If you're not an American......

Watching the Masters coverage online this evening, watching all the players come through 11, 12 and 13, I was saddened, but unfortunately not surprised to see zero coverage of Ritchie Ramsay. We got a single putt on 11 and didnt get to see the tap in that followed and after that didnt see a single shot for the next two holes.

We did however get to spend nearly half an hour studying every wart on Mickelsons chin wattles as they wobbled with the shaking of his head after making absolutely no headway on any of the three holes. We got to see plenty of Howell III as well, for some reason.

Ramsay has been quite poorly met by the majority of the American golfing establishment. Do they really covet their toys so much that they cant stand the fact that a home grown player hasnt managed to lift their two biggest trophies for 2 years now? Obviously they dont anticipate Ransay to be a walking billboard for any of their big sponsorship names or they would have been getting him on screen as often as possible.

I also thought the debacle over Ramsays non appearance at Bay Hill was an utter disgrace. Arnold Palmer of all people should have made an effort to get Scotlands Ritchie Ramsay, The 2007 US Amateur Champion (does it sting USGA chiefs, does it?? I bloody hope you wake up at night screaming for an American winner) in the field.

Yet more evidence of where the real power lies on the American tours. I'm betting he dont play Nike or Titleist gear.......corporate shills, all of them.

D.

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Longniddry Golf Club Champ 2005.

In the Taylor Made Bag:

Titleist 905T 8.5 Degree

Callaway Steelhead 3 Wood

Callaway Steelhead 5 Wood

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MacGregor Tourney 52 Degree

Cobra Phil Rodgers 59 Degree Rusty

Odyssey DFX 2-Ball

Callaway Tour iX

You'll see lots of CH3. He's an Augusta, GA native, and he's doing quite well this year.

As for your man Ramsay, he's 6 off the pace through 16 (4 off the pace of cards turned in).

Don't get me wrong - he's perfectly poised to have the amateur low round - but you are talking about American television, in America, on an American course, with American's playing. Now, if you're watching an American feed, what do you expect?

HOWEVER if you're watching a European feed, then I concur that they should be focusing on their man (men). FWIW, I like watching Euro tour events over USPGA events (more shots, less putting); and am quite patriotic (except I know the Canadian chances this weekend are roughly nil).

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A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

Don't get me wrong, I like America and Americans but they must be the most insular people on God's earth.

Mizuno:
Golf Is Not About Where You Come From But How Much Skill Do You Have To Bring Down To Your Knees The Course Where You Play,
Now Tv And The Media On The Other Hand Cover Where The Rating Are... So Don't Get Upset And Enjoy The Tournament
That What I Do

The web feed doesn't show all the golfers. 98% of the viewers don't tune in to see the 5 amateur golfers playing.

The tv feeds aren't just showing Americans. Els, Goosen, Vijay Singh all got quite a bit of tv coverage. What was suprising to me was the ton of coverage that Rose, and the other Singh got. I thought a they did a very good job of showing a bunch of players. Of course they are going to show every shot of Woods and Mickelson because those are the biggest names.

I agree with LowPost42 on the Euro tour events. I would much rather see shots than putting. Thank god of Tivo. Putting is the most boring part of the game to watch. That is probably why my best sleep for the week is usually during the telecasts on Saturday and Sunday.

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Go get 'em, Mizunoman. You and your remarks
would fit right in at our clubhouse.
Let's face it, money and advertising drives
all American sports entertainment. Phil is
probably the face of the product of some
big TV advertiser. Face time at the Masters
translates into advertising impact, and that's
what it is about, as you know.
Your case in point, if he is an amateur, won't
go anywhere. Amateurs are out of the money,
both in the field and on the tube.
American sports is spectator driven. Golf is a
participant sport. Actually, we feel lucky that
certain networlk executives have managed to
get any coverage at all for golf.

WTF......This thread is total B.S.

When and if this Ramsey guy wins something he will get the coverage regardless of nationality. The best golfers in the world are in this.....you think they are going to follow this guys every stroke? Jeez.

Maybe the Tv people really dont like people from Scottland ?

I am glad someone started a thread on this. For a tournament that is arguably the most prestigious to win it has the worst coverage of any golf tournament in the world. As mentioned we watch every facet of Mickleson, Woods and co yet Geoff Ogilvy shoots 32 on the outward nine and we get to see his fist shot which is a tap in put on the 10th. Appleby had 7 birdies today and the first shot we see is his birdie putt on 17. There were other players shooting sub par rounds as well which were not given very much coverage at all. Its disappointing getting up at 5 am to watch bogey golf when there are others shooting awesome scores on what is an unbelievably difficult course this year. We can be thankful Tiger played in the morning otherwise we would have hardly seen a birdie all day.

I ammend my post. I watched some of the
Masters today and Richie was all over the
tube. All I saw was just another good amateur.
Hey nobody handcuffed him and dragged him
over here. Merle Haggard said it best, when
he said, "They love our milk and honey but
they preach about some other way of living."
There is a player out there, though, IMHO,
and his name is Brett Wetterich.

Yep, your man Ritchie Ramsay is really something to watch alright!! He didn't even make the cut and with a fabulous 76 and 80 for a 156 send him back to Scotland from whence he came. He can watch the Masters with the rest of the losers.....

Not doubt in my mind why they don't give him any camera time.....

Brett is making me a killing in a points league.

Interesting how after 2 rounds, we have nobody in the top 10 world rankings under par. We have nobody in the top 20. We have to get to #22 - Mr. Wetterich - for our topmost name from the world rankings.

Coincidence that he's American? You decide.

FWIW - it's one thing to be proud of a fellow countryman. I'm fully chuffed that Mike Weir is +3. It's completely another to complain that they don't get more air time - unless you're merely complaining about the TV coverage in general. In which case the original diagnosis is correct. Money rules the coverage, mostly. It's also why the Golf Digest 'Hot List' is a farce. It's a hot list, alright - who's got the hottest advertising dollars to give to GD. They win.

__________________
PCS Class 'A' Clubfitter - www.pcsgep.com
True Length Technology Fitter - www.truelengthtechnology.com
It's live! - www.ShipShapeClubs.com

A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

My comments had nothing to do with how Ramsay played (though he did ok until the back nine on friday) but how he has been treated as a non american. We pretty much expect the British Amatuer Champ to be ignored by the US media since they see it as a minor competition anyway, but this guy is US Amateur champ, and the USGA is always banging on about the top Pro comp being the US Open and the top amateur comp being the US Amateur. When an american wins the US Amateur he's instantly hailed as the top amateur on earth and feted far and wide on the US circuit, but if Johnny foreigner wins it, its swept under the carpet (Molinari didnt really get a lot of attention either)

And as for him not having won anything, have a little look at the Havermeyer Trophy, his name is there alongside Jones, Palmer, Nicklaus, Woods. For me, thats a career right there, if he never does anything ever, he has still done that. As far as I can tell its a bit more than your man Wetterich has managed so far, apart from a decent walker cup record a win in a middle of the road PGA Tourney and dropping 18 shots on the weekend at Augusta....

D.

__________________
Longniddry Golf Club Champ 2005.

In the Taylor Made Bag:

Titleist 905T 8.5 Degree

Callaway Steelhead 3 Wood

Callaway Steelhead 5 Wood

Callaway X-16 3-PW

MacGregor Tourney 52 Degree

Cobra Phil Rodgers 59 Degree Rusty

Odyssey DFX 2-Ball

Callaway Tour iX

Mizunoman,

You seem to have an axe to grind over all of this, but I think the replies to your post have nailed the reason full stop.

The future viability of the game in so far as high paying dollars for the players is directly related to SELLING the known names and faces to the viewing public, more people that watch the more advertising dollars spent, etc...

I don't think that it is a case of nationalism on part of the American coverage of well known American players. If you have been abroad you can note this in all sports (the olympic TV coverage is a case in point---try watching ice hokey down at this end of the world--nonexistant due to the lack of ANZ teams in the game) even maps of the world for that matter are country centric for that matter the accepted map of the world looks upside down to me...

Where ever you are is THE CENTER OF THE WORLD everywhere else is secondary.

What you should be siding for is BBC coverage of overseas events. You would definitely get the coverage of your great players then.

Tiger Woods is set to be the first sports person of any sport to clear $100,000,000 in earnings in 1 year! Of those earnings, he will probably only pull in 12,000,000 in winnings everything else will be advertising dollars....

Pardon me, but it seems self evident why the coverage in the US is as it is... Tiger wouldn't be earning $88,000,000 a year if it was any different.

A worrying aspect of this is that the game is attracting non-players of the game that take photos at the wrong time and yell "get in the hole" as soon as the ball is putted... I can understand a crowd cheer at a great putt or a near miss but the heckling and rude shouts of inappropriete cheering seems to be degrading the game--at least from an enjoyment aspect of watching it.

Now that is an axe to grind...

__________________
SumoSid
"Moments of Greatness followed by Moments of horror."

Golf coverage is always focussed on the big names. Apparently if Tiger doesn't make the cut the ratings for the tournament tank right away. Which is why they let him move loose impediments like boulders.

What was pretty hilarious during the Masters were the Mickelson Callaway ads where he boasts about how good his drives are and how he's won a major every year since he started using Callaway. The ad ends and cut back to Mickelson searching for his ball in the woods after another bad drive.

Ha ha.

Actually, I'm feeling pretty bad for Phil. Every time someone sticks a mike in his face it's US Open this and US Open that. Give the guy a break.

Anyway back on topic, I'd love to have seen more Tim Clark or anyone else for that matter but watching Zach -- who is not exactly a household name -- win was pretty sweet.

Had this been included in your original post (to make it clearer), I would have agreed wholeheartedly with you. In fact, I completely agree with the quoted material.

I thought you were simply stating that US tv should put more coverage on international players - specifically Mr. Ramsay.

And IIRC, Molinari got roughly the same coverage as Ramsay, but Ricky Barnes got twice as much as either of them.