Rory McIlroy shares life lessons at Masters
Rory shares the life lessons of the Masters, how his patience and tenacity at Augusta goes beyond golf.
Masters/Courtesy of Augusta National
TV ratings for this year’s Masters soared, with an average of 14 million viewers watching Rory McIlroy win his second consecutive green jacket during Sunday’s final round.
But with all this attention comes intense scrutiny. And the CBS broadcast featured several high-profile mistakes, particularly in the final moments when the cameras failed to spot McIlroy and Cameron Young’s approach shots to the 18th green.
NBC Sports golf analyst Kevin Kisner was perhaps the most vocal critic, accusing rival stations of not only missing camera shots but showing recorded action that gave viewers the impression it was live.
“I was (expletive) confused the whole time trying to keep up with the CBS feed behind the scenes,” Kisner said on Barstool Sports’ golf podcast “Fore Play” on Tuesday, April 14. “They literally keep showing me (expletive) all day long what happened 10 minutes ago.”
Kisner, who worked on SiriusXM radio broadcasts, said he once texted CBS Sports announcer Colt Knost to ask him what was going on and said he preferred to follow the action on the Masters app rather than CBS’ television coverage.
“Can you imagine watching the (expletive) Super Bowl and being like, ‘Yeah, Tom Brady scored a touchdown seven minutes ago, and we’re going to act like it’s live here so the announcers can sound really smart?'” Kinser said on the podcast.
In the golf world, it’s rare to criticize another network’s coverage. But Kinser didn’t pull any punches.
“I have no idea what they’re doing. I literally have no idea. They tape every shot. It’s unbelievable. I don’t even know what the announcers call it,” Kisner said.
Jim Nantz addresses criticism of CBS’ Masters broadcast
CBS lead announcer Jim Nantz acknowledged there were some problems with Sunday’s broadcast, but defended CBS’ overall coverage.
Appearing on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday, April 14, Nantz said that things like this happen on live television and that “everyone makes mistakes.”
When asked about the specific criticism of delayed coverage and not being able to see McIlroy’s final putt go into the hole, Nantz held off.
“I can’t speak to the challenges and some of the decisions and other things that people are responsible for. All I know is that our crews are the best in the industry.”
