NBC apologizes for pledge omission

NBC's intent was to begin its coverage of the U.S. Open just outside Washington on Sunday with a patriotic montage celebrating the event's return to the nation's capital.

Instead, the network found itself apologizing for an omission from the pledge of allegiance as recited by a group of children.

Twice during the opening, the network cut away during the recitation when the children would have been saying, "under God, indivisible."

The segment sparked a negative reaction on social media. Later in the day, Dan Hicks apologized on the air, without saying specifically what had been omitted.

"We began our coverage of this final round just about three hours ago, and when we did, it was our intent to begin the coverage of this U.S. Open championship with a feature that captured the patriotism of our national championship being held in our nation's capital for the third time," Hicks said.

"Regrettably, a portion of the pledge of allegiance that was in that feature was edited out. It was not done to upset anyone, and we'd like to apologize to those of you who were offended by it."