People who wouldn’t be able to go to Florida will get an opportunity to experience TPC Sawgrass’ most famous hole up close for the first time this year. A virtual reality broadcast and 360 video stream will bring fans into the action at the island green 17th, in this year’s Players Championship.
The virtual reality broadcast can be seen on Samsung Gear VR headsets using the PGA Tour VR Live app on the Oculus store, or else you can access the live 360 video stream on any smartphone. Cameras will be placed in at strategic points throughout the hole, during the Players Championship so that fans will be able to experience the iconic hole live in virtual reality. One of the cameras will be placed in water next to the island green, one on the tee and one on the walkway to the green. The tour partnered with Intel True VR for the upcoming experience.
The Players Championship in mid May will also be the first time that Twitter has distributed live 360 degree video during a majoring sporting event. In early January, the social platform won the PGA Tour bid for exclusive live streaming rights for 2016-17 season. Twitter highlighted last week in its Q1 letter to shareholders that its airing of PGA TOUR LIVE on Thursdays and Fridays over the past three months has averaged nearly 500,00 unique viewers each day. Additionally, 70 percent of those individuals have been under the age of 35. This all forms a part of a larger push into sports for the social network following its recent partnership with Sky Sports for Transfer Deadline Day.
Rick Anderson, chief media officer at PGA tour said that they are excited that the Players Championship will host the PGA Tour’s first live virtual reality production. This tournament will take place on May 11-14, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
