If anything marred American fans’ first day at the Ryder Cup (beyond Team USA’s disastrous performance), it was the coverage of the event itself. The atmosphere was nonetheless charged, at times toeing the mark of what is acceptable. But unfortunately, most of these were missed by the ones streaming from the comfort of their homes, making it not so comfortable. The glitchy broadcast induced a lot of groans, including from a player who could have been on the course, if not for Keegan Bradley‘s snub.

Among the many disappointed voices at the tournament’s far-from-perfect broadcast, Chris Gotterup took to his X account to express his disappointment with a tinge of sarcasm.

“I don’t think there is enough commercials.”

Later, correcting his grammatical error, he reposted: “I suck at English (*are) but point stands.”

His point does stand, because this was exactly what hundreds of fans and golf nerds complained about the moment the day started. The entire coverage, as put by many US fans, was blasted with endless interruptions. Every few minutes, the play was chopped up by ads, adding to the frustration of an already struggling US Team. They lost the morning session to Team Europe by 3-1. Through all this, the flow of the match could not find its rhythm.

It hits hard because this is an event that is played once every two years. Graeme McDowell, a former Ryder Cupper from Europe, also put his words bluntly.

“This @USANetwork coverage is driving me insane already. Think we are on the 5th commercial break. May have to flip on the @SkySports version”

In what can be considered a coincidence, McDowell also reportedly suffered a snub from the Ryder Cup. He was one of the potential candidates for captaining Team Europe, but was sidelined due to his affiliation with LIV.

Several other players, like Byeong Hun An and Michael Kim, used humor to address the discrepancy. The former said that there were more commercials than golf, and the latter was baffled by how the network could possibly miss so many shots when only eight balls were in play.

And while these comments do stand out, Chris Gotterup’s remarks are the ones that hit home. Until August, his name kept rotating as a potential captain’s pick for the team. He even admitted that Keegan Bradley reached out to him, texting him about his good form. But days later, when Captain America announced his six choices, Gotterup’s name was missing.

In hindsight, it might make sense as to why Bradley omitted Gotterup. Although Gotterup stood tenth at the FedEx Cup standings with a third-place finish at The Open Championship and a stellar victory at the Genesis Scottish Open, his form emerged only later in the season. Initially, he faltered with eight missed cuts from his first eleven starts. But after the USA’s questionable performance today, one might wonder if choosing Gotterup could have been the right choice after all? You see, he defeated Rory McIlroy in the Genesis Scottish Open, a tournament held at McIlory’s European turf.

These questions can be answered eventually, but what remains is the poor coverage of an elite biennial tournament. Apart from nagging commercial breaks, audio and sync issues were also reported. The sound of the club striking the ball lagged behind the video, and the cheers from the crowd came seconds late. It was not just the television streaming, but YouTube viewers were also affected. When the coverage returned from breaks, alerts were plastered across the screen about a possible NBC-YouTube TV carriage dispute.

At the same time, Canadian viewers were left without access for hours, stuck with filler programming until cable providers resolved the feed. A poll by No Laying Up on X revealed that 94% of over 4,500 respondents rated the coverage “Bad” within minutes of the first break. In contrast, the UK’s coverage, especially by Sky Sports, seemed much better.

Whatever the issue, hopefully, officials will resolve it soon. But what’s noteworthy is that the Ryder Cup has been plagued with this problem often, the 2023 one, for instance.

Ryder Cup Rome suffered the same fate

The 2025 Ryder Cup’s coverage finds similar echoes from its last edition in Rome, when NBC Sports and Golf Channel faced heavy backlash during the opening day. Airing on USA Network, the coverage drew criticism for missing critical moments, including introductions and tee shots from the third match of Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka versus Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa. The complaints were very similar to what is seen today — too many ads!

Well, part of the issue came down to production choices. While the broadcast included a score bug showing live results and match details, viewers pointed out that it still lacked proper context when key shots were skipped. Interestingly, similar to today, Sky Sports commentary and the quality of their coverage were praised. For American viewers, though, the missed action overshadowed the excitement of Europe’s historic 4-0 sweep on day one.

The constant backlash over coverage, especially for a tournament like the Ryder Cup, highlights a wider problem in golf’s broadcasting. It leaves many questioning whether the network had put profit before the fan experience.