PGA Tour promised broadcast changes. Tests of new feature begin this week

It was just five weeks ago that PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan gave a press conference at the season-ending Tour Championship, promising that fans would see change coming to Tour broadcasts. This week, that change begins.

Starting Thursday, and carrying on through the following two events (Black Desert Championship, Shriner’s Children’s Open), the Tour will test in-round player interviews as part of what it calls “an expended player/broadcast partnership.”

“During the FedExCup Fall, we’ll be piloting a new broadcast approach with the Golf Channel at several events,” Monahan said in August. “On Thursday, we’ll show fans a traditional broadcast. Then on Friday, the presentation will adopt new features based on fan feedback.

“We’ll then survey fans to test their preferences, and that intel will help us further innovate the broadcasts with our fans more squarely in the driver’s seat.”

It remains unclear what the Friday innovations will look like, but an emphasis on showing golfers near the 36-hole cut-line could be part of it. As Monahan put it, the Tour is hoping to “modernize the broadcast.”

As for Thursdays, the interviews will kick off with the Sanderson Farms tournament this week, played in Jackson, Miss. The Tour communicated its intentions with players, beginning with a statement that all interviews are voluntary and will be limited in scope. They will be conducted by Golf Channel reporters who have been “designated by the PGA Tour” and will amount to just two short questions, exclusively about the competition. The interviews will take place on a specific par-3 after all players have hit their tee shots.

So, what does that look like? 

The Tour began doing in-round interviews in early 2023, mic’ing up players for a hole with an Apple AirPod. Max Homa led the charge, doing this walk-and-talk on the 13th hole at Torrey Pines during the Farmers Insurance Open. This week’s interviews will be different. They will undoubtedly be much shorter in length and will take place on Thursdays. Homa’s walk-and-talk arrived during the third round of a tournament while he was in contention. It was also agreed to prior to the round, as producers needed to lock-in a player commitment prior to them teeing off.

Thursday interviews would likely be more spontaneous or decided in the moment, not facilitated hours earlier. The shorter nature of these interviews should also allow Golf Channel to hear from numerous players throughout the day. Mic’d up walk-and-talks have largely been limited to just one player each day. 

The look and feel of these interviews does not have to be imagined. They already exist, and with decent frequency, on the DP World Tour broadcasts presented by Sky Sports. Iona Stephen and fellow Sky Sports on-course reporters have been interviewing players in short bursts the last few years, trotting alongside them for a minute or two once they’ve left a tee box. You can check out a few of those clips below.