Lineker is wrong for golf, says Rider

TOP sports broadcaster Steve Rider has launched a scathing attack on former BBC colleague Gary Lineker after he said the Open Championship organisers, the R&A, behaved like ‘superior beings’. Rider, whom Lineker replaced as BBC lead golf presenter when he defected to ITV, accuses the acclaimed Match of the Day host of being ‘sour and misguided in the extreme’ in his R&A comments and lacking the TV skill-set to anchor a live golf presentation. Rider, in a long email to The Golf Paper, published today, said: ‘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.’ Rider claims that after he left the BBC, the R&A watched how the vacancy was to be filled with some concern. Rider writes: ‘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. ‘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.’