Back in May the PGA Tour announced a collaboration with Intel to provide coverage of The Players Championship. The they’ve revealed an expansion of that partnership to provide live virtual reality (VR) and live 360-degree video at six PGA TOUR events in 2017 and 2018, beginning with the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta this month.
Using Intel’s True VR technology, the company will provide access to areas on the course that guests on site can’t access. Aside from the East Lake Golf Club championship the other events so far confirmed are the Presidents Cup at Liberty National Golf Club from 28th Sept. – 1st Oct., the Waste Management Phoenix Open and THE PLAYERS, both in 2018.
“After two years of experimenting with virtual reality on the PGA TOUR, we are very excited by the viewer experience that Intel produces,” said PGA TOUR Chief Media Officer Rick Anderson in a statement. “From the TOUR’s perspective, our goal with VR is to create an experience that is completely different than what you can get as a fan at our events or by viewers of our traditional media platforms. We are confident that Intel’s True VR technology allows us to achieve this goal. The exclusive partnership with Intel furthers our mission of creating a total fan experience that showcases our product on a global stage.”
The events will be viewable through the PGA TOUR VR Live app available for free on Samsung Gear VR. If you happen to miss the live broadcast the content will also be available on demand following each event. Live and on-demand VR and 360 video coverage of the TOUR Championship will showcase holes 1, 15 and 18, beginning 21st September.
“We’re thrilled to be continuing and expanding our work with the PGA TOUR into a broader VR partnership,” said James Carwana, general manager of Intel Sports. “Intel True VR was there to capture an historic hole-in-one from the iconic 17th green at THE PLAYERS Championship earlier this year, and we look forward to the amazing experiences we will bring to golf fans next.”
For further updates on VR coverage from the PGA TOUR, keep reading VRFocus.