westwood has urged the public owned British Broadcasting Corporation or BBC to do everything in its power to keep the Open Championship on free to air live television, and he urged the R&A to give them that opportunity as well.
According to several media reports, BBC rival Sky is growing in confidence that they will be able to secure the television rights for the British major when they are up for tender, beating the BBC to it.
The BBC has a contract with the R&A but that expires at the end of the tournament next year at the Royal Troon and although the former world number one has hailed the commitment shown by Sky for the development of golf, he feels it would be a huge shame if the Open Championship was not telecast live in terrestrial screens.
Lee Westwood said that Sky cannot be faulted for what they are doing, especially with the kind of resources that they have already put into the sport and with the Masters tournament already in the bag, it is only right for them to go for the Open Championship which would be the last piece of the jigsaw for them as far as professional golf for men is concerned.
But he believes that from the perspective of a golfer who wants the Open to reach audiences far and wide that would be very disappointing.
According to Lee Westwood, true fans of golf would obviously find ways to watch the Open even if it was not on BBC but what concerns him is that with the participation level drastically falling, it wouldn’t be attractive enough for people who do not watch golf on a regular basis to make the time and find a way of watching the Open one way or the other.
