Golf Ch. European Tour commentators?

[Puppetmaster]

But it's the annual 'Boomer' Chris Berman Classic coming up, surely you are all excited by this.......

 

I stopped watching that tournament because of him.

[Holy Moses]

But it's the annual 'Boomer' Chris Berman Classic coming up, surely you are all excited by this.......

 

I'll take him at Pebble over ESPN doing the US Open any day

 

[imakaveli]

What's a European accent?

[nichho]

What's a European accent?

 

Jean van de Velde does a mean one when he appears on sky.

[Nick6771]

Let me throw my hat in to the pile of " I very much love the euro coverage compared to faldo and his crew " The euro team is superior in every way. From knowledge to the fact that their jokes are funnier. lol

 

Tony Johnstone is also a great commentator. That self-deprecating humour of his is classic.

 

He's very knowledgeable about wildlife as well.

[anth]

Let me throw my hat in to the pile of " I very much love the euro coverage compared to faldo and his crew " The euro team is superior in every way. From knowledge to the fact that their jokes are funnier. lol

 

Tony Johnstone is also a great commentator. That self-deprecating humour of his is classic.

 

He's very knowledgeable about wildlife as well.

 

Favourite Tony Johnstone moment was a few months back. His co-commentator was using some rather large words and Tony deadpans in his wonderful accent - "what, did you have some alphabet soup for lunch?"

[shotmark]

Jay Townsend is the American in the group. Having never heard of him before, I Googled him and apparently he played the European Tour back in the day. Personally, I enjoy the "less is more" approach to golf commentary they employ on the European Tour coverage.

 

Agree re less is more. Henry Longhurst (google him) used to say "if it doesn't need saying don't say it."

[Pieter P]

Let me throw my hat in to the pile of " I very much love the euro coverage compared to faldo and his crew " The euro team is superior in every way. From knowledge to the fact that their jokes are funnier. lol

 

Tony Johnstone is also a great commentator. That self-deprecating humour of his is classic.

 

He's very knowledgeable about wildlife as well.

 

Favourite Tony Johnstone moment was a few months back. His co-commentator was using some rather large words and Tony deadpans in his wonderful accent - "what, did you have some alphabet soup for lunch?"

Best Tony Johnstone story :

He and Seve playing in the Dutch open. Par four, drive over a small hill, with a tree in the middle of the fairway. Cannot see how the ball end in the fairway from the tee.

Tony gets to a ball first flush against the tree. Ask Seve lall the options on getting a free drop from the lie - "No Tony" in heavy Spanish accent on all the options, on which Tony said ' great Seve, that is your ball "

[ago33]

The thing with US is that it's all about winning. If you don't win in the US, you suck even if you make $600k for second place. Where as in Europe, all they care about is if you hit a good shot or not. I like it a lot more too.

[south_side_lefty]

Yeah, all that plus no tournament sponsor interviews.

[Jonesy]

My best is the lack of statistics... On the PGA Tour coverage it's just stats upon stats, drives me mad that I can't watch actual golf.

[Disco Dave]

Jay Townsend is the American in the group. Having never heard of him before, I Googled him and apparently he played the European Tour back in the day. Personally, I enjoy the "less is more" approach to golf commentary they employ on the European Tour coverage.

 

+1 for the less is more approach. Is it possible in the States to get that type of coverage for US events?

[ruca]

Jay Townsend is the American in the group. Having never heard of him before, I Googled him and apparently he played the European Tour back in the day. Personally, I enjoy the "less is more" approach to golf commentary they employ on the European Tour coverage.

 

+1 for the less is more approach. Is it possible in the States to get that type of coverage for US events?

 

I believe it may be possible to get sky sports coverage of PGA events ( via the internet); at some of them they have extra cameras, so when the host broadcaster goes to commercial break ( every 10 mins) they just carry on showing live golf ( with hardly any commentary)

[Disco Dave]

Jay Townsend is the American in the group. Having never heard of him before, I Googled him and apparently he played the European Tour back in the day. Personally, I enjoy the "less is more" approach to golf commentary they employ on the European Tour coverage.

 

+1 for the less is more approach. Is it possible in the States to get that type of coverage for US events?

 

I believe it may be possible to get sky sports coverage of PGA events ( via the internet); at some of them they have extra cameras, so when the host broadcaster goes to commercial break ( every 10 mins) they just carry on showing live golf ( with hardly any commentary)

 

Cool, thank you. Will check that out

[sheldonjhacker]

[Jordan J. Caron]

I miss the days of Warren Humphries and Renton Laidlaw, not that I might the dulcet tones of Julian Tutt. Mike Ritz on the other hand...

 

I hate how they cue in Scott Walker and Mike Ritz just after a commercial break to chime in for 30 seconds then cut straight to the other commentators. We know those two aren't on the grounds and are in the studio.

 

And I do miss Humphreys and Laidlaw. Humphreys still does a few events, in fact I think he's doing Maybank this week.

 

 

 

Cool, thank you. Will check that out

 

Here is a Sky Sport 4 feed.

[golfortennis]

Sorry to necro a thread, but apparently Dougie Donnelly is leaving the European Tour broadcasts.  Sure hope it was his decision and not someone else's.  And I sure as heck someone doesn't think the broadcasts need more sizzle.

 

First Laidlaw a couple years ago, and now Donnelly.  I know father time waits for no one, but still kind of sucks.

[Soloman1]

On 2/8/2017 at 1:43 AM, Jonesy said:

My best is the lack of statistics... On the PGA Tour coverage it's just stats upon stats, drives me mad that I can't watch actual golf.

 

Yes, 62% of viewers over the age of 50 say the same thing.

68% of people have noticed it within the last 3 months.

52% of people say it's most annoying after one hour into the broadcast.

[anth]

14 hours ago, Bluefan75 said:

Sorry to necro a thread, but apparently Dougie Donnelly is leaving the European Tour broadcasts.  Sure hope it was his decision and not someone else's.  And I sure as heck someone doesn't think the broadcasts need more sizzle.

 

First Laidlaw a couple years ago, and now Donnelly.  I know father time waits for no one, but still kind of sucks.

He has said he’s not retiring, so I suspect the decision was taken out of his hands.  Seems a strange move by the powers that be - he is a great caller.  I hope this is not a sign of things to come (if they move Tony Johnstone there’ll be riots!).

 

Maybe we’ll see him resurface on the PGL broadcast?

[golfortennis]

2 hours ago, anth said:

He has said he’s not retiring, so I suspect the decision was taken out of his hands.  Seems a strange move by the powers that be - he is a great caller.  I hope this is not a sign of things to come (if they move Tony Johnstone there’ll be riots!).

 

Maybe we’ll see him resurface on the PGL broadcast?

I hope whoever is behind this is not one of these "need to have recently retired players so they can relate to the audience" people.  When I still watched the NFL, ESPN would replace guys who were good because some "star" had just retired, and lots of times he would be worse. 

 

Maybe there are egos in play(would not be surprising), but a lot of times the decisions by TV powers that be are just asinine.

 

Maybe the people Michael Crichton referenced are moving here as well.  Crichton in a book is quoted as saying TV people are some of the stupidest people he has ever encountered.  When reminded he has a PhD and thus most people would seemingly qualify as stupid, he said, "No, I mean 2+2=5 stupid."