Those who weren't planning to pay $19.99 for "The Match" between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson on Friday got a break when Turner executives decided, at the last minute, to give away the stream for free.
The decision came after a technical issue with the purchasing mechanism on Bleacher Report Live made it difficult for fans to purchase the event, a source told ESPN.
"We experienced a technical issue on Bleacher Report Live that impacted user access to 'The Match,'" Turner spokesman Nate Smeltz said. "We took a number of steps to resolve the matter with our main priority being to deliver the content to those who purchased the event."
The source with knowledge of the issue said there was no impact on the other carriers (Xfinity, DIRECTV, AT&T) charging for "The Match."
The added amount of viewers, some of whom found out about the free stream on social media, did not seem to impact the quality of the stream itself.
It is not known if Turner will credit those who paid, though a case could be made that those who paid did, in fact, get the product.
On Sunday Comcast said they would issue a $19.99 credit to any Xfinity TV customer who purchased the pay-per-view event.
"We hope Turner and Bleacher Report will do the same given that the event was made available by them for free on The Bleacher Report website," read Comcast's statement.
Mickelson made a 4-foot birdie putt to defeat Woods on the 22nd hole.
