The Commentators

A round-table conversation about The Masters with Buth Harmon, Ewen Murray and Bruce Critchley.

This year marks a sea change in Masters TV coverage, when Sky Sports show the event for the first time in 3D.

The satellite broadcaster will have live coverage of all four rounds from Augusta from Wednesday, April 6 until Sunday, starting with the Par-3 Contest. The BBC will continue to show the golf over the weekend. Sky’s commentary team will include the regular trio of Butch Harmon, Ewen Murray and Bruce Critchley, so we got them together for an exclusive chat about the year’s first Major.

GW: So what can we expect from the coverage this year, particularly 3D?

BH: I’ve just come back from Augusta having filmed an hour special preview show. I’ve not seen the edited version yet, but I think it’ll be great. There was snow on the ground outside, so there were no members around and we were able to do whatever we wanted. I was able to show the TV cameras around the clubhouse and into the inner sanctum that is the Champions’ Locker Room. It’s very small in there and people have to share lockers, but no one minds because just having your name on
one of those wooden doors isspecial enough.

EM: A lot of people think that Augusta is run by a lot of old gents who are backward in their thinking. In reality, the opposite is true. I think they’ve been impressed with Sky’s coverage of the US Open and US PGA and the prospect of 3D, when viewers will be able to see the humps, hills and hollows of Augusta for the first time, excites them a great deal. That excites me, too. I think the 3D coverage will be sensational. For the first time you’ll be able to read putts and see the players coming up the hill at the 18th.

BC: You have to think that 3D and Augusta are made for each other. The club is an interesting dichotomy in that it is very traditional on the one hand, but also very keen to be at the forefront of technology. One should admire it for that.

EM: In this day and age you have to give people what they want. They want HD, 3D and cutting edge technology and Sky gives them that. From our point of view, people are paying for our service, so we need to be able to deliver the best sport there is. I know people talk about certain sports being reserved for terrestrial television, but that isn’t the way of the world.

BH: Obviously, with my father winning there, Augusta holds a special place in my heart, so when the boys at Sky rang me up to say that we’d be there this year I was overjoyed. This is my 17th year with Sky and I’d always hoped, without ever thinking that it would happen, that one day we’d get the chance to cover the Masters. I think Sky does golf better than any other broadcaster in the world, so the viewers in the UK are going to be in for a rare treat.

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