Not All PGA Tour Players Are Fans Of Being Mic’d Up While They Play

The PGA Tour suspended its season following the first round of The Players Championship back in March. Thursday will see the start of the first PGA Tour event with the Charles Schwab Challenge. There will be no fans in attendance, so one of the things that has been suggested is players being mic’d up. Some Tour players, however, are not  fans of this idea. 

During TaylorMade’s Driving Relief and The Match: Champions for Charity, all the players wore mics and it seemed to be well received by fans. Number four ranked golfer in the world Justin Thomas expressed his displeasure with the idea of wearing a microphone while he was playing. “I would not wear a mic, no. That’s not me. What I talk about with [my caddy] Jimmy and what I talk about with the guys in my group is none of anybody else’s business, no offense. I mean, as close as those mics are on the tees and the greens and as close as I get to boom mics during competition anyway, I basically feel like I am mic’d up. I can’t say some stuff that I usually say anyway, and it is not that it’s bad, but no, if I want somebody to know what I say, I’ll say it in a press conference, I’ll say it in an interview or put it out on social media, whatever it is. But I personally am not one that would care to get mic’d out there.”

Thomas was not the only top Tour player who was opposed to the idea of wearing a mic. The second ranked golfer in the world, Jon Rahm, feels that there really is no reason for it. “I don’t think there’s any reason why we should be mic’d up from shot to shot. really. But again, it all depends. If somebody decides to do it and it really works out and they think it’s really fun, cool, go ahead. I can tell you I’m not speaking about many interesting things on the golf course. There’s just a lot of golf, if I speak at all.”

From the PGA Tour’s perspective and the perspective of the television networks, it should come as a no brainer to put microphones on players as a means to modernize and bring more viewers to the sport, although the players do have a point as to be constantly aware of what you can and cannot say can take you away from focusing on a crucial putt.