Golf's final 2018 major will NOT be on TV



Golf's final major of 2018 will not be on TV in the United Kingdom or Ireland.

The USPGA Championship will take place from August 9-12 and will instead be shown solely online after selling their exclusive rights for live broadcast in the region to Eleven Sports. The event was traditionally shown on Sky Sports but a breakdown in communications allowed the BBC to swoop in and secure the rights for last year's USPGA Championship, which was won by Justin Thomas. Next year, the USPGA Championship will be rescheduled from its traditional August date to a new May slot. Who are Eleven Sports? You may well ask. Eleven Sports was founded by Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani back in 2015 and is using the tournament to launch itself in the UK and Ireland. They have also secured the rights to show live La Liga football pages in the UK and Ireland, bringing an end to Sky Sports' 20 year association with the Spanish league when they secured the deal in May. They will show Serie A, Eredivisie and Chinese Super League matches as well. How can I watch the USPGA Championship? Keep calm. While the tournament won't be available on TV, you will be able to stream it live and free online. All four rounds will be available to watch via a seven-day Eleven Sports free trial. It will be available to view through www.elevensports.uk, and on iOS and Android mobile and tablet apps. The first two rounds will even be streamed on Facebook LIVE through the Eleven Sports UK page. Full, uninterrupted coverage will begin at 7pm BST each day of the tournament, running through to the close of play. Eleven Sports have promised 8.5 hours of continuous live golf on each day. All the relevant platforms will be launched ahead of the tournament. Will there be featured groups before the 7pm start? There sure will. During the first two days, two groups will be selected to view on all platforms between 4pm and 7pm BST. Who will the presenters be? Dominik Holyer and Anna Whiteley will be heading up the coverage. Dominik, having worked for Sky Sports, Setanta and IMG, is a familiar face to many golf fans. Anna has hosted golf events for Sky Sports and The Golf Channel and she also presents IMG's golf magazine TV show Golfing World. Adding an online feel will be internet personality Seb Carmichael-Brown, host of 'Seb on Tour' on Youtube. What's the aim of all this? Well, the PGA of America Chief Commercial Officer Jeff Price is hoping it could open the sport up to a younger audience. He said: “It is a tremendous way to celebrate the 100th PGA Championship by becoming the inaugural free-to-air program on ELEVEN SPORTS in the United Kingdom and Ireland. We are excited that ELEVEN SPORTS will deliver major championship golf to diverse audiences through multiple, leading-edge digital platforms that are uniquely designed to connect to both the modern day and the next generation of fans.”