Fans can experience the famed 17th island green at TPC Sawgrass in virtual reality
Get ready for a brand new view of one of the most famous holes in golf
By
Kyle Porter
•
1 min read
The Players Championship starts next week, which means the famous 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass gets force-fed to us for four straight days, but this year there might be a bit of a reprieve. We will get to experience the island hole in a completely different way than before.
Well ... some people will.
The 17th hole at Sawgrass, one of the most well-known holes in all of golf also referred to as the island green, will be broadcast in virtual reality this year for those with Samsung Gear VR headsets and the PGA Tour VR Live app.
But those of us without these headsets (like me) can still get relatively the same experience. There will be 360 video of the hole streamed on Twitter and Periscope for all four rounds.
"We are excited that The Players Championship will host the PGA Tour's first live virtual reality production," said Rick Anderson, PGA Tour chief media officer. "The PGA Tour has experimented with virtual reality content for nearly two years. We tested Intel's True VR technology on a live basis at the Genesis Open in February, and were very pleased with the quality.
"We decided that executing a live VR experience on one of the most dramatic holes in golf was something that our fans would love, and the fact that we are partnering with Twitter to deliver 360 video will offer tremendous scale."
I agree, and I'm excited to see how it looks.
