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Getting ready for the off

Graham McMillan | 11:52 UK time, Friday, 19 September 2008

So I was telling you that I had been told there was no chance of a ... well that was my first mistake.

We were delayed in en route to for 18 hours as the effects of Hurricane Ike swept up the States and, as you probably know, there was some damage to the course as a result. The media centre threatened to take off in the direction of , the place was closed and our efforts to get things ready were delayed by 24 hours. This was bad on so many levels!

But thanks to the sterling efforts of our engineering team we seem to be back on track with just a couple of hours to go till it all gets under way (touching all available wood).

We were still testing things up until Thursday evening; making sure our microphones worked at all four corners of the course, listening through to 24 press conferences and interviews with all the players and wondering what on earth Nick Faldo had been talking about!

A sign blows down at Valhalla

Obviously Faldo and Paul Azinger have had their selection dilemmas in the last couple of days and it's pretty much the same at 5 Live. Who do you pair with who? Who goes out first? Who gets a rest? Big questions all. But I'm happy with my choices - I'm sure they won't disappoint come the big day!

One of the big things we've been trying to sort in the last few days is making sure our commentary can be heard by as many people as possible. It's great that the crowds on course can hear us through little radios they can buy when they get here, especially when people tap the commentators on the shoulder and make points or say they're enjoying the coverage.

It's very important on a practical level too - 40,000 people will be here each day and that could mean 10,000 people watching each match... not everyone's going to see everything and that's where we come in. We're also going to be heard round the world through the Ryder Cup website so we look forward to having people join in with our coverage from the four corners of the earth.

There are very strict rules here though for the commentators. All of them have to walk a designated route round the course, and although they commentate from inside the ropes, they have to stay within one arm's length of them and are certainly not allowed to get anywhere near the fairways themselves... our guys will plough through the rough to get into the right position. If the rules are flouted, you're out! Now that's a thought that's going to fester.

My checklist for the morning for the commentators has two key things. Remember suntan lotion is possibly the most important of all. It's over 80 degrees here and if you're out there for 12 hours, you're going to really suffer if you haven't got any. The other essential is to try not to lose your guest summariser which is harder to achieve than you might think.

With so many people here in a relatively small area, especially round the clubhouse and the first tee, it's quite possible to misplace a former Ryder Cup captain or player with the risk we may never see them again.

So that's it, I think we're all set. The commentators all went to bed early as it is an early start to get the media shuttle from our hotel to the course - we were off at 5.30am to make the half hour journey.

Hope you can listen to some of the coverage and I hope we can convey the emotion and excitement of this fantastic event over the next three days.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    I am very concerned that the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TV seem no longer interested in sport!!!

    Although 5 live coverage is excellent it's not the same as watching on TV. We can no longer watch sports such as cricket, ryder cup or live football!

    The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ seem to have gone from pleasing the majority to looking after the minority!

    Why do we have to pay our TV liecence when you don't provide the programmes the majority of us would like!!

    A concerned viewer

    Sircas

  • Comment number 2.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 3.

    Um..let me rephrase what I posted.
    Im am worried that the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ are not using its sports budget effectively.
    The Ryder Cup is the jewel in the crown of Golf events and the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ havent bothered to go up against Sky for it.
    I have Sky and their coverage is fantastic, yet I wonder if the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ had it, could it be outdone?
    Probably not!

  • Comment number 4.

    "Hope you can listen to some of the coverage"

    Do we have a choice? I'm a football fan, and can assure you that jmore people are interested in football today than they are in the Rider Cup. However, there is no 606 on Five Live tonight. It's just the Rider Cup. Couldn't the Rider Cup have been put on Sports Extra so that the majority of the licence paying sports fans could have got the football coverage on Five Live they wanted?

  • Comment number 5.

    I just wanted to thank you for your coverage of the Ryder Cup. I attended the event, and listened to the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ coverage over my portable headset. I don't believe that I will ever be able to go back to watching or listening to US coverage of Golf. The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ entertaining, and interesting and everyone I was with concurred. I think I turned to the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ channel early the first day I was there, and I never went back to the NBC coverage. Thanks again. by the way my favorite comment... "It went in like a rat down a hole". hilarious!

    I have posted these same comments various times, I wasn't sure where to post them, but I wanted to make sure you know.

  • Comment number 6.

    RE: Post 4

    I just think this is a rather selfish post (again)

    Clearly going by this and other posts by the user is a football fan only.

    Not all Radio 5 listeners want to have wall to wall football and enjoy other sports for a chance!

Μύ

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