Nick Westby: Shutting door on Open viewers makes sense only financially

Seve Ballesteros’s adrenalin-fuelled fist pump, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson walking towards the 18th green at Turnberry with the setting sun in the background, Jean van der Velde stood in the Barry Burn at Carnoustie with his trousers rolled up to his knees.

They are the moments that inspired budding young players to chase their dream and, more crucially, woke up non-golf fans to the majesty of the sport.

But it was not just those iconic pictures, it was everything that made the Open so intriguing, so accessible and so, well, Open.

But no more – or rather, from 2017 onwards – no more.

For the Open has been whisked away from terrestrial television to a new home on Sky Sports.

Once again the BBC has turned its back on what was once a ‘crown jewel’ – just when golf needed its long-time partner the most.

As was discussed in this column last week, participation numbers across most sports are in decline, with golf suffering as badly as any.

There are nearly 200 golf clubs in Yorkshire, and no matter what compass point you land on, whether it is a club in a leafy, affluent suburb or a municipal course in a working-class residential area, memberships and people coming through the door are down.

Granted, not all clubs are enduring a decrease in numbers, but the large majority are.

Green fees and rising membership subscriptions obviously do not help in a tough economic climate, but these are trying times for golf clubs across the land.

Plus, golf clubs have to stay sustainable, so in the face of falling interest, must find ways to make up the shortfall.

But there is no question that the R&A’s decision to leave the BBC is a body blow to the sport at grass roots level.

On the face of it, it looks as if the governing body have put money over exposure; £75m from Sky as opposed to the £50m they received from the BBC, who would always give it greater viewing figures and a free-to-air audience.

But the Royal & Ancient have vowed to use the extra £25m from its new five-year deal to address dwindling participation numbers – which, let us be honest, is hardly a new phenomenon and should have been something they have been tackling for the last decade or more.

Which makes the announcement that it is undertaking a “comprehensive strategic review” on the number of people playing golf in the United Kingdom and Ireland slightly perplexing.

Granted, £25m seems like a lot of money to spend, but unless it is used wisely and, more importantly, imaginatively, then potential future major champions risk being lost to the game.

Rory McIlroy has already said he got into golf because he watched the Open on the BBC.

Lee Westwood, the most vociferous of opponents to the BBC’s decision to no longer put money into the game, told of how he was inspired to take up golf by watching Nick Faldo win one of his three Opens.

The argument goes that viewing figures on the BBC were not so great, but the value of having such wall-to-wall, accessible coverage was that someone who was not necessarily a golf nut might stumble across it – because for one week in July it dominates the schedule and is almost impossible to avoid – kill 10 minutes watching and become interested enough to give it a go themselves or persuade their children to do so.

Golf fans will still get their fix, but it is not they whom the R&A need to attract, it is the non-playing millions in the population.

The sport will make its return to the Olympics next year, which will see live action on free-to-air television, but that surely cannot form much of the R&A’s grand marketing strategy.

From their perspective though, what choice did the R&A have? If you were being offered a choice between £75m or £50m, which sane person would choose the latter.

The BBC are equally as culpable.

Their approach to sport in recent times has been nothing short of disrespectful.

Their golf portfolio has been dwindling for a long-time, tournament by tournament, succumbing to a broadcaster in Sky who possess a large chequebook and a single-minded objective to be the one and only golf broadcaster.

They took the Ryder Cup nearly two decades ago, with the PGA Championship at Wentworth, the Scottish Open and then the Masters – another one-time favourite of the BBC – following in recent years.

And to be fair to Sky, they do a terrific job, giving the first round at the Czech Open as much coverage as the final day at Augusta.

Sky’s team is the best in the business, and one they constantly keep evolving with new faces and fresh innovations.

You can guarantee that they will milk their new prized possession of the Open for all it is worth, and by the time of their first Open at Royal Birkdale in 2017 will have come up with new camera angles or graphics that make the BBC’s coverage from just a year earlier look dated.

With the Open’s move, golf has gone the way of cricket – now solely the domain of Sky.

How many cricketers have been lost because only a small percentage can watch the Ashes, ICC World Cup or the County Championship on subscription satellite television?

How many golfers will be lost due to the BBC’s decision not to stand up for sport?

The BBC have already neglected their racing coverage. About all that is left is the FA Cup, the rugby league Challenge Cup, three snooker tournaments, a second-string darts event and a shared Formula 1 package with, guess who, Sky.

The Beeb has four crown jewels left; summer football tournaments, summer and winter Olympics, Six Nations and Wimbledon.

How long before Sky or some other new kid on the block with a bottomless pit of money swoops in for one of those?

Imagine if Wimbledon goes, what damage that would do to grass-roots tennis in this country. Golf and cricket can probably survive with the healthy numbers that still remain – it could spell the end for tennis partipation in this country.

But back to golf. The R&A and the BBC are equally to blame, with the sport and its followers the ones to suffer.

In two years if you want to see those emotive, inspirational moments an Open throws up – the Ballesteroses, the Watsons, the Faldos – you will have to pay for the privilege. What a shame.