For many golf nerds like me, the week of The Masters is the highlight of the sports calendar each and every year. And I'm not talking just golf here; I'm talking about every sport.
I'm an NFL writer as well, but I get more excited for The Masters than I do the Super Bowl. So, that's where my fandom level lies.
So, you can imagine how disappointed I am with the coverage of the season's first major championship, at least in the morning.
ESPN's television coverage in the afternoon was fantastic during Thursday's opening round, as it was a normal type of broadcast, with viewers getting to see shots from several different groups making their way around Augusta National.
The problem there, though, is that ESPN's coverage didn't start until 3:00 p.m. Eastern, which will also be the case for Friday's second round.
Up until that point, however, the only way to watch was on Masters.com, the Masters app, or Paramount+, all of which run the exact same coverage. But while any coverage of The Masters is still great for a guy like me, it's not nearly enough.
Allow me to explain.
The lack of a main feed in early Masters coverage is bothersome
For those who watch PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ each and every week, you know the broadcast comes with four concurrent streams—Main Feed, Marquee Group, Featured Group, and Featured Holes.
What one has to remember, of course, is that the PGA Tour doesn't run The Masters, which is why PGA Tour Live isn't a thing this week.
Instead, what we get from the Masters app, Masters.com, and Paramount+ is Featured Groups and three different streams for certain holes, those being as follows:
- Nos. 4, 5, 6
- Amen Corner (Nos. 11, 12, 13)
- Nos. 15, 16 Live
That's it. No Main Feed whatsoever. And that's a massive problem.
Yes, the four groups chosen for the Featured Groups feed were solid, as we got these trios:
- Collin Morikawa, Joaquín Niemann, Min Woo Lee
- Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Jose Luis Ballester
- Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Åberg, Akshay Bhatia
- Jon Rahm, Wyndham Clark, Tommy Fleetwood
But are you telling me that viewers don't want to see anyone else like they would on a Main Feed? I mean, look at some of the others who were on the course on Thursday morning. In between the Morikawa and Scheffler groups was the trio of Phil Mickelson, Jason Day, Keegan Bradley. And right after the Scheffler group were Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, Tyrrell Hatton.
Yes, viewers can catch other players on the hole streams, but there's a big problem there also.
The one positive is that Nos. 4, 5, and 6 are early in the round, so players reach those holes fairly quickly. The drawback, though, is that until the Featured Groups get going in the morning, Nos. 1, 2, and 3, which are great holes, effectively don't exist.
And with Amen Corner and Nos. 15 and 16 being on the second nine, one has to wait several hours for groups to arrive. And again, until the Featured Groups get rolling, the others on the back side aren't seen until ESPN goes on the air at 3:00.
Look, I'll take any Augusta coverage I can get. But it's such an easy fix to add a Main Feed. If the PGA Tour can give me one for the John Deere Classic, surely the folks at Augusta National can give me one for The Masters.