Andrews Sykes ‘pitches in’ to save broadcaster’s blushes.

For many years our client, a leading broadcaster, has been covering The Open, the most prestigious of Golf’s ‘Majors’, certainly the one with the most tradition

This year The Open was hosted at Muirfield Golf Links – East Lothian, Scotland. Unusually hot weather throughout the British Isles embraced Scotland as well and not only did this affect the golf, acting as a ‘fan oven’ on the fairways and greens according to Course Manager Colin Irvine, but every aspect of organising a major event was put under extra stress. Considering last year at Lytham the biggest problem was a virtually constant deluge of rain and unrelenting wind, to have to deal with extreme heat was hard to foresee

For the broadcaster the complicated process of following and broadcasting every drive, approach, sand shot and putt, plus the crowd coverage and player background material is a massive undertaking involving huge numbers of staff and vast amounts of heat generating equipment

Andrews Sykes were contacted when the conditions overwhelmed cooling equipment that had been provided by another supplier and we were asked to step in to prevent the risk of abandoning coverage from the course due to unbearable temperatures in some of the facilities. It would be unthinkable that Britain’s major broadcaster could be forced to stop broadcasting what is surely one of the ‘Crown Jewel’ events

We were first approached at 4.30pm on the Wednesday, just hours before coverage started to ramp up, and we delivered high performance kit the same evening and by start of full coverage things were back in equilibrium and the only thing glowing red hot seemed to be Phil Mickleson’s putter. Again

Our hearts went out to Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, the two home grown talents who both looked like they might secure their first Major, but Phil Mickleson was a worthy winner as were the crowd who enjoyed spectacular golf, as indeed did those fans who watched and listened at home or in pubs and clubs – in part thanks to Andrews Sykes