BBC Ready To Give Up Open Championship Coverage

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Ewan Murray reports the inevitable: BBC will be ready to give up their Open Championship rights after this year's edition at St. Andrews.

Sky Sports takes over UK coverage in 2017.  The news left BBC as a two-year lameduck.

The rights to American coverage are currently held by ESPN, but those rights beyond 2017 are due to be decided any day.

Memorial Roundup: Lingmerth Leads, The Duf Is Back!

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Almost record scoring at the Memorial (36-hole mark missed by one) is in large part to benign conditions and immaculate course conditioning, as I note in our video roundup.

Doug Ferguson’s game story touches on leader David Lingmerth and others.

I wrote about Jason Dufner’s amazing four-eagle start through 36 that included an ace (not caught by cameras) on the 16th hole Friday. Duf also broke his media silence, sort of.

Bob Harig on Tiger’s 15th straight made cut at the Memorial and his 9 fairways hit through 36 holes (28 chances, last in the field reports G.C. Digital). Dave Shedloski points out that this is what it has come to for Woods: clutching up to make cuts.

And Hideki Matsuyama is making a spirited title defense, as Jason Sobel notes.

Our 36-hole wrap up in 97 seconds.

 

Brad Faxon Wouldn't Have Said What Mike Davis Said

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Good to see Brad Faxon, now of Fox Sports, is not doubling as a USGA house organ in publicly contradicting the views of Executive Director Mike Davis, who has said and since clarified his point that Chambers Bay requires extensive study if a player hopes to win.

Talking to Golfweek's Jim McCabe, Faxon actually things a nonchalant attitude is key.

“I never would have said what Mike said,” Faxon said, referring to Mike Davis, the executive director of the USGA. “I don’t think it’s crucial to have experience with the course at Chambers Bay. I think the opposite. I think you’ll need a certain degree of nonchalance.”

Faxon's most intriguing of many insights is into the Chambers greens, which he says will be unprecedented in a sense.

“You'd better be damn resilient, because so many whacky things are going to happen,” he said. “You can’t slump your shoulders. I would look at players who have the ability to let things roll off their backs to do well.”

40th Memorial Tournament This And That

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The Memorial normally arrives as a strong barometer for the U.S. Open two weeks away. With its classic parkland setting, thick rough, fast greens and overall demanding offerings, Muirfield Village offers a chance to see who is playing well.

With a faux links looming in two weeks at Chambers Bay, The Memorial won't foretell what is to come, and that's a good thing. For a change The Memorial is about a classic, traditional event with a strong field.

Doug Ferguson previews the event where Hideki Matsuyama defends against a field including the red-hot youngsters (Fowler, Spieth) and the old guys hoping to quiet some of the youth obsession (Woods, Mickelson, Furyk, etc...).

Steve DiMeglio reports on Tiger, who is due to show signs of improvement with his latest game overhaul, has implemented a few things in his swing.

The early Woods-Reed-Day pairing will be the focus of PGATour.com/DirecTV's Live@ coverage starting at 8 am ET.

My preview touching on the many intriguing storylines from the Nationwide Live Studio:

Nicklaus: "I think I underachieved all my life"

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Jack Nicklaus held court today at The Memorial, launching the 40th edition of the tournament he founded by honoring Nick Faldo and journalism lifetime achievement honorree Doc Giffin. Before that ceremony, however, the Golden Bear took questions from the media.

Doug Ferguson kicks off his AP notes column with Nicklaus' view that he was a constant underachiever and how that shaped his approach to the game.

"I think that if you feel you're overachieving, or getting more out of what you should get, then you stop working," Nicklaus said. "I always feel like I'm never getting what I should be getting out of what I'm doing. So you've got to work harder to make sure you do that. I always wanted to climb a mountain. I always wanted to get better. ... So I just tried not to believe anything about what I would read or what I would hear or what I even thought.

"I still don't think I achieved what I could have achieved in my career."