Turner Sports declined to extend its TV rights with European golf body the R&A.
TNT’s telecast of the 2009 British Open Championship, to be held in Turnberry, Scotland, in July, will be the last event to be covered by Turner Sports under its current seven-year deal with the R&A.
“We are disciplined in our approach to negotiating programming rights,” said Turner Sports President David Levy in a statement. “While we were unable to reach terms on future rights that made economic sense for our company, we respect and value the R&A and our partnership of the past six years, and look forward to TNT’s final year of covering the Open.”