Shot chart from Fox Sunday US Open telecast - 2019

Once again, I tracked the shots that Fox televised during the Sunday round of the US Open. The final pairing teed off at 5:30pm ET, so I started tracking at 5:00 to provide a reasonable comparison to the other majors I have monitored.

I counted 317 shots during the tracking period. The final putt was holed at 9:31 resulting in a rate of 1.17 strokes per minute. This was down from the 1.24 shown by Fox during the 2018 US Open.

Fox showed 68 strokes from winner Gary Woodland skipping only a tap-in on #13. Fox aired 66 from runner-up Brooks Koepka, covering all but tap-ins on holes 7 and 16. Justin Rose had the most televised strokes (70). That trio accounted for 64 percent of all the televised shots during the tracking period. Fox showed 21 golfers playing strokes during this period with seven players getting coverage for at least 10 shots. The highest finishers not shown during the period were Matthew Fitzpatrick and Danny Willett who were part of the tie for 12th.

Fox went commercial-free for the final 49 minutes of play.

I also tracked the number of televised strokes by hole during the tracking period. The 18th was featured most often (34 strokes) by a sizable margin. Hole 3 received the fewest televised shots (11).

This is the sixth year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to prior majors, see this summary table which contains links to all shot charts since 2014.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finisher not shown during the tracking period) followed by the hole-by-hole breakdown:

Player	Shots shown	Finish	Pairing
Justin Rose	70 (of 74)	T3	1
Gary Woodland	68 (of 69)	1	1
Brooks Koepka	66 (of 68)	2	2
Louis Oosthuizen	28	T7	3
Rory McIlroy	21	T9	3
Xander Schauffele	11	T3	8
Adam Scott	10	T7	8
Chez Reavie	8	T3	2
Viktor Hovland	7	T12	16
Tiger Woods	5	T21	15
Jon Rahm	4	T3	6
Dustin Johnson	4	T35	10
Henrik Stenson	3	T9	6
Matt Kuchar	2	T16	4
Graeme McDowell	2	T16	5
Francesco Molinari	2	T16	11
Jordan Spieth	2	T65	20
Chesson Hadley	1	T9	4
Matt Wallace	1	T12	7
Patrick Reed	1	T32	24
Brandon Wu	1	T35	10
Fitzpatrick/Willett	0	T12
others	0
total	317

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Hole number	Televised shots
1	21
2	21
3	11
4	18
5	15
6	20
7	16
8	19
9	16
10	17
11	15
12	21
13	15
14	18
15	14
16	13
17	13
18	34

Shot chart from Fox Sunday US Open telecast - 2018

I tracked the shots televised by Fox during the Sunday round of the US Open. The final pairing teed off at 2:24pm ET, so I started the tracking at 2:00 to provide a fair comparison to the other majors I have monitored.

Fox showed 345 shots during the tracking period. Play concluded at 6:39 which worked out to a rate of 1.24 strokes per minute. This was down from the 1.30 shown by Fox during the 2017 US Open.

Fox showed 65 strokes from Dustin Johnson and 64 by winner Brooks Koepka. Patrick Reed was featured for 58 strokes. The final pairing of Tony Finau and Daniel Berger checked in at 44 and 29 respectively. Runner-up Tommy Fleetwood (who was already on the 10th hole when the tracking period started) was covered for 25. Fox showed only 18 golfers playing strokes during this period with eight players getting coverage for at least 12 shots. The highest finisher not shown during the period was Zach Johnson who tied for 12th.

A few notes on the TV coverage:

• Fox went commercial-free for the final 52 minutes of play.
• I noticed two different occasions when the Fox on-screen scoreboard gave away a result of a shot that Fox was about to show. With D Johnson facing a rather short par putt on 7, Fox cut to show Fleetwood at 18. While there, the on-screen leaderboard updated to show Johnson dropping a shot on 7 and sliding down the board. Then Fox cut back to 7 and aired Johnson missing the putt. Similarly, Fox showed Fitzpatrick's approach to 18, but before it went back there to televise his birdie putt, the on-screen scroll showed Fitzpatrick's final score, again giving away the result.
• When D Johnson was hitting a layup shot on 16, Fox was showing Koepka standing in the fairway. You could hear the club strike the ball and then a camera picked up the ball and showed it land. I chose to count this as a televised stroke.

I also tracked the number of televised strokes by hole during the tracking period. The 18th was featured the most (39 strokes) by a wide margin. Hole 7 received the fewest televised shots (12).

This is the fifth year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to prior majors, see this summary table which contains links to all shot charts since 2014.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finisher not shown during the tracking period) followed by the hole-by-hole breakdown:

Player	Shots shown	Finish	Pairing
Dustin Johnson	65 (of 70)	3	2
Brooks Koepka	64 (of 68)	1	2
Patrick Reed	58	4	4
Tony Finau	44	5	1
Daniel Berger	29	T6	1
Tommy Fleetwood	25	2	14
Justin Rose	20	T10	3
Henrik Stenson	12	T6	3
Matthew Fitzpatrick	9	T12	11
Webb Simpson	6	T10	9
Kiradech Aphinbarnrat	3	15	4
Xander Schauffele	3	T6	10
Matt Parziale	2	T48	18
Tyrell Hatton	1	T6	6
Russell Knox	1	T12	13
Brian Gay	1	T20	5
Ian Poulter	1	T25	7
Luis Gagne	1	T48	23
Zach Johnson	0	T12	9
others	0
total	345

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Hole number	Televised shots
1	21
2	17
3	18
4	15
5	19
6	13
7	12
8	13
9	13
10	20
11	24
12	25
13	21
14	17
15	17
16	23
17	18
18	39

Shot chart from Fox Sunday US Open telecast - 2017

I tracked the shots televised by Fox during the final round of the US Open. With the leaders teeing off around 4pm ET, I started the tracking at 3:30 to provide a similar timeframe to the other majors I have monitored.

Fox showed 366 strokes during the tracking period. The final putt dropped at 8:12 which resulted in a rate of 1.30 strokes per minute. This marked a significant increase over the 1.12 and 1.18 shown by Fox during its last two US Open telecasts, but trailed the 1.41 rate from the 2017 Masters on CBS.

Fox showed all but four shots from both winner Brooks Koepka and Brian Harman who tied for second. Rickie Fowler had 58 strokes televised and Tommy Fleetwood received coverage for 56. During the tracking period, Fox devoted 67% of its televised strokes to those four players. Fox showed 23 golfers playing strokes with eight players getting coverage for at least 12 shots. The highest finishers not shown during the period were three in the group who tied for 16th.

Also notable: Fox went commercial-free for the last 46 minutes of play.

This is the fourth year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to prior majors, see this summary table which contains links to all shot charts since 2014.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finishers not shown during the tracking period):

Player	Shots shown	Finish	Pairing
Brian Harman	68 (of 72)	T2	1
Brooks Koepka	63 (of 67)	1	2
Rickie Fowler	58	T5	3
Tommy Fleetwood	56	4	2
Justin Thomas	30	T9	1
Hideki Matsuyama	21	T2	8
Si Woo Kim	14	T13	3
Charley Hoffman	12	8	5
Xander Schauffele	6	T5	7
Brandt Snedeker	6	T9	6
Patrick Reed	5	T13	4
Russell Henley	5	T27	4
Cameron Champ	5	T32	12
Steve Stricker	4	T16	15
Bill Haas	2	T5	5
JB Holmes	2	12	8
Matt Kuchar	2	T16	18
Sergio Garcia	2	T21	10
Trey Mullinax	1	T9	9
Brendan Steele	1	T13	6
David Lingmerth	1	T21	15
Jim Furyk	1	T23	14
Scottie Scheffler	1	T27	17
Bernd Wiesberger	0	T16	7
Eddie Pepperell	0	T16	10
Chez Reavie	0	T16	11
others	0
total	366

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Shot chart from Fox Sunday US Open telecast - 2016

I tracked the shots televised by Fox during the 4th round of the US Open. With the final pairing getting underway at 3:30 pm ET, I began the monitoring at 3:00 to provide a fair comparison to the other tournaments where I have performed similar Sunday tracking.

Fox showed 354 unique strokes during the tracking period. The final putt dropped at 8:16 so this worked out to 1.12 strokes per minute. This shot rate significantly trailed the 1.33 of the 2016 Masters on CBS. This was also a decrease from the 1.18 shown by Fox during its 2015 coverage of the US Open. Fox spent quite a bit of time discussing the controversy over the potential one-stroke penalty which was eventually applied to Johnson's score after the round, so that might explain part of the dropoff. (Note: From the 2016 Masters post, you can find links to the shot charts I compiled from the 2014 and 2015 majors).

Fox showed all but four of the strokes played by winner Dustin Johnson and all but four from third-round leader Shane Lowry. Fox showed just 20 golfers playing strokes. Nine players were covered for at least 15 shots. The highest finisher not shown during the tracking period was David Lingmerth who finished 12th.

Also notable: Fox went commercial-free for 52 minutes starting at 7:25.

Here is the complete shot chart:

Player	Shots shown	Finish	Pairing
Shane Lowry	72 (of 76)	T2	1
Dustin Johnson	64 (of 68*)	1	2
Scott Piercy	40	T2	4
Jason Day	29	T8	5
Sergio Garcia	25	T5	4
Andrew Landry	24	T15	1
Branden Grace	23	T5	3
Lee Westwood	21	T32	2
Jim Furyk	15	T2	13
Daniel Summerhays	8	T8	3
Bryson DeChambeau	8	T15	5
Brooks Koepka	6	T13	19
Jason Dufner	5	T8	7
Jordan Spieth	5	T37	15
Kevin Na	3	7	7
Zach Johnson	2	T8	6
Kevin Streelman	1	T13	6
Yusaku Miyazato	1	T23	12
Jon Rahm	1	T23	23
Angel Cabrera	1	T37	28
David Lingmerth	0	12	20
others	0
total	354

* Johnson took 68 "shots" plus one penalty stroke for a score of 69

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Shot chart from Fox Sunday US Open telecast - 2015

I tracked the shots televised by Fox during the final round of the US Open. With the leaders teeing off at 6pm ET, I chose to start the tracking at 5:30 to provide a similar timeframe to the other events I have monitored.

Fox showed 341 strokes during the tracking period. The final putt dropped at 10:18 so this worked out to 1.18 strokes per minute which was an increase over the 1.12 shown by NBC during the 2014 US Open. The shot rate matched that of the 2015 Masters on CBS, but trailed the 1.33 by NBC for the 2015 Players. (Note: The Masters post contains links to the shot charts from the 2014 majors).

Fox showed all but one shot from Dustin Johnson, skipping only a layup shot on the 8th hole. Fox focused extensively on the final two pairings, devoting 69% of its televised strokes to those four players. Fox showed just 19 golfers playing strokes and only seven players got coverage for at least 10 shots. The highest finisher not shown during the period was Kevin Kisner (T12).

Also notable: Fox went commercial-free for 68 minutes starting at 9:14.

Here is the complete shot chart:

Player	Shots shown	Finish	Pairing
Dustin Johnson	69 (of 70)	T2	1
Jason Day	59	T9	1
Jordan Spieth	56	1	2
Branden Grace	52	T4	2
Rory McIlroy	27	T9	15
Brandt Snedeker	20	8	5
Louis Oosthuizen	16	T2	3
Adam Scott	9	T4	11
Cameron Smith	8	T4	3
JB Holmes	5	T27	4
Shane Lowry	4	T9	4
Sergio Garcia	3	T18	18
Henrik Stenson	3	T27	6
Charl Schwartzel	2	7	8
Matt Kuchar	2	T12	8
John Senden	2	T14	15
Brooks Koepka	2	T18	13
Patrick Reed	1	T14	7
Colin Montgomerie	1	T64	23
Kevin Kisner	0	T12	9
others	0
total	341

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Shot chart from the NBC Sunday US Open telecast

For the Sunday round of the US Open, I tracked the strokes shown on the NBC telecast by each player. In April, I did a similar shot chart from the CBS Sunday Masters telecast. With the final tee time at at 3:35 pm ET, I chose to start the tracking at 3 pm to provide a reasonable comparison to the more limited Sunday TV coverage of the Masters. As I did in the Masters chart, I disregarded any strokes shown from previous rounds and did not double-count any strokes shown multiple times.

Not surprisingly, NBC showed every stroke played by champion Martin Kaymer (and frequently replayed highlights from his tremendous performance). NBC focused most of the other coverage on the handful of players near the top of the leaderboard, but the final round lacked drama with Kaymer dominating the field.

NBC showed a total of 26 golfers during this time period with eight golfers being covered for at least 10 shots. NBC televised 312 strokes during this window. The final putt was holed at 7:38 pm, so this worked out to an average of 1.12 shots per minute during the tracking period. CBS got in 1.18 shots per minute on my Masters tracking but, of course, the Masters telecasts have much less commercial time. The highest finisher not shown during the tracking period was Jimmy Walker who tied for 9th.

Here is the complete shot chart:

Player	Shots shown	Finish	Pairing
Martin Kaymer	69 (of 69)	1	1
Rickie Fowler	58	T2	1
Erik Compton	56	T2	2
Dustin Johnson	34	T4	3
Henrik Stenson	19	T4	2
Justin Rose	14	T12	5
Brandt Snedeker	13	T9	3
Matt Kuchar	10	T12	4
Keegan Bradley	7	T4	15
Adam Scott	3	T9	11
Phil Mickelson	3	T28	17
Sergio Garcia	3	T35	18
Ernie Els	3	T35	19
Brooks Koepka	2	T4	4
Jason Day	2	T4	9
Jim Furyk	2	T12	21
Jordan Spieth	2	T17	6
Ian Poulter	2	T17	14
Rory McIlroy	2	T23	11
Ryan Moore	2	T48	15
Kevin Na	1	T12	5
Steve Stricker	1	T21	13
Victor Dubuisson	1	T28	7
Zach Johnson	1	T40	22
Zac Blair	1	T40	23
Retief Goosen	1	T45	16
Jimmy Walker	0	T9	9
others	0
total	312

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

History of US Open golf TV coverage (1954-present)

The US Open has the longest TV history of any of the golf majors. It stands unique as the only major which still conducts an 18-hole playoff.

The TV coverage of the US Open continues to dwarf that of the Masters. Here is a summary of my research on how the coverage of our national championship has evolved since 1954. All listings of hours refer to scheduled TV coverage.

<EDITED on 6/14/2019 to bring this up to date as of the 2019 tournament>  

Chronology of US Open TV coverage

1954 - The US Open was televised nationally for the first time as NBC provided 2 hours of Saturday coverage anchored by Lindsey Nelson. At the time, the tournament was a 3-day event concluding with 36 holes on Saturday.

1955 - NBC provided only one hour of coverage this year and ended its Saturday telecast with analyst Gene Sarazen congratulating Ben Hogan on his "victory" while some golfers were still on the course. But after NBC signed off, Jack Fleck produced two late birdies to tie Hogan. Fleck won the 18-hole playoff the next day, but NBC elected not to televise any portion of the playoff.

1959 - NBC included entertainer Ed Sullivan on the broadcast crew for this telecast. Sullivan was a member at Winged Foot which hosted the tournament that year. The other members of the NBC team were Chick Hearn, Ray Scott, and Bud Palmer, all of whom worked multiple US Opens during this era.

1962 - NBC added coverage of the Sunday playoff and did the same in 1963.

1965 - The US Open changed to the modern 4-day format with a Sunday finish and NBC provided coverage on both weekend days. NBC also added an hour of coverage for the Monday playoff. NBC televised the 1965 tournament in color which was the first color telecast of any golf major.

1966 - ABC took over the TV rights and expanded the scheduled total weekend coverage to 3.5 hours. ABC installed Chris Schenkel as lead announcer and Byron Nelson as the expert analyst. Jim McKay and Bill Flemming were also part of the telecast team. ABC also provided late afternoon coverage of the
Monday playoff.

1967 - Henry Longhurst and Keith Jackson joined the ABC crew. 

1970 - Dave Marr joined the ABC team and called the first of 22 consecutive US Opens for the network.

1971 - ABC added Frank Gifford to the mix. ABC also added coverage of the Monday playoff.

1973 - ABC used retired LPGA pro Marilynn Smith as a commentator where she worked alongside Gifford. This marked the first time a female had ever served as an announcer on a men's golf telecast. By this time, ABC had cameras to cover the final 13 holes.

1974 - Marr took over as lead analyst and would remain in that role through the 1991 tournament. ABC also used Tony Jacklin as an analyst after he missed the cut.

1975 - McKay took over as lead announcer. ABC also added Peter Alliss to the booth and Bob Rosburg as an on-course reporter. For the first time, ABC used handheld cameras in the fairways. ABC carried 1.5 hours of coverage of the Monday playoff.

1977 - This year saw a milestone event in golf TV history as ABC televised 4 hours on Sunday and covered the leaders for all 18 holes. This was the first time a network had ever provided 18-hole coverage for any round of a golf tournament. ABC used 30 cameras and claimed that this was twice as many as CBS used for the Masters.

1978 - ABC expanded to also televise 4 hours on Saturday for a total of 8 hours.

1982 - ESPN provided 3 hours of coverage each day of the Thursday and Friday rounds. This represented the first cable coverage of the US Open. Jim Simpson (who had worked some of the early US Opens for NBC) anchored the ESPN coverage with Cary Middlecoff, Lou Palmer, and Jim Thacker  forming the rest of its broadcast team. ESPN has covered the first 2 rounds of the US Open ever since. ABC added Jack Whitaker to its crew. During much of the 1980s, ABC would rotate anchors among McKay, Whitaker, and Alliss during each telecast with each calling the action from a monitor.

1983 - Due to rain, the final round did not conclude on Sunday. ABC added coverage of the Monday finish, but did so on tape delay.

1984 - ABC provided 1.5 hours of joined-in-progress coverage of the Monday playoff and would do the same in 1988.

1985 - ABC expanded the weekend coverage to 4.5 hours each day. ABC added Judy Rankin who became the first female on-course reporter for a men's golf telecast.

1986 - Chris Berman hosted the ESPN coverage for the first time and has remained in that role ever since. ABC added Jack Nicklaus as a special commentator and he remained in this role through 1994. Nicklaus was still an active player and would join the weekend telecasts in progress in years when he made the cut.

1990 - Roger Twibell took over as the main ABC anchor. ABC added 1.5 hours of joined-in-progress coverage of the Monday playoff and did the same in 1991.

1992 - Brent Musburger became the main ABC anchor and he remained in this role until ABC lost the TV rights after the 1994 Open.

1993 - ABC used Peter Jacobsen as lead analyst. This was also the final year that McKay called the US Open.

1994 - ABC televised the last of its 29 consecutive US Opens. This was the first year that there was TV coverage of the entire Monday 18-hole playoff as ESPN covered the first 2.5 hours and ABC picked up the rest.

1995 - NBC took over the USGA TV contract and installed Dick Enberg and Johnny Miller in the 18th hole tower. NBC expanded the weekend coverage to 6 hours each day and combined with ESPN to show a total of 25 hours. NBC also added former ABC analyst Marr to its crew and used him through 1997. Other members of that NBC US Open crew included Dan Hicks, Bob Trumpy, Roger Maltbie, John Schroeder, and Dan Pohl. Miller, Hicks, and Maltbie remain to this day.

1996 - NBC added 2 hours of coverage on Thursday and Friday from 3-5pm ET (while ESPN provided coverage both before and after the NBC window). NBC became the first network to carry portions of all 4 rounds of a golf major. NBC has continued this practice in the identical time slot ever since. Gary Koch joined the NBC team.

1998 - NBC added Mark Rolfing to its telecast crew.

2000 - Hicks took over as lead announcer for NBC. Mike Tirico called his first US Open for ESPN.


2001 - ESPN and NBC teamed up to cover the entire Monday 18-hole playoff (and would do the same in 2008).

2003 - Bob Costas worked the tournament in a host role for NBC for the first time.

2005 - NBC added Dottie Pepper to the TV team.

2006 - Both ESPN and NBC broadcast the US Open in HDTV for the first time.

2008 - With the tournament being held at a west coast site, NBC shifted its weekend coverage into the prime time hours. The network would do the same in 2010 and 2012.

2009 - With the tournament impacted by rain, NBC added morning hours on both weekend days. The fourth round concluded on Monday and ESPN came on the air that morning at 9 am ET while NBC picked things up at 11:30 am ET.

2013 - NBC and ESPN plan an unprecedented total of 35 hours of combined live coverage. NBC did a whopping 7.5 hours each weekend day.

2014 - The 20-year run of NBC and the ESPN streak of 33 consecutive years both came to an end after Fox acquired rights to the event starting in 2015. One of the ESPN hours shifted to ESPN2 due to World Cup Soccer coverage.

2015 - Fox carried its first golf major and combined with FS1 to televise a record 38.5 hours. Fox aired prime time coverage during all four rounds. Joe Buck served as the lead announcer with Greg Norman in the #1 analyst position.

2016 - Fox installed Paul Azinger as the lead analyst. After rain cut play short on Thursday, FS1 added several hours of morning coverage on the other three days. Fox/FS1 also added some evening hours on Friday and Saturday.

2019 - On Thursday, in parallel to the regular Fox prime time coverage, FS1 carried three hours of featured group coverage. Fox and FS1 combined for a record 40 hours of scheduled coverage (not counting the parallel hours on Thursday night).

Total scheduled live TV time for the US Open by year

Note: I am not including added coverage (such as playoffs) in these numbers, but I did mention these cases in the above chronology.

1954:            2 hours (NBC)
1955:            1 hour (NBC)
1956-1957:  2 hours (NBC)
1958-1959:  1.5 hours  (NBC)
1960:           1 hour (NBC)
1961-1964:  1.5 hours (NBC)
1965:            3 hours (NBC)

1966-1971:  3.5 hours (ABC)
1972:            5 hours (ABC)
1973:            5.5 hours (ABC)
1974-1976:  5 hours (ABC)
1977:            7 hours (ABC)
1978-1981:  8 hours (ABC)

1982:            14 hours (6 on ESPN, 8 on ABC)
1983-1984:  15 hours (7 on ESPN, 8 on ABC)
1985-1986:  17 hours (8 on ESPN, 9 on ABC)

1987:            19 hours (10 on ESPN, 9 on ABC)

1988-1989:  17 hours (8 on ESPN, 9 on ABC)

1990-1991:  21 hours (12 on ESPN, 9 on ABC)
1992:            22.5 hours (13.5 on ESPN, 9 on ABC)
1993:            23 hours (13 on ESPN, 10 on ABC)
1994:            22 hours (13 on ESPN, 9 on ABC)

1995:            25 hours (13 on ESPN, 12 on NBC)
1996:            26 hours (11 on ESPN, 15 on NBC)
1997-1998:  27 hours (11 on ESPN, 16 on NBC)
1999-2000:  28 hours (11 on ESPN, 17 on NBC)
2001-2003:  29 hours (12 on ESPN, 17 on NBC)
2004-2006:  31 hours (14 on ESPN, 17 on NBC)
2007-2009:  30 hours (14 on ESPN, 16 on NBC)

2010:            30.5 hours (14 on ESPN, 16.5 on NBC)
2011:            30 hours (14 on ESPN, 16 on NBC)
2012:            32.5 hours (16 on ESPN, 16.5 on NBC)
2013:            35 hours (16 on ESPN, 19 on NBC)
2014:            35 hours (15 on ESPN, 1 on ESPN2, 19 on NBC)

2015:            38.5 hours (16 on FS1, 22.5 on Fox)
2016:            36.5 hours (14 on FS1, 22.5 on Fox)
2017:            38.5 hours (14 on FS1, 24.5 on Fox)
2018:            37 hours (13.5 on FS1, 23.5 on Fox)
2019:            40 hours (14 on FS1, 26 on Fox)