The Round Table: Telecasts without announcers, the new Tour and the best major

Each week, we ask our panel of writers, PGA members and golf industry experts to weigh in with their views on the hot topics of the day.

At last week’s Rocket Classic, the PGA Tour introduced a streaming option that didn’t have any announcers, just mics on select players and caddies, plus crowd sounds. Even if you didn’t see it, what are your thoughts on such a service?

Jim Deeks, Fairways Magazine (@jimdeeks): Well, first of all, any broadcast that doesn’t include the grating voice of Morgan Pressel is aces in my book.  (I know, she’s just on the LPGA events.)  But I must admit, I do get tired of announcers who don’t shut up, and say the most obvious things, like “Bobby won’t be pleased he missed that putt”.  Well, duh.  Watching golf on the BBC or Sky Sports is such a pleasure because the announcers will often stay quiet for as long as a minute, letting you the viewer figure it out from the video alone… and then only saying something like “nope… bogey.”  Such a relief!!  So, listening to only mic’d players (provided they can avoid F-bombs), and the sound of birds and the gentle breeze, would be music to my ears.

Michael Schurman, Master Professional / Hall of Fame Member, PGA of Canada: In the 1970’s I wrote to PGA TOUR commissioner Joe Dey and suggested certain players have pre-arranged questions that an interviewer could ask during play. The interviewer would communicate with the caddy as to whether the interview was ‘on’ or ‘off’. If four or five players agreed, it would add to the telecast. He wrote back that it would never happen. I like the new format, but the mics need to be louder. I don’t want it to replace the best announcers.

TJ Rule, Golf Away Tours (@GolfAwayTJ): I didn’t watch it myself, and don’t think I have much of a desire to do so. I like the insights the announcers provide, even if they aren’t always that insightful!  I do like the interaction between caddie and player, so that would be fun to listen to at times, and I’ll reserve judgement until such time as I actually watch the coverage.

Hal Quinn, Freelance Writer, Vancouver: For this relief, much thanks. Great not hearing the dreaded “hole location” once. However, like that indoor simulator league, it just proved that Tour guys aren’t the most scintillating communicators or all that interesting. Listening to Speith after every shot begs the question: how has his caddy put up with this for so long? Boom mics ain’t the answer to inane talking heads.

Peter Mumford, Fairways Magazine: They’ve tried putting mics on players and caddies in made-for-TV events and it’s a guaranteed loser. Having a whole telecast with no commentary is caving to AI and the elimination of people. Live events are better with real people offering personal perspective and opinion and AI can’t do that. The answer is for the broadcasters and colour commentators to do a better job. Some current broadcasters certainly need to be replaced, and others need to step up their game. That’s the real challenge moving forward.

The Championship Series on the PGA Tour is starting to take shape with several sponsors stepping up recently to confirm their position for 2028. Among the confirmed events are the Travelers Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Sentry and a new one sponsored by Sompo, a Japanese insurance and financial conglomerate that will likely stage their event in Seattle. Add the four majors, the Players, the Tour Championship and a handful of current Signature events, plus some must-haves like Pebble Beach and Waste Management and there’s only room for a few more. Do you like the way this is shaping up?

Deeks: Honestly, no.  Too much more money being offered to a bunch of pampered, already-rich and entitled players.  And a restructuring that was completely unnecessary, in my view.  And as much as I want the Canadian Open to remain alive, I would applaud RBC if they told the Tour to stuff it, and devoted their sports marketing millions to Canadian sports, or, golly, improved customer service.  The Canadian Open has been kicked around for decades by the Tour, despite its national prestige and loyalty to the professional circuit, and now to be relegated to the lower-level tour (unless RBC coughs up more dough) is frankly insulting to our country.  If there was a way the Canadian Open could join the DP World Tour (reinforcing the “world” descriptive), I think that would be great.

Schurman: Change is inevitable! Once big money came into professional golf people who have no concern about history, tradition or tried standards will determine how they best benefit financially. The glory days of Hogan, Snead, Nelson or Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, or Trevino, Watson, Floyd are gone. They left when gallery ropes entered. In the above list, I have met everyone of those players and had lengthy conversations with each except Hogan and Nelson. Today, after Tiger, speaking with or shaking hands with a TOUR player is non-existent. The PGA TOUR is about to under-go massive changes most of which dinosaurs like me won’t enjoy but at least we saw the best of times.

Rule: As long as the sponsors are still putting up the money to support the big events, the Tour will stay healthy, and that’s important in my mind.  Here’s hoping RBC steps up enough to find a way for the Canadian Open to get on to the Championship Series.

Quinn: The Tour already had second tier events, they just didn’t rub it in the sponsors, volunteers, organizers, and galleries’ faces. Now for their years of loyalty, they’re being told they’re not really in the major league but are now in a sort of minor league. Of course, the Tour already has a minor league mightily sponsored by Korn Ferry. And the so-called ‘independent contractors’ are being told they can’t play where they want if their hometown or sponsor’s event conflicts with an upper echelon money fest — i.e. the Canadian Open if it can’t find $30-40 million. This could all go badly, deservedly so.

Mumford: I don’t like much about this new Tour structure at all. Rolapp and his cadre of rich NFL owners are trying to corporatize the PGA Tour like it’s the NFL. Why? LIV is gone or at least reduced as a threat. Some legacy events will survive but only until Rolapp can find a bigger city or richer sponsor. The Europeans have always referred to the PGA Tour as the American Tour. Under Rolapp, it’s going to be even more so. As for the RBC Canadian Open, it has a Sophie’s choice to make. I have written in previous columns, and Jim Deeks also suggests this week, that a move to the DP World Tour might be a sensible and welcome solution.

The AIG Women’s Open just concluded with Shiho Kuwaki beating Esther Henseleit on the second playoff hole to claim the season’s final major. Of the four men’s majors and five women’s events, which did you enjoy most in 2026?

Deeks: For me, it was a tie between Rory winning the Masters again, and Ryan Fox’s stirring victory in The Open Championship.

Schurman: I enjoyed Rai and Fox winning and I enjoyed The Ladies’ Open playoff, but my favorites were Korda winning The US Open and Rory winning at Augusta. Both are good for golf and golf needs the top players to perform well.

Rule: First off, I watched a lot of the final round of the Women’s Open, and it was a great watch.  As most know who read this section, I love links golf and will be lucky enough to play Lytham in a couple of months, so it had my attention.  And the ladies played so well under intense pressure and playing a very tough track.  But the most memorable major of the year is still the Masters for me, with Rory holding on in the end over a charging Scheffler, and Justin Rose holding the lead on the back nine on Sunday.  It was a classic Masters this year, and one I will remember for a long time.

Quinn: As always, it was The Open Championship, but this go round it wasn’t even close. And The Players’ Championship — dropping the necessary apostrophe and ‘championship’ must have been a budget cut — was, as the Seattle PBS station used to say: time well wasted.

Mumford: Ryan Fox battling Sam Burns and Cameron Young at the Open Championship was the best drama all season (and the best outcome). Open Championships in general, for their host golf courses, rich history and respectful fans, are usually my favourite year after year. The Masters is usually a solid runner-up, and the drama can be equally exciting, but the big difference is the courses. Open courses are real, while each year Augusta seems more artificial and tricked up.