While Sir Nick Faldo retired from playing in the Open Championship last year, the six-time major champion will still be working at Royal Troon later this month, after Sky Sports revealed that it has signed up Britain’s most successful golfer to head their commentary team as they take over live coverage from the BBC.
Faldo is regarded as one of the best commentators in the game, with his contracts with the American network CBS, as well as the Golf Channel, estimated to be worth more than £8 million a year. Sky is dedicating an entire channel to the Championship on which it will show round-the-clock coverage, beginning with the first group at 6.30am, the first time the opening tee shot will be shown live.
The R&A’s decision to take the Open away from the BBC resulted in a huge number of complaints from golf fans when it was announced last year, with many outraged at how moving it a subscription channel reconciled with the governing bodies’ pledge to make the game more accessible. However, Faldo has been impressed by Sky since it approached him. “They’re generating a lot of different ways for the viewers to watch, and that’s the key,” Faldo said in an interview with The Telegraph. “Now TV is one where you can pay to see the Open on a daily or weekly package, and I think that’s important. They’re going to try to make it more accessible.
“Nowadays, the kids’ viewing habits are changing so dramatically, with tablets and smartphones; and I think they’ll like what Sky are planning. “There’ll be a camera on a zipwire on the Postage Stamp, which will be great, and all this hi-tech stuff. In the US, the coverage is a lot faster – it’s a lot quicker pace they shoot at – and I think that keeps the viewer interested.
“Saying that, we have to make sure we show the ambience at the Open and what the links golf looks like, and let it breathe. It’s wild and rugged and it’s good to show the big picture. It’s about getting that balance.”
Faldo says he has fond memories of Royal Troon, firstly as a spectator and then as a player. “My dad took to me up to Troon to see the 1973 Open for my 16th birthday and it was watching the likes of Arnie Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf, which gave me the inspiration to try to emulate these great champions. And one of the first times I was in contention at the Open was at Troon in 1982, and that helped give me the belief I could win majors.
And in 2004, after I missed the cut there, ABC invited me to go into their tower for the weekend, and that was the start of my broadcasting career. Having hung up my spikes on the Swilcan Bridge at St Andrews last year, it will be good to be at Troon in an official capacity and to be able to stick around all week without feeling like a spare you-know-what.”