{"id":546325,"date":"2026-03-19T07:58:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T07:58:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/546325\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T07:58:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T07:58:31","slug":"pga-tours-new-micd-up-movie-is-terrific-heres-the-reason-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/546325\/","title":{"rendered":"PGA Tour’s new mic’d up movie is terrific. Here’s the reason why"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a meaningless golf shot late in the PGA Tour\u2019s brand-new Players Championship film<\/a>, Chasing Sunday, that illustrates and encompasses its brilliance.<\/p>\n

The shot serves as the off-ramp from a montage of final-round failure and self-flagellation from its four mic\u2019d-up main characters. It\u2019s a break from their collective downward slide; the show\u2019s pace suddenly slows to allow one of its longest continuous scenes to play out. <\/p>\n

A golf ball belonging to Akshay Bhatia lands on top of a ridge bisecting the green of the par-3 13th. It catches the correct side of that ridge, takes the slope, picks up speed and zips down towards the cup, just skirting by before settling in kick-in range.<\/p>\n

Bhatia\u2019s caddie Joe Greiner \u2014\u00a0who\u2019s an absolute show-stealer from start to finish, in a good way \u2014 walks off the tee well ahead of his player, saying nothing but thrusting both hands in the air, a moment of pure joy amidst the slow-motion rollercoaster that is 72-hole stroke-play golf. Behind him, Bhatia is giddy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a freaking shot, man. I mean, exactly how I saw it,\u201d Bhatia says, racing to catch up with his bagman. \u201cLike \u2014\u00a0absolute greatness right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this very moment, could you love golf any more?\u201d Greiner asks, practically floating. \u201cThan this one second? After doing something like that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bhatia brings them back to earth. \u201cUh, yeah. I could have made it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the context of who goes on to win the biggest PGA Tour event of the 2026 season, this moment of greatness is meaningless. But the way it\u2019s presented? It feels raw and real and honest, a genuine turning point in Bhatia\u2019s round, the first of three late birdies that help Bhatia secure a T13 finish. That\u2019s a lucrative and impressive and praiseworthy position \u2014 it\u2019s just not traditionally the focus of an hour-long film.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

“><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the brilliance of Playing Sunday, though. Its guiding principle appears to be trust. Trust that the golf will be enough, that the access will be enough, that with the right players and the right caddies plus about a thousand of the greatest cameras in the world, you can make T13 interesting, and T42, and T50, and T56. That\u2019s where our four mic\u2019d-up golfers finish \u2014 Bhatia, Rickie Fowler, Si Woo Kim and Chris Gotterup, respectively \u2014 but watching them get there is an absolute treat.<\/p>\n

(One small point of objection, before I go further: The title. All-caps \u201cNO FILTER, MIC\u2019D UP AT THE PLAYERS\u201d feels sort of like the Tour shouting at the algorithm, demanding acceptance. Trust your best stuff! I understand we\u2019re all shouting at the Great Algo one way or another, but I thought something conveying its depth might have worked better here.)<\/p>\n

The little stuff is the big stuff. That\u2019s the operating principle here, and it\u2019s mostly what I mean by trust. What makes this behind-the-scenes movie work is the belief that the thing at its core \u2014 golf \u2014\u00a0is something multidimensional and fundamentally interesting. That this event is coproduced by NFL Films seems ironic; did it take minds from another sport to get the Tour to trust that golf is interesting enough on its own? However they got there, I\u2019m glad they did. It\u2019s terrific. It\u2019s exactly what golf fans have been asking for for years, since the invention of the NFL\u2019s mic\u2019d up segments. And it\u2019s a sign that the Tour wants to present golf in deeper, more interesting ways. <\/p>\n

If I sound as giddy as Bhatia that\u2019s because I love seeing how this all works. Hell, I started a show<\/a> just so I could ask these guys how it all works. But what I just watched is even better because they\u2019re not being interviewed, they\u2019re just being. And that\u2019s how we get micro moments of micro tension. Bhatia\u2019s wife has his sandwich somewhere in the crowd \u2014\u00a0will Greiner be able to track her down? Kim\u2019s looking to repair a ball mark on the border between green and fringe; is he allowed to do so? There\u2019s a restraint to the whole thing, a minimalism, a sense that you\u2019re watching these guys as they actually are, which makes doing so immensely satisfying.<\/p>\n

Why else does it work? \u201cReal\u201d is, on its own, no guarantee of success. The who and the how matter tremendously, too. The cast of characters is an important starting point; the ensemble of Bhatia-Fowler-Kim-Gotterup is a good mix of youth and wattage.<\/p>\n

The caddies are important connective tissue, too; Greiner and Ricky Romano (Fowler\u2019s caddie) and Manny Villegas (Kim\u2019s) and Brady Stockton (Gotterup\u2019s) strike up conversations, lighten the mood, help draw feelings and intentions and precise golf shots out of their respective players. I found the entire thing to be an incredible reinforcement of just how important the right caddie can be \u2014\u00a0not because there\u2019s a single correct way to be a good caddie (every player\u2019s needs are different), nor because a caddie\u2019s in there for every green read, but because that person serves as an extension of your brain, there to help and challenge you. That\u2019s a powerful position.<\/p>\n

There are elements of hope and luck in choosing four players to spotlight from a field of 123. In some ways producers got unlucky that their marquee players weren\u2019t in the mix come Sunday; you can imagine the drama of Ludvig Aberg being mic\u2019d up as he hit back-to-back water balls as he yielded the final-round lead, for instance, or Cameron Young and Matthew Fitzpatrick mic\u2019d up as they dueled down the stretch.<\/p>\n

But in other ways they got lucky, particularly with their weekend pairings; we got secondhand access to the tournament\u2019s biggest stars and defining moments.<\/p>\n

Take Kim, for instance. For the first two rounds he was paired with Aberg and World No. 4 Collin Morikawa, whose back-injury WD was arguably Thursday\u2019s biggest story; we get to see the entire scene play out, painful and then uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of awkward. Like, I don\u2019t know what to say,\u201d Aberg says as Morikawa is driven up in a cart to officially announce his round is over just two swings in. (\u201cGet well, man,\u201d Aberg offers, which seems about right.)<\/p>\n

Kim also gets paired with Scottie Scheffler on Saturday; the two are frequent sparring partners at home in Dallas, so this is a good chance to get a snippet of the World No. 1 away from a press conference setting.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you guys besties?\u201d asks Scheffler\u2019s caddie Ted Scott.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t accept it,\u201d Kim says glumly.<\/p>\n

Fowler gets paired with Jordan Spieth, which means he gets to walk alongside as Spieth delivers a monologue on the virtues of the mini driver as the perfect club to hit off the 18th tee. This show doesn\u2019t shy away from spin rates.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the revelation of the show, as Bhatia realizes in real time that Brooks Koepka, five-time major champ and reinstated PGA Tour peer, doesn\u2019t use a yardage book at all. He\u2019s eager to share that bit of news with Greiner.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know another player that doesn\u2019t carry a yardage book?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sure, Greiner says. J.T. Poston. But as he says it he realizes that Bhatia is being literal, which leads to this.<\/p>\n

Greiner: \u201cOh, he doesn\u2019t even have the book.\u201d
Bhatia: \u201cHe doesn\u2019t even have it.\u201d
Greiner: \u201cI love it. That\u2019s how I think I would play best. [Pause.] Doesn\u2019t even have one.\u201d
Bhatia: \u201cI was like, \u2018You don\u2019t even carry a book?\u2019 He goes, \u2018Nah.’\u201d
Greiner: \u201cThat is remarkable.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in the very next scene Greiner sidles up alongside Koepka\u2019s caddie Ricky Eliott. Greiner is earnest and curious and remarkably engaged; he\u2019s a fun guy to talk to, so he\u2019s an excellent sidler.<\/p>\n

Greiner: \u201cSo he doesn\u2019t ever carry a yardage book?\u201d
Elliott: \u201cNo. Never has.\u201d
Greiner: \u201cSo what does he, like, ask? On this hole, is he just like, \u2018Driver?\u2019 And you just say yes?\u201d
Elliott: \u201cI say to him, \u2018You f\u2014- like driver up there, do you?\u2019 He goes, \u2018Yeah.’\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the beauty of watching golfers talk about golf and about other golfers. We see in real time: there\u2019s more than one way to do it.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not all machismo and yardage books.There are moments of real vulnerability sprinkled in. <\/p>\n

\u201cGod, I\u2019m so bad. I\u2019m the worst player in the world,\u201d Kim says at one point. And golfers will recognize themselves in Chris Gotterup\u2019s style of self-talk, which is relatable and endearing but borders on despondent throughout.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just having a hard time,\u201d he tells the even-keeled Stockton at one point. \u201cEverything just feels off. I\u2019m trying to hit a hard draw, it cuts. [Pause.] Alright. Up and down.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that final four-word reset that makes him a pro.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s do this every week, eh?<\/p>\n

Probably not. None of this happens by accident, particularly on this timeline; the video\u2019s Tuesday 9 p.m. ET release meant just over 48 hours from the end of the tournament to publish. There is an unthinkably large team involved in making things happen. I scanned the closing credits and counted 265 names \u2014\u00a0two hundred sixty-five! \u2014 involved in its production. The fact that that many people were involved and somehow nobody overstepped to muck it all up is remarkable and encouraging.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason this feels bigger than just a video. New PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has been eager to push the envelope, to reshape the schedule, to make every event the Tour plays feel bigger. But if this video is any indication, he wants to do so by doubling down on the golf and the golfers. There\u2019s not an influencer to be found, the action barely spills outside the ropes and they only address the actual tournament result in the final few minutes.<\/p>\n

They trust that the golf is enough. They treat it as a big deal. They treat the details around it as a big deal, too. And because they do, we\u2019re more likely to do the same.<\/p>\n

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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