The PGA of America has furthered its new rights strategy for the PGA Championship in the UK, by stating that live streaming of the 2017 edition of the US golf major will be available via social media platforms Facebook and Twitter.
Live four-day coverage of the tournament, which runs from August 10-13 at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, will be available via the Facebook page and website of digital media platform Give Me Sport, which the PGA of America said is accessed regularly by 750,000 golf fans in the UK.
Under a broader agreement, live coverage of marquee groups will be provided on Twitter across all four days in the UK, Ireland and Japan, while world feed access will be offered in Latin America and the Caribbean. These locations will also feature regularly updated highlight clips on Twitter.
Fans in these territories will be able to access the broadcast on Twitter via @PGAChampionship on their mobile devices straight from Twitter’s app, on desktop and on connected devices.
UK public-service broadcaster the BBC last week confirmed it had acquired rights to the 2017 PGA Championship. The live television coverage of the Championship will kick off on BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport online and the Red Button service with the conclusion of each day's play also shown on the BBC Two channel. This strategy is due to the tournament clashing with the BBC’s coverage of the World Athletics Championships in London.
PGA of America chief commercial officer, Jeff Price, last month said the organisation would not extend its UK rights deal with pay-television broadcaster Sky in favour of exploring a new model for the event. Sky’s rights deal for the PGA Championship had run for a decade, but was not renewed for this year’s tournament.
PGA of America chief executive, Pete Bevacqua, said: “By delivering this season’s final major to fans of all ages across BBC, Facebook and Twitter, we hope to serve the core golf audience and invite new fans to enjoy major championship golf across the platforms they frequent.”