NBC Shows 381 Regulation Shots From The Players

I hate to be the bearer of bad news American TV viewers: it's all downhill from here.

The second of two big golf tournaments with limited commercial interruptions has been played and NBC showed an astounding number of shots during Sunday's thrilling 2015 Players finale.

It's entirely possible Fox Sports may limit themselves to four breaks/six minutes of commercials an hour (or less) at the U.S. Open (as previous partner NBC did), but I've yet to hear any announced plans for a Masters or Players-like presentation. And we already (sadly) know how The Open Championship and PGA Championship play out commercial-wise.

ClassicSportsTV.com tracked the shots from Sunday's Players and reports...

I tracked the televised strokes by player during the NBC airing of the final round of the Players Championship. NBC showed 381 regulation strokes from the Sunday round. The telecast began at 2pm ET and regulation play ended at 6:48, so this worked out to 1.32 strokes per minute - the highest average of the six events I have tracked.

Also worth noting: winner Rickie Fowler only accounted for 12 of the regulation shots (all of his playoff shots were seen, but not included in the above summary).