Golf broadcasts are under a constant microscope. If the broadcast is deemed less than ideal by the those on social media, there’s sure to be an uproar. Televised golf isn’t just for Sunday afternoon naps — it’s serious business.
Television execs seem to have taken these criticisms to heart recently. Broadcasts have begun to evolve and there are new elements to the live product that make golf more exciting than ever before. One such example? Walk-and-talks during competition.
Walk-and-talks are nothing new in the golf space, but conducting them during a round was previously unheard of. Fortunately, thanks to the cooperation of several of the game’s biggest names, interviews during the round have been integrated into the broadcast for the first time this season.
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Curmudgeons might argue that these segments can impact a player’s performance negatively. However, after one season of the walk-and-talks, the opposite was true. For the most part, mic’d up segments didn’t coincide with anyone’s round getting derailed. But PGA Tour rookie Austin Eckroat was an exception.
As he went through a live walk-and-talk with CBS during the Memorial earlier this summer, Eckroat made a disastrous double bogey on the 13th hole.
“It was not the interview that was the issue,” Eckroat said on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar. “It was just horrible timing on the fact that I actually hit a fairly decent drive and it ended up in just a terrible spot.”
After the tough break on the drive, Eckroat did himself no favors as he compounded errors on his way to a double-bogey 6. Luckily for the CBS producers, the rookie was able to take the unfortunate situation in stride.
“It was funny because I had hit it great all day long,” Eckroat said. “Just horrible timing.”
Check out the entire episode of Subpar below.