Turner Sports To Offer Its Most Comprehensive PGA Championship Coverage Ever
- Details
- Category: Inside Golf
- Published: 2017-08-10
Turner Sports will provide its most comprehensive PGA Championship coverage ever – more than 18 hours of live action on TNT, a full suite of redesigned and enhanced digital products, and wide-ranging content across social media platforms – for this year’s Championship held Thursday-Sunday, August 10-13, at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte. TNT’s live coverage of the 99th PGA Championship, tracking Jordan Spieth’s pursuit of a career Grand Slam, will include at least six hours on Thursday and Friday, August 10-11, from 1-7 p.m. ET, along with the third and fourth rounds on Saturday and Sunday, August 12-13, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
This marks the 27th consecutive year of Turner Sports' coverage of the PGA Championship and TNT's 19th straight year televising the event. TNT commentators will include Sports Emmy Award winner Ernie Johnson and fellow host Brian Anderson, analysts Ian Baker-Finch and Billy Kratzert, with Amanda Balionis providing pre- and post-round interviews. Former Masters Champion Trevor Immelman has also been added as a new on-course analyst for this year’s coverage.
Additionally, the network’s coverage will include two-time NBA Champion Andre Iguodala, who will serve as a special contributor across Turner’s multimedia platforms on Friday, August, 11. The current Golden State Warrior, an avid golfer, will contribute across multiple platforms, including TNT, CNN, PGAChampionship.com, the PGA Championship Apps, and PGA.com’s social media platforms.
The PGA Championship’s official digital platforms, managed by Turner Sports, have been redesigned this year with a focus on broadened video integration – including four times the amount of live and on-demand video content pieces than in the past – and responsive optimization for mobile viewing.
PGAChampionship.com and the PGA Championship App will offer extensive coverage of the event including live streaming via PGA Championship LIVE, sponsored by Omega, Mercedes-Benz, Arby’s, National Car Rental, Workday and Ping. The Sports Emmy Award-winning video experience will showcase the event’s top players via its Featured Group channels. Each day, four marquee pairings will be selected for complete round coverage with two groups in the morning followed by two additional pairings in the afternoon.
Special for this year’s event, PGA Championship LIVE will debut dedicated live video coverage of “The Green Mile” – Quail Hollow’s trying three-hole finishing stretch – Thursday/Friday, August 10-11, from 12:30-7 p.m. and Saturday/Sunday, August 12-13, from 1-7 p.m.
Anderson and Brian Katrek will anchor PGA Championship LIVE’s coverage alongside analysts Kratzert and Michael Breed, with Annabel Rolley and Katrek serving as a course reporters. Daily coverage will also include media room interviews.
Fans will also have direct access to broadcast feeds of the tournament through PGA Championship’s digital platforms, the redesigned Watch TNT App and their participating TV provider apps. TNT’s coverage will require viewers to log in with their user name and password given to them by their TV service provider.
Following are additional highlights of this year’s PGA Championship across multimedia platforms:
TNT & PGA Championship Digital Platforms
Production Features for TNT
TNT will debut bunker cameras at Quail Hollow Club to bring viewers closer to the action on the course. Additional technical features for this year’s telecast will include TopTracer technology to display ball flight and trajectory on approach shots.
TNT and PGA.com to Expand Analytics & Virtual Animation
GolfTrax and Trackman Technology will be expanded for this year’s event to showcase a wider range of virtual animations and analytics, including launch angle, distance, flight apex, ball speed and curve.
All-In-One Leaderboard
The PGA Championship Leaderboard – an all-in-one destination for fans seeking live scoring, shot data, course analytics and stat illustrations throughout the event – now includes a video player highlighting the top moments from Quail Hollow. The Leaderboard is available across all PGA Championship digital platforms.
PGA Championship App Available via iOS, Android & the Roku Platforms
The PGA Championship App will be available through iOS and Android devices and, for the first time, via the Roku platforms. PGA Championship video coverage will be available across all three platforms.
Social Media
Facebook LIVE Drone Flyover
Leading up to the 99th PGA Championship, golf fans can get an in-depth first look at Quail Hollow Club via PGA.com’s Facebook LIVE drone flyover of the course on Friday, August 4, at 11 a.m. The live aerial review of Quail Hollow Club will also include graphics with facts about the course and PGA Championship event info.
Practice Round Coverage
From Monday-Wednesday, PGA.com’s Facebook and Periscope platforms will offer in-depth content including 360-camera technology on Quail Hollow’s putting green, as well as live interviews hosted by Balionis. Further, the PGA Championship Long Drive Competition on Tuesday, August 8 will be showcased across PGA.com’s social platforms.
Daily 360 Pin Placement Reveal
Each morning of the event, PGA.com’s Twitter and Facebook platforms will reveal the new pin placements for all 18 holes at Quail Hollow via 360 degree photos.
Sunday Snapchat Story
The event’s final day will include a special Snapchat live story, highlighting Sunday’s top moments. Snapchat will also offer multiple custom PGA Championship filters for fans.