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How to watch the Ryder Cup 2018 abroad (from overseas)

July 22, 2020

How to watch the Ryder Cup abroad (from overseas)

If you’re out of the country during the Ryder Cup, you might find it difficult to find a good place to stream the 2018 Ryder Cup. But fear not. In this article, we’ll show you How to watch the Ryder Cup abroad (from overseas).

As you’ve probably noticed, Sky Go and BBC iPlayer (and many more stations) don’t let you access their content from overseas. The reason for this is because broadcasters only buy the rights to live sports in their own territory. This means they cannot steam the content outside of the UK.

How to watch the Ryder Cup abroad: Quick guide

Get ExpressVPN ($6.66/month)
Download and install the NordVPN app
Connect to a server in the UK
Connect to Sky Go
Watch Europe bring home the Ryder Cup 2018

How to watch the Ryder Cup abroad (from overseas)?

If you’re outside of the UK and EU, you won’t be able to watch Sky Go through a normal internet connection. Fortunately, there’s a really simple workaround.

All you need to do is get a (good!) VPN and select a server in the UK. This will spoof your connection’s IP address and Sky Go will think you’re accessing its content from within the UK. Meaning you can watch the Ryder Cup from anywhere in the world!

Note: Not all VPNs are the same! Some are good, some are really bad… and free VPNs are worse still.

In order to watch Sky Go abroad, you need to get a VPN that offers access to servers that aren’t blacklisted by the major broadcasters. Until recently, this was pretty much any paid-for VPN. However, the likes of Sky Go, BBC iPlayer and Netflix have started fighting back against VPNs. The tactics they use to fight back are pretty simple: as soon as they detect a VPN’s IP address, it gets banned.

This means you need to pick a VPN that stays one-step ahead of Sky Go (and BBC iPlayer and Netflix too!).

We recommend using ExpressVPN ($6.66/month). These are the two most reliable VPNs on the market for unlocking Sky Go from overseas and is one of the most affordable too.

I’ve been using to watch Sky Go, BBC iPlayer and US/UK Netflix since May (all the way from New Zealand!) and haven’t experienced any problems.

If you want to buy a VPN that’s slightly cheaper, but still gets the job done. Consider Private Internet Access ($2.03/month). It’s not quite up to the same standards of ExpressVPN in terms of speed, ease of use and uptime with Sky Sports. But it’s a lot cheaper.

How does Sky Go blacklist VPNs?

Picture an average household internet connection. It will have anywhere between 1-6 people living in it… and using the internet. This means, at any given time, six people could be connected to Sky Go (potentially from six different logins). Sky deems this level of usage as normal. Therefore the household’s IP address will not raise any red flags.

A VPN server will have a very different usage pattern. With potentially thousands of customers accessing Sky Go simultaneously. All these VPN customers will be connecting to Sky’s servers from the same VPN server’s IP address. When Sky Go detects this sort of abnormal behaviour it blacklists the offending IP address.

The best VPNs know this and monitor server connections to major streaming services. If/When one IP address gets blacklisted by a Sky Go, BBC iPlayer or Netflix (et al) they release a new unblocked server and IP address. This process is known as Cat and Mouse.

Ever since streaming services started blocking VPNs in 2016, the number of VPNs who play the game of Cat and Mouse with Sky Go, Netflix, BBC iPlayer etc has steadily dropped. NordVPN, ExpressVPN and PureVPN are the best of the remaining services.