USGA Head of Global Content & Media Distribution NAVIN SINGH is onsite this week at Erin Hills for the U.S. Open. Singh is in his second year with the governing body, and he was excited to get out to the Midwest for the tournament's showing in Wisconsin this year. "Walking the golf course, visiting our merchandise pavilion, people come up to me when I’m in my USGA shirt and they tell me how excited they are. They ask questions about the best places to watch around the course, best days to come. They haven’t had a chance to experience a U.S. Open like this before."
HIT THE GROUND RUNNING: Starting Monday we walked with players who were out on the course practicing, got some thoughts from them and also did some interviews with key executives to get their insight on the tournament. Then we collected some lighter content to demonstrate the openness of our championship, that way we engage with our audience in a different way. We did interviews with players such as JORDAN SPIETH and RORY MCILROY, to name a few. The whole week we've been in content production mode for all of our channels. I’ve been here in Wisconsin since Sunday, and on Monday we went into internal meetings, then meetings with Fox and Golf Channel. We met with Fox and then had off-the-cuff meetings with our other TV partners to make sure they had everything they need to be successful.
ALL ABOUT APPROACH: We did about 13 hours of live streaming on Thursday between our digital platforms, broadcast television and on top of that producing content for our digital channels. So Thursday I moved from our TV production trailers to our digital media trailers and then also over to our content production pods in the media center. Working with our teams, evaluating our content and our broadcast, and then getting feedback to make sure we’re delivering our product. Personally when doing a golf championship like this, I love to remind myself that we have 18 holes to cover. It’s not one field, or one arena in which all play is being conducted. That gives us a great opportunity to engage with fans, get close to the action. From a content perspective it also gives you ample opportunities because you can make decisions on what you want to cover, then how you want to share on a variety of platforms.
HAPPY TO BE HERE: There’s nothing like the energy at a U.S. Open. The passion I've seen here onsite is incredible. There was a huge crowd of fans here on Monday even though the week just got started. We’re also very fortunate that many of the PGA Tour players have a wonderful relationship with the USGA and our team that goes out and creates content with them never has anything but good things to say about them. From an events perspective, we’re fortunate that we have courteous players that support our championships.
THE GOOD STUFF: It’s a lot of man-hours this week for sure, but you can always pause to take a deep breath. I try to always spend time with the team, even if it’s just a quick bite to eat after the day has run its course. You also have to be sure to set aside time for your broadcast and corporate partners. I’ll check in at home where my wife and I have two little girls, too. Especially Sunday being Father’s Day, I’ll make sure to make that call in the morning.
