Postage Stamp: You can watch every shot live on the shortest hole of all the British Open courses

It was once described as “a pitching surface skimmed down to the size of a postage stamp.”

It’s the shortest hole of them all in the British Open rota.

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It got its name from Willie Park Jr., who won the Open twice and later wrote about the eighth hole at Royal Troon’s Old Course for Golf Illustrated, calling the shortie “a pitching surface skimmed down to the size of a postage stamp.”

At the 152nd edition of the British Open, which gets underway Thursday, this pint-sized terror will challenge the field of 158. Overall, the par-71 course measures 7,385 yards but the offical yardage for No. 8 is 123 yards, although it can play as short as 99. The putting surface is surround by five bunkers. In 1950, amateur Hermann Tissies needed five shots to get out of one of the bunkers, leading him to post a 15.

In 2024, golf fans can watch every shot over all four days live on the R&A’s website. Called “Postage Stamp Live“, the live streaming channel will have all the shots, from the first golfer to the last.

The Royal Troon website offers this description of the hole:

“The tee is on high ground and a dropping shot is played over a gully to a long but extremely narrow green set into the side of a large sandhill. Two bunkers protect the left side of the green while a large crater bunker shields the approach. Any mistake on the right will find one of the two deep bunkers with near vertical faces. There is no safe way to play this hole, the ball must find the green with the tee-shot. Many top players have come to grief at this the shortest hole in Open Championship golf.”

Henrik Stenson, the most recent to win the Claret Jug at Royal Troon in 2016, said, “If you’re the kind of fan that wants to see carnage I can highly recommend going out to that eigth hole and sitting in that grandstand on a difficult day.”

Tiger Woods was asked about the hole during his Tuesday news conference.

“I hit 9-iron and a pitching wedge the last two times I played it. I’ve hit as much as a 7-iron,” he said. “But it’s a very simple hole; just hit the ball on the green. That’s it. Green good, miss green bad. It doesn’t get any more simple than that. You don’t need a 240-yard par-3 for it to be hard.”

NBC, USA and Peacock have live coverage of all the golf for all four rounds starting at 1:30 a.m. ET on Thursday.

How to watch the 2024 British Open on NBC, USA and Peacock

The Open will be on NBC and USA Network as well as NBC’s Peacock streaming service.

The 152nd edition of the British Open will get underway Thursday with a field of 158 golfers looking to take home the Claret Jug and the golf season’s final major title.

Royal Troon – just outside Glasgow in Scotland – will be hosting this year’s event for the 10th time in its history.

The par-71 course measures 7,385 yards from the championship tees, but – as with most courses in the Open rota – the wind, gorse and bunkers will all play major roles in how it plays.

Among Troon’s most notable holes are the 632-yard, par-five No. 6, the Open’s longest hole, and the par-3 No. 8, better known as the “Postage Stamp.” It’s the Open’s shortest par 3, playing from as little as 99 up to 123 yards.

Royal Troon Golf Club
The par-3 eighth “Postage Stamp” hole at Royal Troon’s Old Course in Troon, Scotland. (David Cannon/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)

The Open is July 18-21, Thursday through Sunday, on the Old Course at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland. Founded in 1878, it last hosted the British Open in 2016, when Sweden’s Henrik Stenson prevailed in a thriller over Phil Mickelson.

How to watch 2024 British Open on TV

The Open will be broadcast live over the air on NBC and on cable on USA Network, with NBC’s Peacock offering the streaming. Golf Channel is also offering pre- and post-round coverage.

Tuesday, July 16

R&A Live at the Range, 4 a.m., Peacock

Live From the Open, 6 a.m., Golf Channel

R&A Live at the Range, 11 a.m., Peacock

Live at the Range, 11 a.m., Golf Channel

Wednesday, July 17

R&A Live at the Range, 4 a.m., Peacock

Live From the Open, 6 a.m., Golf Channel

R&A Live at the Range, 11 a.m., Peacock

Live at the Range, 11 a.m., Golf Channel

Thursday, July 18

First round, 1:30 a.m.- 4 a.m., Peacock

First round, 4 a.m.-3 p.m., USA Network (Watch USA FREE on Fubo)

First round, 3 p.m.-4:15 p.m., Peacock

Live from the Open, 3 p.m., Golf Channel

Friday, July 19

Second round, 1:30 a.m.- 4 a.m., Peacock

Second round, 4 a.m.-3 p.m., USA Network (Watch USA FREE on Fubo)

Second round, 3 p.m.-4:15 p.m., Peacock

Live from the Open, 3 p.m., Golf Channel

Saturday, July 20

Third round, 4:15 a.m.-7 a.m., Peacock

Third round, 7 a.m.- 3 p.m., NBC/Peacock (Watch NBC FREE on Fubo)

Live from the Open, 3 p.m., Peacock

Sunday, July 21

Final round, 3:15 a.m.-7 a.m., Peacock

Final round, 7 a.m.- 2 p.m., NBC/Peacock (Watch NBC FREE on Fubo)

Live from the Open, 2 p.m., Peacock

The R&A’s website is also streaming “Live at the Range” as well as featured groups and “Postage Stamp Live”, showing all the shots on the famed par 3.

Just hours into the 2023 Ryder Cup, golf fans were already fed up with the TV broadcast

NBC Sports and Golf Channel employees may want to stay off social media for the next few days.

NBC Sports and Golf Channel employees may want to stay off social media for the next few days.

Not even two hours in to the coverage of the Friday foursomes matches at the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Italy and television viewers who were awake at 1 a.m. ET for the start were already fed up with the coverage (or lack thereof).

Airing on USA Network, the broadcast missed the introductions and tee shots from the third match of Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka vs. Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa and showed more commercials than golf shots.

This year’s broadcast features a score bug in the bottom right of the screen that shows the matches and live results, which is a nice innovation, except when the coverage doesn’t provide context for how those scores came to be.

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Check out the early reaction to the TV coverage of the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy.

PointsBet Sportsbook’s ridiculous scenario for Notre Dame-Ohio State

No way this happens.

Let’s begin by getting two facts out of the way. First, Shohei Ohtani is the greatest thing baseball has to offer right now and maybe ever. Second, Peacock has MLB broadcast rights but only does Sunday games. NBC gets one of those games every year and surely would be one of the regularly scheduled games.

That being the case, the chances of NBC breaking away from any Notre Dame game for baseball, particularly the game against Ohio State, are virtually nonexistent. But that’s not stopping PointsBet Sportsbook from posing a scenario that defies all logic:

I don’t care how exciting a player Ohtani is or what’s on the line for him. No broadcast network in its right mind is going to cut away from college football to cover something for another sport. Is watching it on MLB Network not enough? If people are watching college football, chances are they don’t care about anything else at the moment.

On top of that, Aaron Judge already broke the American League single-season home run record last year. There’s nothing at stake in this scenario except for Ohtani joining the 60-homer club. If this happens for Ohtani, this has to happen for all players on this precipice going forward. Somehow, I doubt that will happen because it’s not Ohtani.

Yes, there are exceptions to the rule of not cutting away from an Irish home game. The most notable example was NBC temporarily transferring the feed of the 2020 classic against Clemson to USA Network so it could broadcast Joe Biden’s victory speech for the presidential election that was called earlier that day. But an Ohtani at-bat is not on the same scale as a speech from the new soon-to-be leader of the free world.

I’m all for a nice debate on Twitter, but this is the wrong one to start. Not only does it not make any sense, but it’s insulting to everyone’s intelligence. NBC will not cut into an Irish-Buckeyes game for a sport that it barely has any rights to. Hopefully, everyone who saw this tweet figured that out quickly.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

How to watch 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach

NBC is planning 12 hours of weekend coverage, while Golf Channel will have another 25 hours on-site.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – History will be made on a number of fronts this week at the 78th U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links. The venue, of course, is the most significant first. While six U.S. Opens have been contested at Pebble, this week marks the time the women will have their turn at a major on this American treasure.

It’s only fitting then that the television coverage of an historic event makes its own mark. Early week, Golf Channel will produce a record 25 hours of “Live From the U.S. Women’s Open” studio coverage on a set just off the 18th fairway.

NBC will feature 12 hours of weekend coverage July 8-9, giving the women prime time network coverage for the first time in championship history.

U.S. Women’s Open: Thursday tee times

The broadcast team includes:

  • Play-by-play: Dan Hicks, Grant Boone
  • Analysts: Morgan Pressel, Paige Mackenzie
  • Tower: Tom Abbott
  • On-course: John Wood, Karen Stupples, Kay Cockerill
  • Interviews: Cara Banks

Here’s the breakdown of coverage across NBC, Peacock and USA Network. Note that all times listed are ET. Pebble Beach is PT, three hours behind:

Tuesday, July 4

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., Golf Channel

Wednesday, July 5

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., Golf Channel

Thursday, July 6

Streaming

Featured groups, 11:50 a.m. to 5:35 p.m., Peacock, uswomensopen.com, USGA mobile app, USGA streaming app on smart TVs and DirecTV.

First round, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Peacock

TV

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Golf Channel

First round, 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., USA Network

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 11 p.m. to midnight, Golf Channel

Friday, July 7

Streaming

Featured groups, 11:50 a.m. to 5:35 p.m., Peacock, uswomensopen.com, USGA mobile app, USGA streaming app on smart TVs and DirecTV.

Second round, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Peacock

TV

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Golf Channel

Second round, 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., USA Network

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 11 p.m. to midnight, Golf Channel

Saturday, July 8

Streaming

Featured groups, times TBD, Peacock, uswomensopen.com, USGA mobile app, USGA streaming app on smart TVs and DirecTV.

Third round, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., Peacock

TV

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., Golf Channel

Third round, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., NBC

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., Golf Channel

Sunday, July 9

Streaming

Featured groups, times TBD, Peacock, uswomensopen.com, USGA mobile app, USGA streaming app on smart TVs and DirecTV.

Final round, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., Peacock

TV

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., Golf Channel

Final round, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., NBC

Live From the U.S. Women’s Open, 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., Golf Channel

2023 U.S. Open: Ads outnumber golf shots shown on large swaths of USA Network Round 1 coverage from Los Angeles Country Club

The USGA promised to reduce commercial breaks for this week’s U.S. Open at LACC. How is that going for Round 1?

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USGA CEO Mike Whan spoke Wednesday at the U.S. Open about how his organization worked with NBC to reduce the number of ads that will be shown in this year’s coverage, with plans to cut commercial breaks by 30 percent this week.

So … how is that going midway through Round 1 of the Open?

Coverage from Los Angeles Country Club began Thursday on Peacock, then switched to USA Network – which is owned by NBCUniversal Television and Streaming – for most of the afternoon. Listening in from the home office, it was clear there were a lot of commercials. So out came the stop watch.

In the first 12 minutes and 45 seconds of coverage starting at 2 p.m. ET, USA Network showed 15 commercials. That was compared to just 11 golf shots. The network also showed a one-minute, in-broadcast promotion for the USGA, featuring Whan. In all, that was six minutes of commercials (both full-screen and split-screen with the playing-through feature), one minute of promotion and 5 minutes and 45 seconds of actual full-screen golf coverage.

Wanting to make sure that wasn’t an anomaly, the same procedure was repeated starting at 3 p.m., using an even longer window. In the first 24 minutes of coverage starting at 3 p.m., coverage included 20 commercials (in both full-screen and split-screen formats) and 23 full-screen golf shots. That equated to 9 minutes of ads in either format and 15 minutes of full golf coverage.

The ads ran the spectrum, from golf equipment makers to MTV.

Combining those opening coverage windows for the prime hours of 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., that meant there were a total of 34 golf shots shown against 35 commercials.

The longest continuous uninterrupted window showed 15 shots in a row (starting about 3:13 p.m.). Those 15 shots were surrounded by 13 ads in either format divided on either side of the full-screen golf coverage.

The shortest full-screen golf window was just five uninterrupted golf shots, starting at 2:03 p.m. Those five shots were preceded by seven ads and were followed by the 1-minute USGA promotion. Then came six more full-screen golf shots, then eight more ads.

Federated Auto Parts 400, live stream, TV channel, NASCAR starting lineup, how to watch and stream today

NASCAR is back at Richmond when they gear up for the Federated Auto Parts 400 on Sunday afternoon at Richmond Raceway. With Chase Elliott leading in the Cup Series standings there will be others chasing him for the checkered flag including Joey …

NASCAR is back at Richmond when they gear up for the Federated Auto Parts 400 on Sunday afternoon at Richmond Raceway. With Chase Elliott leading in the Cup Series standings there will be others chasing him for the checkered flag including Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, and William Byron.

Tune in on Sunday for an exciting day or NASCAR racing live from Richmond, here is everything you need to know to watch and stream the action.

Federated Auto Parts 400

  • Date: Sunday, August 14
  • Race Time: 3:00 p.m. ET
  • TV Channel: USA Network
  • Live Stream: fuboTV (watch for free)

What is the starting lineup for Federated Auto Parts 400?

1. Kyle Larson

2. Ross Chastain

3. Denny Hamlin

4. William Byron

5. Alex Bowman

6. Martin Truex Jr.

7. Cole Custer

8. Brad Keselowski

9. Erik Jones

10. Ryan Blaney

11. Bubba Wallace

12. Austin Dillon

13. Kevin Harvick

14. Ty Gibbs (i)

15. Chase Briscoe

16. Todd Gilliland (R)

17. Joey Logano

18. Chris Buescher

19. Noah Gragson (i)

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

21. Christopher Bell

22. Ty Dillon

23. Chase Elliott

24. Daniel Suarez

25. Landon Cassill (i)

26. Tyler Reddick

27. Justin Haley

28. Cody Ware

29. Kyle Busch

30. Harrison Burton (R)

31. Corey LaJoie

32. Aric Almirola

33. Austin Cindric (R)

34. Michael McDowell

35. JJ Yeley (i)

36. BJ McLeod (i)

NASCAR Odds and Betting Lines

NASCAR odds courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook. Odds were last updated Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Want some action on NASCAR? Place your legal sports bets on this game or others in CO & NJ at Tipico Sportsbook.

We recommend interesting sports viewing/streaming and betting opportunities. If you sign up for a service by clicking one of the links, we may earn a referral fee.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

Liverpool vs. Leicester City live stream, TV channel, time, odds, how to watch Premier League

Liverpool will meet Leicester City in Premier League action on Thursday afternoon as Brendan Rogers makes his return to Anfield.

Liverpool will meet Leicester City in Premier League action on Thursday afternoon at Anfield. Liverpool is coming off a 3-1 win over Cardiff City this past weekend and will look to keep it going at home today. Meanwhile, Leicester City will look to bounce back after a 4-1 loss to Nottingham Forest as Brendan Rogers makes his return today.

As always, we have a great day of Premier League soccer, here is everything you need to know to stream the action!

Liverpool vs. Leicester City

  • When: Thursday, February 10
  • Time: 2:45 p.m. ET
  • TV Channel: USA Network (4K)
  • Live Stream: fuboTV (watch for free)

Premier League Starting Lineups

Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Thiago; Jota, Firmino, Diaz

Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; Pereira, Vestergaard, Soyuncu, Thomas; Ndidi, Tielemans; Albrighton, Maddison, Daka; Iheanacho

Premier League Odds and betting lines

Premier League odds courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook. Odds last updated Thursday at 11:00 a.m. ET.

Manchester City (-450) vs. Brentford (+1000)

We recommend interesting sports viewing/streaming and betting opportunities. If you sign up for a service by clicking one of the links, we may earn a referral fee.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

NBC Sports to move some USGA, R&A golf programming to USA Network

Some live golf is coming to a different channel in 2022.

Public service announcement to golf fans: if you don’t know what channel to find USA Network on, now would be a good time to learn.

On Tuesday morning, NBC Sports announced that the USA Network would be broadening its slate of programming to include more sports, including USGA and R&A championships. More content will also be bound for CNBC, Peacock and other NBCUniversal platforms.

Early-round and weekend lead-in coverage of the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, British Open and AIG Women’s Open will all be on USA Network in 2022 while all PGA Tour events will remain exclusively on NBC or Golf Channel.

“We are excited to transition the cable coverage of many of our premium sports events to USA Network, Peacock, and other widely-distributed NBCUniversal platforms, which will give us a significant boost in television homes and will put us in an even stronger position as we grow our business,” said Pete Bevacqua, Chairman, NBC Sports, via a release.

NBCSN will cease operations Dec. 31, 2021.

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Notre Dame-Clemson: Biden speech to change television broadcast outlet

With Joe Biden speaking tonight the Notre Dame vs. Clemson game is switching channels for part of the evening. Find new viewing details

If you’re not already aware, Joe Biden has won the 2020 Presidential election. You might be wondering what that has to do with Notre Dame and Clemson’s showdown in South Bend tonight, but I promise there is good reason to connect this and you’ll thank me for the information shortly.

Biden is scheduled to address the nation tonight for the first time as the President-Elect.

As a result, NBC will drop out of coverage of the No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 Notre Dame game to carry his address.

During that time, the game will switch to being shown on USA Network, just as the South Florida game was back in September.

Once Biden is done with his speech, NBC will return to covering the game on network television.

What a week.