NBC analyst launches extraordinary 'off-limits' attack on rival CBS over Rory McIlroy coverage

NBC analyst Kevin Kisner has launched into extraordinary criticism of rival broadcaster CBS over their coverage of The Masters.

CBS share broadcasting rights to the iconic tournament with ESPN, as part of a long-time agreement held with Augusta National.

As per SportsPro, the final round averaged over 14 million viewers for CBS, peaking at 20.05 million viewers - the largest peak audience for The Masters since all the way back in 2013.

But the broadcaster came in for significant criticism from viewers over its choice of which players and shots to follow.

That meant it missed a number of key shots over the four rounds, while others were not shown live.

There were also question marks after they opted to film Rory McIlroy's Masters-winning putt from behind, meaning the golf ball wasn't fully visible, while fans complained about the coverage of McIlroy and playing partner Cameron Young's approach shots on 18.

And Kisner, who has won four titles on the PGA Tour and combines his playing duties alongside working for NBC, tore into the rival broadcaster over their coverage.

Speaking on the Fore Play Podcast, he stated: "What are we doing, man? You have no commercials. Play live shots.

"Our production team at NBC prides themselves on playing every shot that they possibly can live.

"When we can't, we have to say, 'A moment ago...', because we're trying to make the movie make sense, right?

"We don't want to show you a tap in at 16 and go, 'Oh yeah, he's already hitting a shot on 17', because obviously he has to walk over there.

"I have no idea what they're doing. Literally no idea. They're showing every shot on tape. It's incredible. I don't know how the announcers call it.

"There were a couple of shots in the two days that were seven to 10 minutes behind. It was unbelievable, dude.

"I'm not trying to just kill them, but being in TV for 30 times, and seeing what our production does, it was fascinating to me. I was blown away. I'd never paid attention. You'd never know that from just watching the broadcast, right?"

Journalist Josh Carpenter noted that verbal attacks on rival broadcasters are 'usually pretty off-limits' in the golfing world.

CBS lead commentator Jim Nantz responded to some aspects of the criticism during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday: "It's live television. We all mistakes.

"If he [McIlroy] would have missed [the final putt], we would have had the all-time story in the history of golf.

"But I'm really proud of our crew. You're making so many decisions. Split-second decisions.

"The things that were shown, produced, by our crew... hundreds of people involved over the course of four days, some 30 hours of television.

"I can't speak to the difficulty in some of the decision-making, some of the things that people are responsible for. I just know that our crew is the best in the business.

"Our crew is nominated at the Emmys next month for best technical team effort. Last year's Masters, the same crew was nominated for best show in television.

"I just walk away with more memories and a lot of pride for what everybody did."