The sports presenter Steve Rider has called his former BBC colleague Gary Lineker "sour and misguided" over his criticism of the R&A as "pompous … superior beings".
Attacking the R&A’s management, Lineker accused officials of being aloof and warned that their decision to remove live coverage of the Open from free-to-air television will prove extremely damaging for the game.
The 144th Open at St Andrews could potentially be the last championship shown live by the BBC, with the R&A striking a deal with Sky that will see the third major of the year broadcast on pay-TV from 2017.
Lineker, who replaced Rider as the BBC’s golf presenter when the latter moved to ITV in 2005, expressed concern that the game would suffer because of the decision, telling The Golf Paper: “I think the R&A have always been very difficult to deal with. They live in a world where it seems they feel they are superior beings.
“They are old school. They are born from an era which gives them entitlement which the rest of us aren’t. I felt that pomposity when I got the job. Now they have taken the Open away from the BBC for a few pence extra. For me that is going to be a very damaging decision for golf. It’s a shame because the sport is struggling as it is. It’s badly run.”
Rider, responding to the comments in an email to The Golf Paper, said his former colleague was wrong, and had not been up to the task of presenting golf.
Rider wrote: "I hold Gary Lineker in the highest regard as a football presenter. But his reflections on his experiences as a golf presenter need a huge reality check. For four years, the R&A and most other observers knew that Gary was the wrong man in the wrong job. Hazel Irvine has just delivered once again at the Open presentation skills of the highest quality.
“Not many people can do that and Gary certainly came up short. Roger Mosey, the head of sport, knew Gary was a golf fanatic and was further encouraged by Gary apparently volunteering for the Masters vacancy within a few minutes of my exit from Television Centre.
“But if Mosey thought long and hard before offering Gary the golf job, it’s even more baffling. Match of the Day is scripted and rehearsed. Golf presentation, especially at Augusta, is seat of the pants, unpredictable and demanding.
"Gary was honest enough to step aside from the golf, but his attack on the R&A was sour and misguided in the extreme. Had he taken the time to involve himself in other areas of the BBC golf output, he would surely have a different opinion of the R&A. They are not 'pompous superior beings' – I would take them over Fifa and the Premier League any day."
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