I agree. But when you can't afford to compete for the primary rights it's the next best thing. Live is better than highlights in almost all situations, but an effective highlights package in a proper time slot can be huge for a sport, and this is where free TV should be at when live rights become ridiculously expensive.
So, if the BBC cannot compete for live rights they try and keep an effective highlights package. I think having highlights from 7-9pm (for example) of every days play from the Open will work just fine for them and will get big audiences, much like having highlights on the same day of the 10 F1 Grand Prix they don't show live.
More people will watch those highlights of the Open than will watch live on Sky. More people will walk into work on the Monday afterwards with images of the Open based on the highlights they watched on the BBC than on Sky. The BBC is still the place to be if you want your sport to be watched by the masses, look at ratings for the Grand National since it went to C4 for example.
We're going massively off topic I reckon here!