Televising the Ryder Cup: How the magic happens

Executive producer and Galway native Mike Crowe stands in front of 200 monitors in the front gallery and strives to explain how the magic happens.

BEHIND THE CAMERAS: Televising the Ryder Cup: How the magic happens. Pic: Maurice Brosnan

In the corner of the golf course there is a mini town. Marco Simone is situated just outside of Rome and the crew responsible for bringing the Ryder Cup into homes and onto screens around the globe sit just off the fourth tee.

This golf tournament is the ultimate marriage of television sport and soap opera. Capturing it precisely is a phenomenal task that requires a mind-boggling amount of cross-continental communication between different departments. Over a thousand people. A plane, cranes and hundreds of automobiles. IMG Media is at the heart of a seismic compound for the entire week.