Latest news with #TourStudios
USA Today
10-03-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
No bleeping way: Inside the PGA Tour's Profanity Delay room, where curse words go to die
No bleeping way: Inside the PGA Tour's Profanity Delay room, where curse words go to die Show Caption Hide Caption Russell Henley: It's 'surreal' winning 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational Russell Henley talks about his eagle chip-in and par at the last to win his first signature event on the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour has a dedicated team that monitors live broadcasts to censor profanity. The team uses a 15-second delay to bleep out audio and blur video containing expletives. While some players are known for their occasional outbursts, the team aims to maintain a broadcast suitable for all audiences. PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The PGA Tour doesn't have a bleeping profanity problem. At least not on TV. That's because its brand-spanking new PGA Tour Studios has a Profanity Delay Room and a half-dozen employees who monitor the live broadcast on multiple streams and make sure any expletives blurted in anger get bleeped out. During the week of the Players Championship, the Tour's flagship event in its own backyard, staff will be giving plenty of tours of the new home of its in-house production unit. The Tour is redefining how it creates and distributes content at its state-of-the-art multimedia, three-level production facility located adjacent to its headquarters here and replacing the former facility that had been based in St. Augustine at World Golf Village since 1997. The 165,000-square-foot building broke ground in 2022 and the staff got its feet wet during the fall before officially opening in January. It features all sorts of new bells and whistles and technical resources to deliver a better overall experience for viewers. That includes a bleep room, although Billy Horschel, a player who the employees listen a bit more closely to due to his propensity to get a little hot around the collar and unleash an explicative from time to time, hadn't seen where his bad words go to die during two previous visits to the studio. 'If I had known they had that, I would've been more comfortable dropping some F-bombs,' he said with a smile. Horschel conceded it's probably a good thing the Tour is looking out for its players when they lose their cool, but he also doesn't have a problem with a player letting loose a curse word from time to time. He said it's a natural reaction and part of life and doesn't think the broadcast needs to be sanitized. He noted he has never been fined for saying a four-letter bad word. But the Tour created a Profanity Delay Room, which is common practice at most TV networks, after microphones picked up Justin Thomas uttering a homophobic slur under his breath during the 2021 Sony Open in Hawaii that cost him several endorsement deals and damaged his image. During the third round of the WM Phoenix Open in February, Thomas pulled off a remarkable rescue from a waste area. When he was told that his ball had found the green, Thomas turned to his caddie and said, 'Give me my bleeping putter.' Realizing a TV camera was mere feet away from his face, he sheepishly said, 'Sorry, putter," and motioned as if he was zipping his mouth closed. Fortunately for Thomas, the Tour had his back this time. Anytime a player or fan curses or makes an obscene gesture, they hit a cartoon-sized red button to bleep out the audio or hit a yellow button to black out video on the screen. There's a 15-second latency before the stream reaches viewers. While each stream of the broadcast is different and the players in the field on any given week can impact the amount of cursing, the buttons get pressed on average of a dozen times per day. Four staffers are working at any given time splitting up duties of the main feed, featured group, marquee group and featured hole/betting stream on ESPN+ and PGA Tour Live until each goes off the air. Two relievers rotate in and out to allow for breaks. The new Studios building is a vast upgrade for the Profanity Delay team, whose former digs had been based in cramped quarters inside a trailer. Jon Rahm and Tyrell Hatton used to be the most flagrant bleepers before they left for LIV Golf. The staffers didn't have loose lips about who they have to bleep out the most, but a Golfweek survey of caddies suggests Thomas, Brian Harman and Shane Lowry are in the conversation along with Horschel. Matt Kuchar is famously an 'oh, shoot guy,' but one time Tyler Pinnel, who has been part of the Bleep team full-time since the 2024 Cognizant Classic last March, said he once caught Kuchar dropping an expletive. 'It was like hearing my Grandmother curse,' he said. Rickie Fowler has been known to keep the crew on high alert but usually not for anything he says. His fans love to chant a nickname referencing male genitalia that he credits the rowdy WM Phoenix Open fans with coining. 'There are worse nicknames I guess, but it's become a thing,' Fowler said. If anyone does get away with cursing on air, it might be international players doing so in their native tongue. Take Belgium's Thomas Detry, who speaks four different languages – Dutch, French, Spanish and English – who tells Golfweek he'll air his frustrations in French 'because nobody understands it out here.' The Bleep Room, for instance, suspects Argentina's Alejandro Tosti curses in Portuguese but concede he could be saying God Bless America. Not much else gets past the profanity zone, where a sign on the door cautions bleeping is in process. 'It's the coolest job in the world,' said Pinnel. 'I get to watch golf all day.'
USA Today
10-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Inside the PGA Tour's new Video Review Center
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – After sharing a cramped trailer at PGA Tour events with another colleague the past two years, Orlando Pope and Rich Pierson are digging their new 20-foot-by-17-foot room of 340-square-feet of space with three workstations at the Tour's new Video Review Center at PGA Tour Studios. Pope, senior director, TV rules and video analyst, and Pierson, director of TV rules and video, are both longtime tournament referees in the field who took new roles based at headquarters and are responsible for manning the Video Review Center, which is designed to make rulings on the course quicker, especially in complex situations where players might otherwise spend significant time debating with officials. Mark Dusbabek, who oversees the video review center and will work as the TV rules official at 22 of the 28 events, has watched the technology capabilities grow by leaps and bounds. Pope and Pierson have 10 TV screens mounted at eye-level tuned to various feeds and holes and two monitors in front of them, one of them splits into nine boxes. They are armed with the Hawk Eye System, an optical tracking system that utilizes fixed cameras on every hole, and can record up to 144 inputs including cameras and telecasts from the three major tours. The Hawk-Eye is the same technology used for instant-replay rulings in tennis, World Cup and Premier League soccer, and is integrated with ShotLink data for quick access to specific shots and full fast forward and rewind capabilities of video feeds. 'This is Mark's baby, his vision,' said Pierson, who first heard about what Dusbabek planned to implement for the Tour two years ago at the Zozo Championship in Japan. 'I jumped at the chance to be part of something from the ground floor.' The Tour began implementing video replay in earnest three years ago. The new studio is integrated with on-air capabilities, which means Pope and Pierson will be familiar presences going on camera or voice-only on PGA Tour Live and the Tour's World Feed (coming soon) and eventually with Golf Channel telecasts produced at PGA Tour Studios. Last year, they eased into having a video replay official — typically Pope — at 13 tournaments with four-round coverage. With improved technology this year? The Tour is stepping it up to do full coverage of 38 tournaments. Another benefit is improved communication, allowing the video replay technician at the Video Review Center to talk directly to the on-course rules officials through intercom panels at PGA Tour Studios and radios for the on-course officials. After Brian Harman's second shot on Friday at No. 8 at Pebble Beach Golf Links failed to clear the hazard, Pope reported this information to the rules officials on site. 'I don't know if he wants a ride,' Pope said. 'Copy that, yes, sir,' a rules official responded. 'If you're sitting on the golf course and watching three different holes, you'd never know it was happening,' Dusbabek said. 'This is an example of the advantage to our pace. We're able to give immediate feedback, reducing wait times that contribute to slow play.' Another bonus available in the new studio: access to the feed of the ShotLink cameras, giving more options on the golf course and angles to analyze. That should remedy situations such as last year at the Players Championship where there was some debate over whether Rory McIlroy's tee shot had crossed the line during the first round at the sixth hole. There was insufficient video evidence to help confirm the point of entry. Pierson pointed out a similar scenario recently where a player believed his ball crossed a hazard and intended to take a drop well in front of where he had hit his previous shot but video evidence proved that not to be the case. 'If I don't see that, there's no penalty,' he said. 'But what if TV sees it and makes a big deal out of it? And then what if fans start thinking a player is cheating? In that situation, we helped the player from looking bad.' The Tour still is catching up to some of the other sport's leagues but it has made big strides. While the Video Review Center offers great upside, the question remained: Would the rules staff buy in? 'I told the guys, 'Look, I've been out there in the cold, the wind, the heat, the rain with you guys and I can see three or four holes. But in the studio I see all the holes,' Pierson said. 'The benefit is we see something like if a ball is embedded and can call an official and say you might have an issue on five. They can get a head start to getting there before the player is even at the ball.' At the Players Championship in March, Dusbabek, Pope and Pierson will work side by side in the Video Review Center, which still is in the proof-of-concept stage. But the facility was constructed with room to expand in the future and add men and women who have field experience administering the rules to cover the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Champions, too. Dusbabek is proud of how his baby is growing but he knows there's more work to be done. 'You know how in tennis where they hit a serve and, boom, it shows that it hit the line?" he said. "I want to get to that.'
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Inside the PGA Tour's new Video Review Center
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – After sharing a cramped trailer at PGA Tour events with another colleague the past two years, Orlando Pope and Rich Pierson are digging their new 20-foot-by-17-foot room of 340-square-feet of space with three workstations at the Tour's new Video Review Center at PGA Tour Studios. Pope, senior director, TV rules and video analyst, and Pierson, director of TV rules and video, are both longtime tournament referees in the field who took new roles based at headquarters and are responsible for manning the Video Review Center, which is designed to make rulings on the course quicker, especially in complex situations where players might otherwise spend significant time debating with officials. Mark Dusbabek, who oversees the video review center and will work as the TV rules official at 22 of the 28 events, has watched the technology capabilities grow by leaps and bounds. Pope and Pierson have 10 TV screens mounted at eye-level tuned to various feeds and holes and two monitors in front of them, one of them splits into nine boxes. They are armed with the Hawk Eye System, an optical tracking system that utilizes fixed cameras on every hole, and can record up to 144 inputs including cameras and telecasts from the three major tours. The Hawk-Eye is the same technology used for instant-replay rulings in tennis, World Cup and Premier League soccer, and is integrated with ShotLink data for quick access to specific shots and full fast forward and rewind capabilities of video feeds. 'This is Mark's baby, his vision,' said Pierson, who first heard about what Dusbabek planned to implement for the Tour two years ago at the Zozo Championship in Japan. 'I jumped at the chance to be part of something from the ground floor.' The Tour began implementing video replay in earnest three years ago. The new studio is integrated with on-air capabilities, which means Pope and Pierson will be familiar presences going on camera or voice-only on PGA Tour Live and the Tour's World Feed (coming soon) and eventually with Golf Channel telecasts produced at PGA Tour Studios. Last year, they eased into having a video replay official — typically Pope — at 13 tournaments with four-round coverage. With improved technology this year? The Tour is stepping it up to do full coverage of 38 tournaments. Another benefit is improved communication, allowing the video replay technician at the Video Review Center to talk directly to the on-course rules officials through intercom panels at PGA Tour Studios and radios for the on-course officials. After Brian Harman's second shot on Friday at No. 8 at Pebble Beach Golf Links failed to clear the hazard, Pope reported this information to the rules officials on site. 'I don't know if he wants a ride,' Pope said. 'Copy that, yes, sir,' a rules official responded. 'If you're sitting on the golf course and watching three different holes, you'd never know it was happening,' Dusbabek said. 'This is an example of the advantage to our pace. We're able to give immediate feedback, reducing wait times that contribute to slow play.' Another bonus available in the new studio: access to the feed of the ShotLink cameras, giving more options on the golf course and angles to analyze. That should remedy situations such as last year at the Players Championship where there was some debate over whether Rory McIlroy's tee shot had crossed the line during the first round at the sixth hole. There was insufficient video evidence to help confirm the point of entry. Pierson pointed out a similar scenario recently where a player believed his ball crossed a hazard and intended to take a drop well in front of where he had hit his previous shot but video evidence proved that not to be the case. 'If I don't see that, there's no penalty,' he said. 'But what if TV sees it and makes a big deal out of it? And then what if fans start thinking a player is cheating? In that situation, we helped the player from looking bad.' The Tour still is catching up to some of the other sport's leagues but it has made big strides. While the Video Review Center offers great upside, the question remained: Would the rules staff buy in? 'I told the guys, 'Look, I've been out there in the cold, the wind, the heat, the rain with you guys and I can see three or four holes. But in the studio I see all the holes,' Pierson said. 'The benefit is we see something like if a ball is embedded and can call an official and say you might have an issue on five. They can get a head start to getting there before the player is even at the ball.' At the Players Championship in March, Dusbabek, Pope and Pierson will work side by side in the Video Review Center, which still is in the proof-of-concept stage. But the facility was constructed with room to expand in the future and add men and women who have field experience administering the rules to cover the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Champions, too. Dusbabek is proud of how his baby is growing but he knows there's more work to be done. 'You know how in tennis where they hit a serve and, boom, it shows that it hit the line?" he said. "I want to get to that.' This article originally appeared on Golfweek: The new PGA Tour Studios includes the Tour's first Video Review Center
