It’s one thing to miss some of the action when 156 players are spread across the course at a regular event. But when the field is trimmed to just 24 players, with only five matches being played in a session, you’d expect better coverage. Wishful thinking, if the fans’ comments such as “absolute disgrace” are anything to go by.

No matter how many times you have counted on your fingers, neither the Golf Channel nor Sky Sports gets the memo, especially when it comes to capturing the essential aspects of the Presidents Cup. In fact, Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter counted the minutes of commercial breaks in an hour. Trust us, the numbers are absurd.

In an X post, Carpenter revealed that in an hour, there were 15 minutes and 45 seconds of commercials. That was on Golf Channel, one of the two primary broadcasters in America, with the other being NBC.

There were four full commercials, totalling screen time at 11:15 minutes. Two “Playing Through” breaks used up nearly 5 minutes in an hour.

The biennial team championship at Medinah Country Club is being broadcast live and is available to watch on Sky Sports and NOW in the U.K., too. Promising broadcasters, and yet all of them are missing essential shots? Just a couple of holes into Thursday’s opening session, complaints about missed tee shots began flooding social media.

And that was only the beginning. Fans criticized the broadcast for seemingly prioritizing commercial breaks over live action. Such complaints, however, are not entirely new. Golf Monthly reported similar backlash during the opening day of the 2022 Presidents Cup. 

Fans voiced frustration over the number of commercial breaks and the amount of golf being missed. At the time, only five foursome matches were being played, involving 20 players and 10 balls, yet viewers still complained that broadcasters were cutting away essential shots. There’s one specific example, too.

Consider the Tony Finau and Max Homa vs. Taylor Pendrith and Mito Pereira moment from 2022. In an X post, NoLayingUp revealed that among the three matches played, the broadcasters missed both the first and second shots on the 16th hole. The match was tied, but how much did the fans actually see?

Isn’t this harmful for a tournament already struggling?

It is, and the officials should be worried. For instance, even before the tournament kicked off, the PGA Tour was found reselling tickets 25-60% below face value. Not to mention, the tournament has historically struggled to gain serious viewership, just like the Solheim Cup. If anything, it’s a cause for concern.

The 2024 version, for instance, saw a significant decline in television viewership compared with the previous edition. According to Sports Business Journal’s audience analysis, NBC drew an average of 1.37 million viewers for 2024’s final round, down 28% from the 1.89 million viewers who watched the comparable event in 2022. 

The decline was even steeper in 2024, when NBC averaged 1.21 million viewers between 8 a.m. and 6:45 p.m. ET. That represented a 36% drop from the 1.89 million viewers who tuned in during the corresponding Saturday window in 2022. Although a specific reason wasn’t provided for the decline, the focus on commercial breaks hasn’t helped their cause. 

Regardless, as broadcasters followed the tradition into 2026, so did the fans. They took to social media to air their woes. 

Fans are unhappy with the broadcasting

One user was quick to air their frustration over commercial breaks. “Less than an hour after the first shot of the Presidents Cup, I think I have counted 8 commercial breaks and under 20 shots shown,” the user wrote. 

Even in the UK, the broadcast was awful, per this user. “You are imbeciles @SkySportsGolf. An absolute disgrace. A shambles. Shame on you for messing paying golf viewers around. Get your act together. No @presidentscup build up, none of the ceremony, all those channels & you can’t find a space to shift the French Open to. Idiots,” the user commented.

The opening two days at Medinah Country Club outside Chicago will be covered exclusively on Golf Channel, with the network scheduled to air 6½ hours of live action Thursday and another five hours Friday.

Golf Channel will return for the first hour of Saturday’s coverage before NBC takes over.

Another fan chimed in. “How is the Presidents Cup broadcast already missing shots? There are only two groups on the course, and we didn’t see three of the four tee shots on 2….”

Think back to the complaints from four years ago, when one fan said that on a par-4, the broadcasters showed only one tee shot. It was, as per the user, “Below average coverage at best.” Nothing has changed in the last four years.

Others had similar problems. “TV coverage for the Presidents Cup is already horrendous. There [are] 8 dudes on the course. There’s no reason to miss a shot lmfao,” the user commented. 

The next user took things a step further, claiming the broadcast is worse than regular events.

“I forgot that TV coverage in team competitions is even worse than regular events. No tee shot coverage on 2 from the first group. We have 8 guys on the course right now, we should see every single one of their shots. Even with 20 guys on the course, we should see every shot. We might get half…,” claimed the user. 

That said, poor coverage at events seems to have become an unavoidable tradition that doesn’t seem to go away. It would be interesting to see what the viewership numbers will be like for this year’s Presidents Cup.