PGA Championship telecasts on Thursday used the new Trackman 3D tech "liberally and to good effect," according to Martin Kaufmann of GOLFWEEK. Use of the 3D tracers online and on TNT during the first round was "aggressive, and at times innovative." Trackman was placed on "all 18 tees." There also was "good use" of the ARL Virtual Eye, which "overlays a tracer on a hole graphic, adjacent to a live shot of players hitting their drives." Fox Sports "introduced" the idea at the U.S. Open last year." Thursday's broadcasts added a "nice twist by showing an aerial perspective tracer graphic from behind the tee." Kaufmann: "That’s the best angle I’ve seen on that graphic." Kaufmann added CBS Sports, which developed the Trackman tech, "tends to talk a lot about technology, but inexplicably neglects to use it at times." Kaufmann: "It has tracers on every hole, but there were key moments when they weren’t used -- most egregiously when Rory McIlroy’s group tried to drive the par-4 14th, and subsequently on the par-5 15th, par-4 16th and par-4 18th." That "can’t happen, particularly the afternoon’s featured group" (GOLFWEEK.com, 8/10).
ACCESS, DENIED: GOLF DIGEST's Alex Myers wrote when TNT "finally came on the air" at 1:00pm ET, golf fans got to see Jordan Spieth play holes Nos. 7 through 9 to "wrap up" his opening round, which began around 8:30am. Myers: "That's it! Grand Slam pursuit or not, it's crazy that the tournament's marquee pairing of this year's three major winners thus far (Spieth, Brooks Koepka and Sergio Garcia) would get such little TV coverage" (GOLFDIGEST.com, 8/10).
NATURE BOY: In Charlotte, Langston Wertz Jr. noted TNT asked Ric Flair to "introduce the PGA Championship in Charlotte, the town that he says he put on the map." Wertz: "He was really good in the intro, and he was in full Ric Flair mode" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 8/11).
