The U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links will be broadcast in prime time on NBC and ESPN to the Eastern and Central time zones as part of more than 30 hours of live television coverage between June 17-20. That's good news for golf and its fans, bad news for golf journalists from outlets on the East Coast.
ESPN will begin coverage on the first two days of play on June 17-18 with air times of 1-3 p.m. EDT each day. NBC Sports’ coverage of the first two rounds will air from 3-5 p.m. EDT, followed by coverage from 5-10 p.m. EDT on ESPN. NBC will broadcast the third round on June 19 from 4:30-11 p.m. EDT and the fourth round on June 20 from 3-9 p.m. EDT. The end of third-round coverage at 11 p.m. comes after The Sun News' deadline. It doesn't leave much room for creativity, and possibly for full results, other than later that night on the Web. So the watching and drama will likely be good in prime time on the East Coast, as it was in 2008 when the U.S. Open was at Torrey Pines and Tiger Woods won on one good leg. Journalists will be scrambling to do it justice in coverage, however.
If there’s a Monday playoff ESPN will begin coverage at noon and NBC will pick up coverage at 2 p.m. Now that's definitely a manageable time for adequate coverage of an event like the U.S. Open.
