Finding its Voice

As he walked up the 9th hole at the NV5 Invitational at The Glen Club in Glenview, Ill., on Friday, Monday Q Info’s Ryan French was the center of attention. The Korn Ferry Tour event is being live-streamed on Barstool TV, and writer Daniel Rapaport was trying his hand at on-course commentary. 

French was caddying for Tom Whitney, and Rapaport, easy to spot in his cowboy hat, asked him a simple question: “Why should people root for Tom Whitney?” 

French gave a heartfelt synopsis of Whitney’s tale of Air Force service, resilience in the face of unimaginable tragedy, and his dedication to family life. “He’s really pretty easy to pull for,” French said of the 34-year-old Whitney, who is ranked 12th in the KFT points race and on his way to securing his PGA Tour card for next season.

The question posed to French is not unlike the one Barstool Sports is trying to answer itself with this weekend’s coverage. 

While the professional golf landscape has changed dramatically over the past two years, the greatest change in golf broadcasting might be how fans consume it. Who among us has not played a weekend round with our phone plugged into the cart, watching pros hit aspirational shots? The broadcasts themselves offer more on-screen data than ever, graphics are sleeker, shot tracers more accurate, but most viewers still weigh the quantity of golf shots shown above all else.

The most obvious changes to PGA Tour coverage this season have been the younger voices presiding over it. Commentators don’t have the familiar voices fans had come to recognize. But while the voices we hear now are younger, they are no less insightful. What less-seasoned voices lack in polish they make up for in tournament experience. Old-guard golf viewers who have sat in armchairs across America on Sunday afternoons since Nicklaus was last in contention continue to watch. The attention of younger fans is what every golf broadcast is trying to capture.

Barstool Sports has an exciting challenge with the Korn Ferry Tour. Golf Channel hasn’t broadcast many KFT tournaments in recent years. Only three regular-season events were aired each year in 2021 and ’22 on Golf Channel, and KFT tested its own livestream production capabilities once last season. Despite all of Golf Channel’s expertise in covering the game, it felt as if it never cracked the code of attracting an audience. Barstool has already built a coveted audience of younger males. Helping this audience care about rising players at the top of golf’s minor league is its latest mandate. 

Barstool focused mainly on three featured groups on Thursday and Friday, with cameras on the final holes to catch players trying to make the cut. 

I watched an hour of coverage on Thursday, caught most of it on Friday, and tuned in for a few more holes on Saturday. Three things stood out to me: the satisfying number of shots shown, an abundance of player commentary and the analyst conversation, which was fun and freewheeling. The coverage created some memorable moments. 

“Here comes Shad Tuten – a name that is very hard to say without laughing,” one commentator remarked dryly before Tuten, 31, played an approach. This is a line you can only imagine David Fehrety saying on a golf broadcast. The Barstool coverage is tailored to social media followers where everyone chimes in with quick-witted zingers. It’s like a team of Fehretys with less charming accents.

Over the first two days, commentators poked fun at the players repeatedly, and most of them welcomed it with humor of their own. The banter loosened up some players to showcase their personalities and escape the horrible cliches that golf fans have come to expect from interviews. Snarky discussion between commentators kept the livestream energetic when shots were not being hit. 

“That’s the worst hair in the history of television,” a stubble-headed Kirk Minihane said to Sam "Riggs" Bozoian in the broadcast booth. There were moments when it felt as if we were watching Ron Burgandy and the Channel 4 News team in action. 

Players visited the broadcast booth to share insight and laughs. This was a huge strength of the coverage. Thomas Walsh was cruising through his second round at 8 under par and had a share of the lead before making double bogey on the 17th. After he missed a bogey putt, Walsh gave his putter a few frustrated taps and one commentator remarked, “He’s chunky, he’s flustered and he’s my kind of guy.” Walsh later joined the crew in the booth, and one of the hosts mentioned Walsh looks like some of the less athletic tour pros of old. That led Walsh to talk about how hot the day was for a hairy guy.

Many of the players in the featured groups were playing well, helping the broadcast cause. KFT winner Rafael Campos was in one of the featured groups but was struggling with his swing. The livestream team was eager to talk to him. “He’s been ripping darts out here and I’m not talking about golf shots,” on-course commentator Trent Ryan said of Campos. 

Campos was a few strokes off the cutline and grinding when he gave an interview. Having just flared a drive off the 8th tee into the right fescue, he played a miraculous recovery shot onto the green. Ryan didn’t miss his chance to get the interview. 

Campos spoke of his struggles during the round and in recent weeks. He is good-natured and relaxed, but you could hear the disappointment in his voice. It was a relatable conversation and one golf fans often don’t get to hear in the middle of a round.

Surging Rico Hoey, who has locked up his PGA Tour card for next season, was paired with Campos and knocked down flags in the second round. Ryan was delighting in the precision. “He absolutely hits the shit out of these things,” Ryan said. 

With the heat index approaching 105 degrees in the second round, everyone on the course was sweating through their clothes, especially when the lost-ball clock was ticking. Logan McAllister was scouring a thick bush for his ball on the 3rd hole. As Rapaport debated helping in the search, he described the heat of the moment vividly. 

“He’s dealing with a situation here and it’s not just a mid-to-moderate case of swamp ass.” McAllister made a quadruple bogey on the hole, yet remarkably, was even par through six. McAllister shot 1 over for the day and 5 under for the first two rounds and missed the cut by two. Yes, the cut came at 7 under par, tying the lowest KFT cut in history.

Max Greyserman was coasting through his round when he encountered the first headwind of the day during his on-course interview. He provided some ordinary answers about his round before his interviewer asked about his choice of black pants. When Greyserman mentioned it was a bad choice for a hot day, the correspondent piled on that his wife emphasizes that pairing a navy shirt with black pants, as Greyserman had done, was never a good look. Greyserman carried on in his ensemble and shot a 6-under 65 in Round 2. He got in comfortably under the cut line, at 11 under par. 

Whitney was on a Friday mission at 4 under par through five holes. The fist bumps and smiles came easily from French. On the 13th, Whitney was one off the lead when he missed a short birdie opportunity. He quickly waved at the tap-in with agitation and watched in shock as the ball lipped out, nearly hit his foot and rolled four feet away. As he stared at the hole in stunned silence, the commentators were merciless. 

‍That may be the shortest miss in golf history! Can we get an official distance on that? That’s what nine inches looks like. 

They almost kept the dick jokes subtle. 

French said rather than remain quiet, he decided to have a stern chat with Whitney on the following hole to help him refocus. Whitney humorously fist-pumped when he made the next tap-in. Like French said, Whitney’s an easy guy to root for. He’ll enter the final round at 11 under par, nine shots off the lead.

Ryan McCormick opened with an 11-under par 60 but risked disqualification on Friday when he started with a golf ball model he only had one of in his bag. The Barstool broadcast team let McCormick tell the tale. McCormick spoke with relief and slight embarrassment as he recounted how he got in the bind.

While in his hotel room the night before, McCormick was putting with a different type of ProV1 than the model he plays in competition. When he finished practice for the night, McCormick threw the ball in his bag and didn’t take it back out until he was on the 10th tee (his opening hole) the following day. Instead of realizing the mistake, McCormick hit the ball off the tee, then realized it was the only ball of that type he had in the bag. If he lost that ball, he’d be disqualified. 

McCormick hit the precious ball in the fescue on the 12th hole and nervously informed the head rules official that if the ball was lost, he’d be out. Fortunately, the group located the ball in the tall grass and fellow competitors loaned McCormick a couple spare bullets. He signed for a 2-under 69.

When McCormick’s interview finished, one of the commentators, channeling his best Will Ferrell, said, “What a moron!” It felt harsh though McCormick probably agreed.

Players are excited to allow fans into their world and are speaking freely to some of their favorite Barstool personalities. That’s the secret sauce of the production. McCormick enters the final round at 19 under, one shot behind Trace Crowe. 

If McCormick wins, it will be one hell of a story, and not just because of the ball debacle. He’s 37th in the KFT points race and needs to be in the top 30 at season’s end to secure his PGA Tour card. It’s just one of many entertaining and intriguing stories Barstool Sports is telling this week.