Notes from a meeting with the AGW Secretary, Bernie McGuire and Joel Schuchmann, Vice-President Communications, PGA Tour (Bahamas, 2nd December, 2021)
AGW – The AGW formally thanked Joel and the PGA Tour media team of Amanda Herrington, John Bush, Doug Milne, Mark Williams, Jack Ryan and Haley Peterson for their enormous input over the past year.
The opportunity to obtain quotes from players not in contention and also at tournaments that are not normally on the reporting radar has provided not only financial reward to AGW members but we would like to think has also worked in affording your sponsor’s strong coverage in the newspapers and on the websites of UK/Irish and European outlets.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN, PGA TOUR VICE-PRESIDENT, COMMUICATONS (Photograph)
“That’s one of the silver-linings of this pandemic as we had to be innovative on the basis, we had to collaborate with people that couldn’t travel, and especially those over Europe and other overseas locations.
“The video conferences have been helpful and barring any further outbreaks of Covid-related situations we expect onside media operations to be close to normal come January.
“We plan to still use some of the video conference aspects into our events, and specifically focusing on international players and for people who still can’t get to events.
“We just have to find the right way to do it to best serve those onsite, as well as remote, if it makes sense.”
AGW – What does the PGA Tour see as the future of Microsoft Teams conference calls and will Teams remain in place heading into the New Year?
JOEL – “Teams will be some component going forward. It depends on the interest level of the stories in a given week. This coming new year will be interesting such as the week of the Scottish Open with the Barbasol Championship also taking place that same week with a lot of DP World Tour players competing in the US. There might be more interest in that event than normally.
“I don’t have a specific answer but I think we will find ways to collaborate with journalists, not on property”.
AGW – What does the PGA Tour see as the role of the written journalist going forward?
JOEL – “We know the landscape of the media world is changing and the way I look at it, our priority will always be with our journalists that cover our events. We have media partners we have to also take care of and then there is that group kind of in the middle that are media companies but they are not necessarily like big ‘J’ journalists but they are people who drive traffic and have different and diverse audiences. So, my goal is to try and take care of all three of those groups”.
AGW – Will the PGA Tour also be looking going forward to allow more player access to those attending the events and less to those at home on a Microsoft Teams call?
JOEL – “There will always be a balance as we have an obligation to make sure that the tournament and the title sponsor receive as much exposure as possible. So, that would be unfettered access for anybody but we also understand it is a huge financial commitment for yourself or whoever chooses to fly to an event, stays in a hotel and has to pay for rental cars and food. That’s a huge expense. So yes, we want to make sure that if you make the effort to come to an event that you have more access to players. I think you will see more access to players once 2022 hits and we don’t have as many Covid restrictions.
“So, you should be able to walk onto the range and get more players in a one-on-one situation. We also have range cards where you are allowed onto the range so our media officials have range passes for those without permanent badges.
AGW – (The AGW learned the PGA Tour may be considering removing access to the locker-rooms). Given how both bodies historically fought for locker-room access, could we ask the PGA Tour to discuss with the AGW and GWAA beforehand any decision to remove locker-room access to season-long media badge holders?
JOEL – The PGA TOUR Communications Department would consult with the leaders of both the AGW and the GWAA before making any significant decisions on media access. Locker rooms are currently closed to most constituents due to health and safety protocols related to the pandemic.
AGW – When can we expect PGA Tour full-accredited media to be re-allowed access to the Players practice range?
JOEL – Access to THE PLAYERS Championship practice areas at TPC Sawgrass is extremely limited to all constituents during tournament week, including credentialed media. At this time, we have no plans to make any changes to the existing policy.
AGW – The AGW is grateful for this opportunity to speak with you and again thank you to your team media officials. It would also be neglectful if the AGW also did not congratulate the PGA Tour in setting the example and in so many ways, to an eventual return to normality in the reporting of golf.
JOEL – “The spirit of co-operation from start to finish and from when we halted at THE PLAYERS in March last year and then when we restarted in June, 2020 at the Charles Schwab Challenge has been superb. It showed respect for the protocol and the restrictions we had in place, as there were sometimes people who wanted to come to events and we were not able to get everyone there because of the restrictions. 99.9% of the people were very respectful of the things that we had to put in place.
“Saying that we were very pleased with the amount of traffic we got on Microsoft Teams calls and leading into the return to golf with all the calls we had on health-and-safety. I cannot thank everyone enough from the standpoint that we are in this together and ‘we help you’ and ‘you then help us’. That was good for everyone and we want to continue that and we certainly appreciate what you guys do.
“I think we have tried to be as innovative as we can during the continuing times and I am glad we’ve got to where we are and I hope we can continue on this path”.
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