The 2012 Masters - Early Round Thursday & Friday Coverage on ESPN HD

It is the most important tournament of the professional golf world. Once again the best golfers converge on Augusta National for the next four days.

CBS is handling the production duties once again for ESPN, and once again the pictures are the best in the world. Augusta National is right to continue the strict quality control requirements (no logos/bottom lines, limited commercial interruptions from only three sponsors, no saturation coverage). The one-year television contract idea really works

DirecTV continues their fine tradition with the Mix channels. The best part is that all the coverage is in 1080i and not ESPN's 720p.

yep, they know how to do it right. very few commercials and high quality video. nice to know the 4 greatest tv sports days of the year get the royal treatment

My only complaint is - why start at 3:00pm? ESPN is an all sports network. Let them televise it from the start to the finish on Thurs-Fri.

That's DirecTV only (1080i via ESPN-HD)? My DVR is set to ouput 1080i only. Coverage here via FIOS seemed to be 720p-ish--not as crisp as CBS's 1080i. -- John

masters has always done this. no idea why. They are control freaks I guess.


Picture Quality was amazing yesterday. Just...amazing.

It's also available on ESPN 3D.

Up until either last year or the year before the Masters only allowed the networks to show 3 hours of coverage each day except for Sunday which was allowed 4 hours I believe.

Sorry double post for some reason.

But you can watch amen corner and 15&16 online starting around 11 am each morning. So at least you get something.

I really don't get why they start Saturdays at 3:30. The Masters needs to get with the times, people expect wall-to-wall coverage and I'm sure CBS would be glad to provide it.

I'm happy that they start Sundays at 2pm now, btw, and it's what they should do for Saturday.

That's the answer. The Masters controls every part of the TV broadcast from when coverage starts, commercial breaks, to where and how graphics can be placed.

And even what can be said.

They don't call the people "crowds" or "gallery", they're "patrons".

There's no "rough", it's "first cut" or "second cut".

Say the wrong thing and you're banished. Permanently. Ask Jack Whitaker, Ben Wright and Gary McCord about that.

This is what annoys me about the Masters. In all honesty the course isn't one of the most beautiful I've ever played or seen. I just get tired of their pompous asses.

Odd. I am getting a slightly cropped pic at the bottom. Never noticed this before. Other channels are fine. Perhaps result of 1080i cameras to 720p broadcast?

That & the sexist attitude would take the luster off any event.

Agreed!

I really don't understand this tournament, even as a golf fan. It is one of the nicest courses in the world, do not get me wrong, but I do not understand why the TV coverage has to be so limited. This is supposed to be a major tournament, yet CBS isn't allowed to air anything until almost an hour after the last group tees off on Saturday. We put up with this every year, but I don't understand why. ESPN has no problems broadcasting The Open Championship at 4am EST, so I don't see why Augusta won't let the broadcasters show more, since we all know ESPN and CBS would pay up to cover more of it.

Ever read George Orwell's 1984? I'm happy they share any coverage with the public.

It seems to be about over coverage and oversaturation. Year after year you hear the same arguments. More coverage, everyone demands more coverage. Guess what? The masters continues to be one of the most highly watched tournaments ever. They leave us wanting more. Another is to reward the patrons that visit. It is still one of the most sought after tickets in sports.

On the other topic... Sexist? Really? It is THEIR club, THEIR rules, THEIR money. Don't like it? They don't care.

That is obvious. The point is I care, and that makes 'The Masters' more like 'The Minors', to me.

Much like a lot of life these days, The Masters is a mixed bag. Unquestionably they do a lot of things right, but they also do a lot of things wrong.

c'mon phil! but if it isn't phil, i'd be thrilled with bubba winning.

It's their course and their club. They set the standard for what is broadcast and how it's broadcast. They only sign a one-year contract for each year of coverage. Heck, even the Master's merchandise is only available for 7 days.

The downside is the limited coverage.

The upside is some of the best pictures on TV - they wired the course for HD, there are no pop-ups for other programs, no on-screen bug, super limited amount (4 minutes per hour) of commercials and lots of action (what happened, you miss Oosthuizen's double eagle at #2?).

It adds a lot of mystique to a golf major.