Walker Cup TV Schedule: Get Ready To Flip But It Should Be Worth The Trouble

One frustration of the cable/streaming universe will be on full display with Golf Channel’s coverage of the 2021 Walker Cup.

While this event has really gotten the short end of the TV window world (other than Fox in 2017), this year we will get more broadcast time than possibly ever before, including Friday’s opening ceremony.

But when the golf starts, the schedule is positively schizophrenic and it doesn’t have to be that way. I reached to ask Golf Channel reps for clarification but did not hear back.

In a nutshell, if you want to watch all of the matches, you’ll have to do a lot of switching between Peacock and Golf Channel. Or if you’ve cut the cable, Peacock and NBCSports.com. They are, in case you did not know, owned by the same company. So why the streaming coverage cannot be consolidated into one viewing experience is anyone’s guess.

Anyway, For Immediate Release:

GOLF CHANNEL AND PEACOCK PRESENT NBC SPORTS’ LIVE COVERAGE OF THE WALKER CUP THIS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY

Seminole Golf Club to Host Storied Biannual Amateur Competition Between U.S. and Great Britain/Ireland

Flag-Raising Ceremony to be Presented Live on Television for First Time in 20 Years This Friday at 6 p.m. ET on GOLF Channel

Former President George W. Bush Narrates Opening Tease

Walker Cup Kicks Off NBC Sports’ 2021 Coverage of Nine USGA Events

STAMFORD, Conn. – May 5, 2021 – NBC Sports begins its first full season of USGA championships and events with live coverage of the Walker Cup this Saturday and Sunday from Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla., on GOLF Channel and Peacock.

The Walker Cup, which is being contested on U.S. soil for the first time in spring, is a biennial 10-man amateur team competition between the USA and a team composed of players from Great Britain and Ireland. Nathaniel Crosby returns to captain this year’s U.S. Walker Cup team after leading the 2019 U.S. Walker Cup team to victory. The team includes 2020 U.S. Amateur champion Tyler Strafaci as well as three players from the 2019 U.S. Walker Cup team: John Pak, Cole Hammer and Stewart Hagestad.

The event’s storied Flag-Raising Ceremony will be presented this Friday at 6 p.m. ET during a special edition of Golf Central on GOLF Channel, marking the first time that the procession will be televised live in 20 years. All 20 players, both captains, and former Walker Cup players and captains will be in attendance.

Walker Cup morning coverage will feature foursomes matches, followed by singles matches in the afternoon. Peacock will present two hours of free, exclusive coverage on both Saturday and Sunday. For more information about golf on Peacock, click here.

Former President George W. Bush narrates the opening tease that will be featured throughout Walker Cup coverage. Click here to view the piece. Bush’s great-grandfather, George Herbert Walker, helped found the event while serving as USGA President in 1922.

Famed amateur and Seminole Golf Club member Buddy Marucci will serve as a captain insider throughout the weekend. Marucci, a former Walker Cup player and captain, has participated in over 60 USGA championships and famously battled Tiger Woods to the final hole in match play at the 1995 U.S. Amateur.

GOLF Channel/Peacock Broadcast Team

Play by Play: Dan Hicks
Analyst: Paul Azinger
Tower: Steve Burkowski
On-Course: Notah Begay / Jim “Bones” Mackay / Curt Byrum
Interviews: Steve Sands
Captain Insider: Buddy Marucci

How To Watch – Saturday, May 8 – Sunday, May 9 (all times ET)

Date GOLF Channel Peacock

Saturday 11 a.m.-1 p.m.; 5:30-7:30 p.m. 10-11 a.m.; 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Sunday 11 a.m.-1 p.m.; 5:30-7:30 p.m. 10-11 a.m.; 4:30-5:30 p.m.

The Walker Cup tees off NBC Sports’ USGA championship coverage, throughout 2021, totaling nearly 150 hours across nine events. Upcoming marquee events include the U.S. Open from Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego (June 17-20) and the U.S. Women’s Open from The Olympic Club in San Francisco (June 3-6).

In June 2020, NBCUniversal reacquired USGA championship media rights as part of a new partnership and aired all four of the USGA’s championships last year.

All GOLF Channel coverage also streams on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app via “TV Everywhere,” giving consumers additional value for their subscription service, and making high quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms.

Again, we’re thrilled with all the coverage, but a streamer leaving NBCSports.com to go to Peacock should not have to do so when the same company owns both.