ESPN+ To Start PGA Tour Featured Group Coverage A Year Early, Holes TBA Each Day

PGA Tour Live pre-broadcast coverage moves from the glitchy NBC Sports platform to ESPN+ in 2022 and I’m fairly certainly the immediate technological wonders and affordable bundle will be a hit.

Even better, we now learn that current subscribers will get to stream featured-hole coverage from 23 PGA Tour events in 2021, a huge perk and yet another mysterious waiving of the white flag by current streaming partner NBC.

For Immediate Release:

ESPN+ and the PGA TOUR have reached an agreement for ESPN+ to stream live, featured-hole coverage from 23 PGA TOUR events in 2021, starting with the Farmers Insurance Open in January and continuing through the FedExCup Playoffs and the TOUR Championship in September. The new agreement follows a similar pact that covered 12 events in 2020 and comes ahead of the launch of PGA TOUR LIVE on ESPN+, as part of the nine-year U.S. rights agreement announced in March, which begins in 2022.

 In 2021, ESPN+ will stream coverage of two featured holes on Saturday and Sunday of each event (selected each day of competition by the PGA TOUR), concurrent with the full telecast on CBS or NBC. 

This is an intriguing twist, which, in theory will allow the coverage to take advantage of a possible twist in course setup or based on early round play. Or, Saturday’s hole turns out to be uneventful and they pivot to another. Love it.

The schedule for 2021 weekend featured hole coverage on ESPN+