Rain fails to dampen our enthusiasm
What makes the weather and sport two staple topics of conversation in British society? A major reason is their unpredictability. In many parts of the country, after days of continual sunshine, Mother Nature ushered in the obligatory Bank Holiday wind and rain, while a 999-1 shot won the golf at Wentworth.
Those were the odds you could have got on at lunch-time on Saturday, before the Dane rattled off five birdies on the back nine.
On the Sunday, the torrential weather meant tee-off times were moved forward, as was our coverage 鈥 which began at 1215 on 大象传媒 TWO (Australian Brett Rumford managed to complete his final round in less than two hours). Thankfully conditions improved slightly for the later pairings, with . And many of you watching enjoyed not just the thrilling finale, but our entire output:
鈥淲hat a great commentary team you guys are! I don鈥檛 remember you being as cheerful on the course when you were all playing.鈥
Trevor Chandler
鈥淚t is a joy to watch golf on the 大象传媒, please mention the wonderful work the cameramen do, some of the pictures are just amazing. The commentators are also first class and very informative.鈥
Trevor Mackie
鈥淲hat a breath of fresh air it is to have the 大象传媒 covering golf again. Great coverage, great commentary and no dreaded adverts.鈥
Declan Duggan
However, our coverage wasn鈥檛 without complaint. Viewers in Scotland were unable to watch the third round action on 大象传媒 ONE because of the (which amassed a 50% audience share during the match itself). Satellite and cable viewers could access Saturday鈥檚 play from Wentworth via the red button, but it was not on Freeview as only one interactive stream was available that day (which featured the live coverage of the sevens rugby from Twickenham). A round-up of Saturday鈥檚 golf was 鈥 and still is 鈥 available on the 大象传媒 Sport website, and News 24 also carried highlights in their sports bulletins.
We also received an e-mail from Mike Close. He suggested showing a player鈥檚 score on the day as well as their overall score on the leaderboard. I鈥檓 happy to say that Paul Davies, who鈥檚 in charge of our TV golf coverage, has confirmed that this feature will be added to the graphics from our next televised event 鈥 the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond (12-15 July).
Back to the weekend just gone, and with the weather also affecting play at Headingley, the TMS and website teams worked overtime to keep you happy . Here are some of your thoughts on how they did:
鈥淚 can't tell you how impressed I am that you could turn out such a good broadcast despite the lack of play. It was delightful and even interesting to listen to Viv Richards and Vic Marks.鈥
Susie Howells
鈥淭he only problem is the listening to TMS when there is rain means that my job takes three times as long as I suddenly realise that I have stopped work and am laughing at the stories and anecdotes.鈥
Tony Highfield
鈥淢ark (Mitchener), your dedication today is tremendous. For the sterling work done by yourself and Tom Fordyce, I think you all deserve Wikipedia pages and Facebook groups - as Ben Dirs has.鈥
James Pope
The rain also washed out five-and-a-half hours play on the opening day of the French Open tennis, but Interactive viewers were able to see defending women鈥檚 champion Justine Henin book her place in the second round. And there will be daily coverage from Roland Garros on 大象传媒i, plus highlights on News 24.
Also on 大象传媒i this weekend was the aforementioned , with the best of each day鈥檚 play on also 大象传媒 TWO. We鈥檝e shown highlights of the first six rounds of this competition, so it was great to be live at Twickenham, and there will be similar coverage from Murrayfield this coming weekend.
. There was a definite carnival atmosphere in the stands, with presenter John Inverdale having a great time among the fans 鈥 who had clearly come to party. And many people watching at home enjoyed themselves too:
鈥淕reat to see the seven鈥檚 at the weekend. Really great atmosphere despite Twickenham not being full, and some of the skills were breath-taking. I can鈥檛 wait for more of the same next weekend.鈥
Scott Sampson, Ayrshire
鈥淚t was really great to be able to see so much coverage however and great to see the NZ boys do so well. Looking forward to Scotland.鈥
Eileen
And speaking of Scotland, we received e-mails from football fans after a slip of the tongue from Football Focus presenter Manish Bhasin during Saturday鈥檚 show. Manish referred to 鈥淲alter Smith鈥檚 Scotland鈥, although Alex McLeish is now in charge of the national team. Focus Editor Steve Boulton said:
"You kick yourself whenever you make a mistake. The only thing you can do is correct yourself at the next appropriate moment. Fortunately, we had the chance to do that off the back of our Scottish Cup final preview piece about Dunfermline and Celtic.鈥
Click here to read the latest blog from Inside Sport editor Amanda Farnsworth.
