The Open is great on the BBC, but few will mourn when Sky take things up a notch... Golf has problems but this switch is not one

• Sky take over coverage of The Open from the BBC, starting next year
• On radio and television, BBC's coverage this week has been sublime
• But the best sports programme on British TV is Sky's work on the Ashes
• Their cricket coverage is as close to heaven as sports broadcasting gets
• Now they can work their magic on The Open after taking over the TV rights
• Jules Bianchi offers a reminder that F1 can never suffer from complacency
• Sir Nick Faldo deserved his moment in the sun despite the delays caused 

By Oliver Holt for the Mail on Sunday

Published: 17:00 EST, 18 July 2015 | Updated: 04:10 EST, 19 July 2015

The Open is one of the things that BBC Sport does best. Some might say that is because it is one of the only things it does at all these days, but that would be churlish. On radio and on television, its coverage of Britain’s major golf tournament is sublime.

To listen to John Inverdale anchoring 5 Live’s broadcast of the action at St Andrews these past couple of days has been to be reminded what a fine, clever, gently funny broadcaster he can be. And his supporting cast is one of the best around.

To tune in to Hazel Irvine, Peter Alliss, Andrew Cotter, Maureen Madill and the rest on BBC2 has been an exercise in enjoying one of the greatest annual occasions in British sport in the company of knowledge, wit, affection for the sport and some of the most mellifluous voices of our summer.

The Open is one of the things that BBC Sport does best and their coverage this week has been sublime

John Inverdale has reminded 5 Live listeners what a fine, clever, gently funny broadcaster he can be

But many of us will still not mourn when the television tradition of The Open on the BBC comes to an end

Highlights from Day Three of The British Open at St Andrews

‘You’re not supposed to do that, young sir,’ said Alliss on Friday evening when the wunderkind Jordan Spieth missed a short birdie putt at the third. He is the last link to the voices of our sporting past, Dan Maskell, Sir Peter O’Sullevan, David Coleman and Richie Benaud.

But despite all the hours of pleasure the BBC’s broadcasts of The Open have brought sport lovers here over the last 60 years, many of us will still not mourn when the television tradition comes to an end after next year’s tournament at Royal Troon and Sky takes over the R&A’s contract.

Why? Well, for a start, terrific though the BBC’s coverage of The Open has been during the last three days, it still wasn’t the best sports programme on British television. That honour belonged to Sky’s coverage from Lord’s of the second Test of an already compelling Ashes series.

Sky’s cricket coverage is as close to heaven as sports broadcasting gets. Nasser Hussain is just about the sharpest analyst around, Michael Atherton is a compelling mixture of sardonic and authoritative, David Lloyd is funny and acerbic in turns.

David Gower is old elegance personified, Sir Ian Botham gives it to you straight, Michael Holding is astute and dry, Shane Warne still likes a wind-up and Ian Ward is a fine interviewer and master of video analysis in his own right.

They have taken cricket coverage to a new level since they started broadcasting home Tests in 2006, while maintaining the spirit, the ethos and the class of the vintage coverage of yesteryear. Even those of us who still smile when we think back to Test Match Cricket on the BBC accept that.

Sir Ian Botham gives it to you straight in Sky Sports' brilliant and varied Ashes coverage of the second Test

Shane Warne still likes a wind-up and he has been part of Sky's efforts to revolutionise cricket broadcasting

If the BBC wanted to retain their rights to The Open, they should have made sure they weren’t outbid for them. And even though some greeted Sky’s coup as if it were the clearest sign yet of the breakdown of civilised society as we know it, the reality is likely to be very different.

One of the great concerns of many golf lovers was that Sky’s acquisition of the rights to The Open would make Britain’s showpiece golf event less affordable and less accessible to viewers, thus hastening the decline in participation numbers that is spreading panic throughout the game.

The evidence of Sky’s coverage of major sports suggests that will not happen. Its football programming, and particularly the input of Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher and their clever use of video technology, has chimed with a new generation of football-watchers.

This is a generation that wants to be educated as well as entertained. It’s the hipster generation, a generation with an often daunting level of knowledge about sport. It knows all the facts and figures already. It knows the players. It wants insight. It wants to be told stuff it can’t find on the internet. Neville and Carragher provide that. So do Hussain, Atherton and the rest of the Sky cricket team. And in the cases of both sports, it has made them cult viewing. In both cases, gold standard coverage has become synonymous with gold standard sport.

Thierry Henry in Sky Sport's greatest Premier League moments

Sky's coverage of major sports, such as their work on football, suggests participation will not decline

The input of Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher has chimed with a new generation of football-watchers

It has made the sports, as well as the broadcasting, look current and modern and vibrant. And most of all, it has made them look successful and attractive to a younger generation. The Open is ripe for that treatment. There is no reason why it should not at least contribute to easing some of the concerns that golf harbours about its future.

The worries about the effects of affordability and accessibility are legitimate and heartfelt but it is likely they will also prove to be groundless. The bottom line is that golf participation figures have been falling rapidly while The Open has been televised by the BBC anyway. Golf is worried about being left in the past and the R&A are hoping Sky can help to change that.

Sky already have a fine track record in golf. Their coverage of Europe's Ryder Cup victory at Gleneagles last year was named the Best Sports Programme at the annual Royal Television Society awards. It will take things up a notch with the capture of The Open.

Gary Lineker was a first-class presenter of the BBC's golf coverage and may have a point about the R&A

Some are suggesting loud music should be played at golf courses during tournaments to arrest its slide in popularity. Some say golfers should have to play faster, be allowed to wear headphones or play nine holes instead of 18. Outlawing clubs who still refuse to allow women members might also help to banish the idea that golf is stuck somewhere in the Fifties.

Gary Lineker, who, by the way, was a first-class presenter of the BBC’s golf coverage when he was given the job, may well have a point in his barbed criticisms of those who run the R&A. Their petty snobberies may indeed be damaging the game.

Still, my guess is that freshening up the way golf is broadcast will be a help, not a hindrance. Golf may have its problems but switching coverage of The Open from the BBC to Sky is not one of them.

TRAGIC DEATH OF BIANCHI IS A TIMELY REMINDER 

In 1993, the first season I reported on motor racing, I went to see an IndyCar race in Long Beach and noticed a man in a wheelchair being pushed around the paddock.

It was Clay Regazzoni, the former Ferrari driver, who had been paralysed from the waist down in an accident during the United States Grand Prix West in 1980. It was the first time I had been confronted with the physical evidence of the dangers of the sport.

Jules Bianchi passed away at the age of 25 after crashing into a crane during the Japanese Grand Prix

Bianchi's tragic death is a timely reminder that there can never, ever be complacency in this sport 

F1 driver Jules Bianchi dies from crash injures aged 25

The following year, Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna were killed at Imola and a whole raft of new safety measures were introduced.

There had been no fatalities in the two decades that have passed since but the tragic death of Jules Bianchi on Saturday from injuries sustained at last year’s Japanese Grand Prix is a timely reminder that there can never, ever be room for complacency in a sport where brave men risk their lives every time they race.

GIVE NICK A BREAK - HE WAS OUR BEST 

Sir Nick Faldo is an unprepossessing character with high levels of self regard, low levels of selfknowledge and an uncanny knack of making people look at each other in appalled disbelief every time he cracks a joke.

Nevertheless, he was once one hell of a golfer and some of the criticism aimed at him for posing for pictures on the Swilcan Bridge at St Andrews to mark what may have been his last Open seemed rather harsh.

Sir Nick Faldo was harshly criticised for posing for pictures on the Swilcan Bridge at St Andrews

Faldo may be a pain in the neck but he is Europe's greatest ever golfer and deserved his moment in the sun

Faldo was criticised for holding up playing partners Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler, who were still contending for the tournament.

Well, Faldo may be a pain in the neck but he is also Europe's greatest ever golfer and he deserved his moment in the sun.

Faldo was criticised for holding up playing partners Justin Rose (left) and Rickie Fowler at St Andrews

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