TOURCAST adds innovation with AI commentary in partnership with AWS

Golf broadcasts are a complex pursuit. Rather than having one ball confined to a single space, golf features up to 156 players spread across approximately 150 acres with multiple shots happening simultaneously on 18 fields of play.

In an effort to expand its coverage of the 30,000-plus shots during a given tournament, the PGA TOUR is debuting AI shot commentary in its revolutionary TOURCAST powered by ShotLink. TOURCAST allows fans on the PGA TOUR’s app and website to see shot trails and data surrounding every single shot. Now, that incredible depth of information will be accompanied by commentary to bring those shots to life.

Utilizing machine learning and generative artificial intelligence (AI) in partnership with AWS, the new TOURCAST AI commentary feature will provide written context for every shot for every player during PGA TOUR events beginning with THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

“Our goal has always been to provide as best we can to make sure every player gets coverage,” said Scott Gutterman, PGA TOUR senior vice president of digital and broadcast technologies. “Generative AI is a tool we can use to scale across our events to create content based on the performance of any player at any given point of time.”

Not only will the AI commentary describe every shot, but more importantly, it will provide context for what that shot means for each player based on his current performance and upcoming shot as well as how it relates to the broader competition.

With the simple click of a button, TOURCAST AI shot commentary brings fans closer to their favorite PGA TOUR players and events, providing insights and context that go beyond the leaderboard and scorecard.

“It’s really about helping our fans be better informed as they consume our sport in a wide variety of ways,” Gutterman said.

The introduction of AI commentary in TOURCAST is an outgrowth of the PGA TOUR’s Fan Forward Initiative, which was announced in June to catalyze the sort of innovation that gives golf fans more of what they want. Fan Forward found that the 18-34 demographic has a strong desire for “greater integration of stats and data.” AI commentary in TOURCAST is one response to those findings.

As golf continues to see unprecedented interest and participation since the COVID-19 pandemic, leveraging technology like TOURCAST AI commentary is another tool the TOUR is utilizing to help grow the game.

Following the initial rollout of TOURCAST AI shot commentary, the TOUR will continue to grow and evolve the feature, giving fans the ability to personalize their own streams. Some examples include creating end-of-round summaries for a fan’s favorite players, “Golf 101” for new fans or even Golfbet-specific commentary.

The plan is to grow TOURCAST AI shot commentary into a multi-modal feature with text, voice and video so fans can customize their optimal and personalized viewing experience.

“We want to keep the user engaged, give them context and have them following along,” said Trey Pezzetti, PGA TOUR AI product lead.

Utilizing AI to enhance the fan experience is nothing new for the PGA TOUR. Over the past 10 years, the TOUR has leveraged AI and machine learning to enable fans to experience the output from ShotLink powered by CDW, view automatically curated player highlights and round recaps, and read post-round articles and notes, like the match recaps that allowed fans to easily follow the results of every match at the 2024 Presidents Cup.

The addition of AI shot commentary is the third enhancement to TOURCAST already this season. At the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in January, every shot from every player was available via TOURCAST at both the host course (Pebble Beach Golf Links) and the satellite course played in the first two rounds (Spyglass Hill Golf Course). This was the first time that TOURCast was available beyond the host course of a multi-course event. Shot plots have also been added on every hole in TOURCAST.

With the 2025 PGA TOUR season in full swing, the TOUR continues to evolve and expand its fan engagement initiatives and offerings as the excitement and drama toward the 2025 FedExCup rolls on.

“THE PLAYERS is the PGA TOUR’s marquee event,” Gutterman said. “It is always the place where we roll out our new technologies to kind of set the tone for the rest of the year.”