The LPGA today announced an upcoming YouTube all-access docuseries, with the first installment set to premiere tonight.
Featuring the unwieldy title “LPGA All Access: CME Group Tour Championship”, the series was filmed last fall at the LPGA’s season-ending tournament, and promises looks at how some of the top women in the sport prepared and played in the event.
Via the official announcement:
Filmed on location in Naples, Fla., at the 2021 CME Group Tour Championship, “LPGA All Access” will share exclusive moments with players, caddies, sponsors and staff, both on and off the course. Featured moments include:
- An in-depth look into the season-long competitive battle between Jin Young Ko and Nelly Korda, who fought all week for the titles of Rolex Player of the Year and Race to the CME Globe Champion
- 2021 Chevron Championship winner Patty Tavatanakit’s preparations for the red carpet for the Rolex Awards, where she received the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award and the Rolex ANNIKA Major Award
- Workout sessions and pickleball matches with Gaby Lopez and Amy Olson, who also shared a house for the week and made a relaxing meal of Mexican food from Lopez’s recipe book
- Early-morning golf-course scouting with LPGA Tour Rules Official Annie Giangrosso and caddie Will Davidson, who looped for past CME winner Lexi Thompson
- Interviews with LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan and CME Group Chairman/CEO Terry Duffy
“This documentary helps show the accessibility and personality of our players, along with the drama and intrigue of the CME Group Tour Championship,” said Brian Carroll, senior vice president of global media distribution for the LPGA. “Hopefully this is just the beginning of our storytelling in this format.”
The documentary was produced in partnership with toldright and Executive Producer Adam Hertzog.
Obviously if it works out, the possibilities for more highlighted events abound. (Hence the title format; this is meant to just be one installation of a possible LPGA All Access series.) It’s interesting that there’s not much of a lead, though; dropping a press release the day of the premiere is a bit strange, even for a YouTube series.
When news came of the PGA Tour partnering with Netflix and the makers of F1: Drive to Survive, a lot of people in the golf world raised very fair questions as to why the LPGA hadn’t done something similar. This project is obviously on a smaller scale, and it’s still fair to wonder if the LPGA is aiming too low by focusing on one tournament and keeping things in-house. The entire thing will just be three fifteen-minute episodes, which is also a smaller-scale than other projects like it.
Hopefully this is just a gateway to more going forward.
[LPGA]
