Georgia Hall Wins Maiden US Tournament: But UK Audiences Miss Out On The Action

The Englishwoman's LPGA Portland Classic triumph was not broadcast here in the UK

Georgia Hall Wins Maiden US Tournament: But UK Audiences Miss Out On The Action

An Englishwoman won for the first time in America at the weekend and there was no sign of any coverage on UK TV.

Golf is bursting at the seams in England at the moment, with the game thriving post-lockdown as more than 20,000 people have joined golf clubs in England alone since May.

Those figures are likely very similar across the rest of the UK.

That's why it seems like such a missed opportunity that Georgia Hall's stunning victory on LPGA Tour was completely forgotten about on UK TV.

Hall beat Ashleigh Buhai in a playoff following a round of four under par in Oregon, finishing straight after Sky Sports' US Open coverage went off air.

The 2018 Women's British Open champion broke down in tears in her post-round interview after becoming the first English winner in America since Bronte Law last May.

"Yeah I'm just so happy," Hall said as she broke down in tears.

"You know, I was pretty nervous the last nine holes and I never looked at the leaderboard once.

So I had no idea where I was, I didn't even know I was leading.

I must have been leading for like 4 or 5 holes so I'm pretty glad I didn't look.

Yeah, to bogey the last I was quite upset about that. I had to refigure myself and get back to try and win this playoff."

Watch the highlights from Hall's LPGA Portland Classic win below:

England Golf has been doing a wonderful job promoting the women's game in this country but, in my opinion, there is still so far to go and coverage on TV plays a huge factor.

Sky's free coverage of the Women's Open and ANA Inspiration this past month, as well as the Ladies Swiss Open, have been absolutely fantastic but there needs to be more female golf on our TV screens.

This isn't a pop at Sky, they do a fantastic job with their women's golf coverage and there are plenty of other channels that could be showing women's golf who currently are not.

Sky shows a huge amount of Ladies European Tour action and a quick glance at their website shows that they'll be broadcasting this week's ShopRite Classic on the LPGA Tour.

Men's golf is now gone from terrestrial TV and it's fair to say that the women's golf rights will be cheaper - come on BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, let's make women's golf accessible and free for fans to watch. People will tune in.

I'm unaware of any full LPGA Tour rights in the UK as Sky Sports do not seem to show every single event, but it would be fantastic if there was one channel in the UK that consistently showed it week-in, week-out.

Even if it was a paid subscription like BT Sport, at least people who wanted to watch the LPGA Tour could purchase a subscription and know where to get their fix each and every week.

Or if the terrestrial channels view it as too expensive, perhaps they could look into buying weekly highlights packages.

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