There are not too many legitimate complaints when it comes to the Masters and Augusta National. The tournament is outstanding in all facets—especially when it comes to the in-person experience for patrons.
One of the few (and perhaps only) glaring issues with the tournament in recent years has been the lackluster offering of its TV coverage. Thankfully, that is changing for 2025.
A little background here to set the scene: throughout most of its history, the Masters used to only show the back nine. It wasn’t until the 1997 tournament when TV viewers even saw a few holes on the front side. It took until 2002 (!) for full 18-hole coverage.
Historically, a part of the Masters TV philosophy has been exclusivity. They didn’t want you to sit around and watch 12 hours on TV because that, in the minds of the tournament hosts, took away from the mythical nature the event.
As time went on and technology evolved, that philosophy has become obsolete. Still, the Masters has held onto parts of that philosophy. Throughout the past two decades, Saturday TV coverage only started at 3 p.m. ET and Sunday coverage began at 2 p.m. ET. There was no other way to watch a main feed of the broadcast prior to that.
Sure, the Masters app and website are world-class pieces of technology. I could never debate you on that. And only having four minutes of commercials per hour is pure bliss. But not having traditional TV coverage until that late in the day on the weekend? While other majors are basically all-day TV affairs?
It was certainly a huge miss for the Masters. It was one of the only ways they have been behind the times, which I always found strange given how progressive they have been in the past decade or so.
This is the tournament that started the Augusta National Women’s Amateur; let Dude Perfect kick around soccer balls through Amen Corner; allowed EA Sports create a perfect rendering of the course for its video game; and came up with a way for every shot to be watched on the website/app. You’re telling me the green jackets were still maintaining a mystique of exclusivity by limiting TV coverage despite becoming wildly accessible everywhere else? It didn’t make sense.
Mercifully, the Masters has addressed this problem to a reasonable degree.
We now have an hour added to the Saturday broadcast, so that will start at 2 p.m. ET. More importantly, you can watch two additional hours of both the Saturday and Sunday broadcasts on Paramount+ from noon until 2 p.m.
That brings the total “main feed” coverage to 23 hours. About 25 years ago, we didn’t even get 11 hours of TV coverage. Progress!
Look, is this a perfect solution? No. Personally, I would like the Masters TV coverage to start on CBS at noon ET so we don’t all have to subscribe to Paramount+ (although the app does offer a week-long free trial, so you can always just do that and then cancel after the Masters is over).
It’s slimy that all of these networks are pushing streaming services on us by holding exclusive sporting events hostage (I’m looking at you, NBC and Peacock). I’m pretty sure I’m accidentally subscribing to a dozen services now. If someone did a technology audit for me, I’m afraid of how much money I’m throwing away with services I barely use.
It’s also disappointing that Thursday and Friday TV coverage only starts at 3 p.m. ET. Hopefully, we get some time added to that in the future.
However, this is substantial progress for Masters viewers. We’re getting the most TV coverage we’ve ever seen, and the extra hour on Saturday is critical so we see all the leaders tee off.
This tournament has the smallest field of any major (by a wide margin), so we don’t really need to see a lot of morning golf on the weekends. Anyone who remotely matters will be in that 2-7 p.m. window.
Also, did I mention the app and website? We still get streams for Amen Corner, Featured Groups, Holes 4, 5 and 6, Holes 15 and 16, On the Range, etc.
Ultimately, I think Masters TV coverage will continue expanding over time. This isn’t the end of the expansion.
For now, let’s be thankful there is more golf on TV seven months from now when we’re glued to the 2025 Masters.
Top Photo Caption: The Masters is adding more TV coverage to the weekend. (GETTY IMAGES/Ben Jared)
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