Bryson DeChambeau helped Johnson Wagner recreate his US Open winning shot, as the best segment in sports TV hit a new high.
In the world of sports pre- and post-game or event coverage, there isn’t a ton of differentiation in terms of format, as everyone, regardless of sport, does about the same thing. You have a group of folks sitting around a desk talking, bantering, and arguing, with some breakdown segments where someone hops on the telestrator to diagram the biggest plays or moments.
On occasion, you might go to a demo area where the analysts will walk fans through a key play, but that’s about as interactive as shows can get, simply due to the restrictions of being in a studio. However, this year, Golf Channel has done something truly groundbreaking on its Live From coverage from on-site, and it has become one of my (and many other golf fans) favorite things, which is sending former PGA Tour pro Johnson Wagner out onto the course after a round to try and recreate a pivotal shot that we just saw.
The results have been pretty incredible, from Wagner throwing balls at a hill at Sawgrass to see where Rory McIlroy’s drive really would’ve gone in the water after a controversial drop to him putting his chipping yips on display numerous times at the PGA Championship and US Open trying to illustrate the difficulty of getting up-and-down.
