The PGA Tour introduced a new tech feature this week at the 3M Open, marking a kind of experiment for the tournament.
Before the event kicked off, the tour rolled out innovative elements in collaboration with their broadcast partner, Rapid Round. Essentially, this means that they aim to provide fans with bite-sized broadcasts showcasing players who are currently making waves during the tournament. You could say it’s like a living highlight reel. For golf, anyway.
This feature can be accessed via the “Watch & Listen” section on the PGA Tour website. It’s easiest to use through the PGA Tour app on a phone or tablet.
There are various tabs for different tournaments that you can flip through. While this announcement came just before the 3M Open, it’s worth mentioning that options like the Genesis Scottish Open and the Isco Championship are also available for viewing.
You’ll encounter a short ad before the content starts playing, but then you get a player card. I decided to check this out using Max Homa as my pick, and the card indicated it was the first round where he finished T6, being 5 under for that round. However, it also noted he was overall 5 under but, presumably, this could change as more rounds are played.
This “rapid round” ended up being about 13 minutes and 38 seconds long, encompassing the entire round Max played on Thursday for clarity. There were definitely some cuts, as the focus was primarily on the actual golf shots he made throughout the round.
This kind of technology has always been something fans have wanted, much like what’s featured each year during the Masters. Ideally, in the future, it would be great to see full rounds of every player instead of just those highlighted, but it’s definitely a significant step forward.
I’m curious to see how things will pan out during the weekends, given that the footage comes from the tour’s broadcast partners rather than being produced in-house. Overall, this development looks promising, and it’s exciting to think about where it might lead.
