Things heated up towards the end of the 2026 WM Phoenix Open. It looked like things would go down to the wire between Hideki Matsuyama and Michael Thorbjornsen. But it was Chris Gotterup who rose to the occasion and took on the Japanese major winner in the playoffs. However, the CBS Network failed to show him getting in contention until it was just Gotterup and Matsuyama on the field.

As a fan pointed out, “Watched the PGA Tournament today. Chris Gotterup won, however, CBS had a lost opportunity as Chris was on TV for only a total of five minutes in five + hours, hole 1 to 18. Almost no coverage of Chris until the playoff. The CBS producer screwed up big time.”

It wasn’t like Gotterup wasn’t in contention in the final round. While his 7-under 64 certainly helped him rise up the leaderboard, he was still in a strong position while approaching the last 4-5 holes. But CBS failed to cover him and instead focused on the other top contenders.

The broadcast was primarily focused on Scottie Scheffler, Matsuyama, Thorbjornsen, and Nicolai Højgaard. The World No. 1’s flawless run on Championship Sunday certainly deserved the spotlight. But adding Gotterup to the coverage towards the end of the round wouldn’t have hurt.

It didn’t come as a surprise that many others in the golf community also had the same complaint. Let’s see what others had to say about the poor coverage.

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Netizens call out CBS for poor coverage of Chris Gotterup’s final round performance

Lack of focus on the eventual champion, Chris Gotterup, really left the fans infuriated. They were puzzled by the CBS Network’s approach to broadcasting.

Notably, one supporter pointed out that the network is infamous for pulling such stunts: “Are you new to golf? CBS is known for their awful golf coverage where they focus on 2-5 players in the final round. Always missing story lines as they build, and jumping to “highlights” of a guy hitting it to a foot who is +1 for the event and not in contention.”

It’s not just the final round coverage that is questionable. The fans are used to CBS messing up the first round broadcast of the Masters Tournament as well.

Someone also pointed out, “This is par for the course for the pga tour. They have not yet figured out how to cover a golf trny. If your a Hideki or Scottie fan it was great. Rest of the field not so much.”

As mentioned, the broadcast was mainly covering Matsuyama, Scheffler, and a few other names. Anyone at the top of the leaderboard received attention from CBS. But since Gotterup got into contention late, the network failed to build his story.

Talking about a critical moment in the round, one fan wrote, “They just show what pays them. They were showing Scottie Scheffler highlights instead of Thorbjornsen putt for eagle to take the lead.”

Thorbjornsen had scored an outstanding eagle on the par-5 15th hole to go to the top of the leaderboard. However, CBS failed to put the camera on him and instead showed Scheffler’s comeback. Fans could only see the 24-year-old’s efforts on the leaderboard instead of him scoring the 11-footer after an outstanding approach shot.

Someone sarcastically said, “You mean 64 on the last day is not worth coverage ?”

Scheffler’s 7-under 64 in the final round to jump up 13 places to T3 was truly remarkable. Especially considering that he was at T89 at the end of the first round. However, Gotterup also recorded the same score on Championship Sunday. Moreover, his efforts helped him win at TPC Scottsdale.

Another fan criticized the PGA Tour broadcast to be a popularity contest as they said, “This has always been the problem with the PGAT. If you’re not in the cool club they don’t show you. If someone like Rory was 10 back they would show most of his shots for no reason.”

Big stars like Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are often given a lot of coverage, even when they are not in contention. The same happened at the 2025 Genesis Invitational, when the cameras were following the Irishman when it was Ludvig Aberg who was winning the tournament.