LONDON: Live coverage of The British Open will disappear from the BBC from 2017 after the Royal & Ancient (R&A) announced on Tuesday that a deal had been struck with Sky Sports.

Sky will have exclusive live rights for the major championship from 2017-2021, with the BBC showing highlights and broadcasting radio coverage, the R&A said in a statement.

The Open, like the Wimbledon tennis championships, has long been regarded as one of the ‘crown jewels’ of British sport and the decision to remove it from the shrinking list of free-to-air events is a controversial one.

“I cannot believe The Open isn’t protected as one of the sporting crown jewels (meaning it is shown live on terrestrial TV). That is an absolute disgrace,” former world number one Lee Westwood said this week as speculation grew that the BBC would pull the plug on its live coverage after 60 years.

The new TV deal will begin at the 146th Open to be played at Royal Birkdale in 2017.

Despite inevitable criticism that people without satellite TV contracts will be excluded from following hole-by-hole coverage of golf’s oldest major, R&A chief executive Peter Dawson welcomed the deal.

“We believe this is the best result for The Open and for golf,” he said in a statement.

“The way people consume live sport is changing significantly and this new agreement ensures fans have a range of options for enjoying the Championship on television, on radio and through digital channels.

“Sky Sports has an excellent track record in covering golf across its platforms and has become the home of live golf coverage over recent years.”

The deal, reported to be worth 10 million pounds ($15.1 million) a year to the R&A, compared to the 7 million a year the BBC was paying for live rights, will help golf halt the decline in grassroots participation, according to Dawson.

“Importantly, the new agreement will enable us to increase substantially our support for golf in the United Kingdom and Ireland,” he said.

“That our increased commitment to golf in both countries is to be supported by both Sky Sports and the BBC is a hugely positive step for our sport.”

Sky Sports already shows live coverage of the US Masters, the US Open, the US PGA championship and the Ryder Cup.

The R&A said that commercial breaks, the lack of which make the BBC’s coverage so popular, would be kept to a maximum of four minutes per hour, with none longer than 60 seconds.