Brooks Koepka (-8) held off Dustin Johnson (-6) on Sunday at Bethpage Black to win his second straight PGA Championship. But when Koepka had a crucial shot at 18 while trying to close out the tournament, CBS — for some reason — had more interest in interviewing Johnson, who had just finished his round.
Koepka had a two-stroke lead, but faced an ugly situation in the bunker on his second shot at 18. Well, Koepka did a great job with the tough lie to hit a shot into the fairway and set up what would be a tournament-clinching par.
While this was all happening, CBS was in the middle of an interview with Johnson, something they could’ve just done after the tournament ended (and perhaps to hear about a *victory* if Koepka fell apart on this 18th hole). The broadcast did move away from the camera focusing on Johnson to see Koepka’s shot (before soon returning to Johnson), but while Johnson kept talking about his own round, rather than the CBS crew breaking down a hugely important shot. And the camera went back to the Johnson interview right after the shot.
The brutal timing of the interview got plenty of complaints from viewers on Twitter.
Throwing it to a DJ interview as Koepka discusses what to do with this shot on 18 is absolutely brutal. https://t.co/tLY2HVHEgk
— Jay Rigdon (@jayrigdon5) May 19, 2019
Broadcasting malpractice by CBS. Cannot believe they aired an interview with Dustin Johnson while Brooks Koepka was hitting the most consequential shot of the tournament.
— Kyle Rowland (@KyleRowland) May 19, 2019
HOW ARE THEY IN AN INTERVIEW RIGHT NOW
— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) May 19, 2019
https://twitter.com/czabe/status/1130241264430059520
https://twitter.com/DiceTea10/status/1130241323049467904
CBS go to an interview with DJ just as Koepka is taking his shot on 18, MY GOD #cbssports #PGAChamp
— jayod (@jason_donoghue) May 19, 2019
That closed out what was a shaky weekend with the CBS coverage, with their TopTracer particularly being problematic.
[FTW]
