Major winner takes swipe at BBC over AIG Women’s Open coverage

Former major champion Georgia Hall blasted the BBC over its coverage of the AIG Women’s Open.

The showpiece event is being held at Muirfield in East Lothian, a historic occasion given the context of the venue’s prior shift in attitude towards women.

However, viewers wanting to catch highlights on the UK’s national broadcaster will have to wait until after 11pm, while the winning putt will not be shown until around 12.45am.

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In an interview with the Telegraph’s James Corrigan, Hall – who won this event in 2018 – slammed the broadcaster over the situation.

“It is a shame and we’ve had this before. I remember at Troon [in 2020] and hoped they would fix after that reaction,” Hall said.

“We want it to be on earlier so more people can and will watch. You can’t expect people to be staying up past midnight, especially the kids and that is who we are trying to inspire aren’t we?

“After what the Lionnessess did on Sunday women’s sport is on the up – the BBC got 17 million or something for the final – and this is disappointing. All we can do is try to play as well as we can and hope that people tune in, if they haven’t got Sky. But no, it doesn’t help that it’s on even later than before.”

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According to the BBC, the late scheduling is as a result of the Commonwealth Games, which are currently being held in Birmingham.

However, as Hall pointed out, it’s not the first time the AIG Women’s Open has been bumped by BBC TV. Two years ago the event was moved to make way for the Senior World Snooker Championship.