PGA Tour make out of the blue announcement before Sanderson Farms Championship
The PGA Tour has confirmed changes will be made to their TV broadcast on Thursday by interviewing golfers on the course.
The PGA Tour have confirmed they will start testing out in-round player interviews at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Commissioner Jay Monahan promised in August before the season finale at East Lake that sweeping changes to their TV broadcasts were being planned to 'put fans more squarely in the driver's seat'.
Promising to revolutionise the product, Monahan outlined how the Tour would be testing out a new broadcast approach with on-course interviews as well as trying to place an emphasis on golfers in the field facing the 36-hole cut.
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According to GOLF, the Tour told players in the field this week that all interviews will be voluntary and limited in scope.
They will be conducted by Golf Channel reporters and they will only be allowed to ask two short questions about the competition.
Interviews will be conducted on a specific par-3 after each player in the group have hit their tee short, the report stated.
The PGA Tour first started in-round player interviews in early 2023, although they were slightly different than what we will see this week.
Max Homa was the first to put on a pair of Apple AirPods to talk to CBS lead analyst Trevor Immelman during the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
Rory McIlroy also caught us by surprise when he did same during the first round of The Masters to discuss his chances with Jim Nantz.
Canada's Mackenzie Hughes also hit the headlines with his walk-and-talk at the Genesis Invitational as he blasted his peers for being greedy as golf's civil war spiralled out of control.
"It seems that some of the guys have lost sight of that," Hughes previously said.
"And now we're in a place where I think fans are just generally fed up with it, to be honest, and those are the people that drive our sport."
Player interviews on the course are used regularly by Sky Sports with their coverage of the DP World Tour.
Iona Stephen, Inci Mehmet and Tim Barter frequently grab a few minutes of players' time after they hit their tee shots.
