LIV's rebel golfers will NOT receive limited airtime at the Masters

LIV’s rebel golfers will NOT receive limited airtime from TV broadcasters at next week’s Masters – as hosts CBS confirm they will be impartial in choosing who to feature

  • Sky Sports appeared to snub breakaway LIV golfers during DP World Tour events
  • But Masters host broadcaster CBS ensures they’ll be impartial in their coverage
  • There is expected to be a frosty atmosphere between both factions at Augusta

LIV rebels will not be snubbed by television broadcasters when they return to the mainstream to contest the Masters next week.

It was pointed out by a number of viewers that LIV golfers appeared to receive limited airtime by Sky Sports during DP World Tour events, including the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth last September.

However, despite there being 17 members of the breakaway series in the field at Augusta, led by Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Cameron Smith, there is evidently no plan to reduce their visibility on either side of the Atlantic at the first major of the season.

As host broadcaster, the US network CBS has confirmed it will be impartial in choosing who to feature in their coverage, which is relevant as Sky will be largely using their feed, in addition to their own studio and interview footage. Sources say LIV will not be overlooked by Sky, who hold the rights over here to the DP World Tour.

The Masters falls at a particularly tense moment for the DP World Tour, which is currently awaiting the outcome of an arbitration hearing in February that will effectively determine if LIV golfers can continue to play on their circuit, with the ramifications of that decision due to impact whether Luke Donald can pick any of the defectors for his European Ryder Cup team later this year. 

Phil Mickelson (above) – and the other 17 LIV golfers set to appear at the Masters – will not receive limited airtime in Augusta, with host broadcaster CBS confirming they will be impartial

American golfer Patrick Reed (above) insisted it would be ‘business as usual’ in Augusta next week, despite fears that a frosty relationship between the two factions could mar the event

Hero Dubai Desert Classic champion Rory McIlroy (above) fell out with Reed earlier this year

It was initially indicated that a verdict to would be announced by Sports Resolutions around late February or early March, but as Sportsmail revealed last month the estimated timeline has extended to anywhere between two to four months from the hearing, which concluded on February 10. The early end of that scale would fall during the Masters, though sources say the announcement is not imminent.

There is expected to be a frosty atmosphere between the factions at Augusta.. Patrick Reed, with whom Rory McIlroy fell out quite spectacularly in Dubai earlier this year, said this week: ‘It’s one of those things, the media and the storylines are going to be obviously LIV versus PGA Tour and all that kind of stuff.’ 

Speaking at LIV’s third event of their season in Orlando, where their leading names are attempting to belatedly find form, Reed added: ‘For us, at least for myself, it’s going to be business as usual going out and playing. 

‘Would I like to have LIV be up at the top? Of course. But really at the end of the day, it’s all of us going in there and just trying to play the best golf we can and be ready for the four biggest weeks of the year.’

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