Charles Barkley Says Players Should Be Mic’d Up If The PGA Tour Wants To Be Successful During Tournaments Without Spectators

The PGA Tour is scheduled to return to action during the week of June 8 for the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas. The first four tournaments on the PGA Tour’s new-look schedule are set to be played without fans and while that may take some getting used to, both of the recent charity matches have proven that golf without fans can still be wildly entertaining.

In the first match, TaylorMade Driving Relief, players were mic’d up but the broadcast itself got a bit too involved. Unfortunately for them, they were the guinea pigs of the two matches and in hindsight would’ve probably let the players simply do the talking as opposed to actually playing traditional golf commentator.

The Match: Champions for Charity had the advantage of not only learning from the previous week’s match but had four extremely popular and interesting guys in Tiger Woods, Peyton Manning, Phil Mickelson, and Tom Brady involved, which certainly drew viewers in. All four players were mic’d up during the match as well and the broadcast really kept things light and not once did they take away from the players themselves.

Charles Barkley was part of the brilliant broadcasting group for the Woods and Mickelson match and, as per usual, didn’t take himself too seriously. He also took notice as to just how entertaining some of these guys are on their own, but in a lighthearted way and serious way such as reading putts or talking about upcoming shots.

During an interview on The Dan Patrick Show on Tuesday, Barkley suggested that the PGA Tour should mic up players during the four events that will be played without fans. He expressed that it can’t just be the broadcasters talking during the tournament.

“If you’re not going to have fans, you can’t just have guys playing golf and announcers talking,” Barkley said. “If they’re going to be successful and have great ratings – No. 1, they’re going to have great ratings because we need golf, we need sports – I think they should consider mic’ing the players.”

Barkley and Justin Thomas, who was also part of the broadcast group during the Woods and Mickelson match, had access to directly talk into player’s earpieces during the event. Now, of course, things were completely laid back in the charity match and it will be a completely different scene during an actual tournament, but Nick Faldo seems on board with the idea.