The PGA Tour and NFL Films partnered on a bold new idea at last week’s Players Championship with a real-time documentary in the style of the legendary Hard Knocks series. And judging from the feedback thus far, it was a hole-in-one.
Hard Knocks has been a mainstay of NFL Films throughout this century. However, as it was once widely hailed for its innovation and access that we have never seen before, the series has been watered down in recent years as teams have become more resistant to pulling back the curtain. The explosive offseason edition with the New York Giants seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for the iconic series being able to offer anything of real substance moving forward. In many ways, Hard Knocks became too good for its own good and survival with NFL teams preferring to control their messaging much more tightly.
However, with former NFL executive Brian Rolapp now in place as the new PGA Tour commissioner, he saw a unique opportunity to take the best of Hard Knocks to the golf world. PGA Tour Studios partnered with NFL Films for Chasing Sunday, a real-time documentary following a group of players at the Players Championship that would provide access inside the ropes like never before.
In showing their belief in the proof of concept, the PGA Tour and NFL Films published the one-hour film on YouTube instead of one of their television partners, to ensure the widest and quickest distribution possible. You can even watch it now, where it has amassed 250,000 views since it premiered on Tuesday.
The film featured four players mic’d up for the tournament – Chris Gotterup, Akshay Bhatia, Rickie Fowler, and Si Woo Kim. Unfortunately, none of those players were in the hunt for the title on Sunday. However, Chasing Sunday does feature never-before-seen insights from their rounds including detailed caddie discussions, behind-the-scenes access, and the incredible film-making that has been an NFL Films trademark for decades. Towards the end of the documentary, the attention shifts to Cameron Young and his victory.
Golf fans on social media were in love with the concept and the execution, praising Chasing Sunday for what it offered fans and its quick turnaround.
These words from Joe Greiner. This is the good stuff pic.twitter.com/1wZkVKzQZr
— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) March 18, 2026
This clip from ‘Chasing Sunday’ — the new collaboration with NFL Films — captures the moment Collin Morikawa was forced to withdraw from the Players Championship.
Si Woo Kim and his caddie Manny were mic’d up and the camera’s captured it all. pic.twitter.com/d48h1KG5Ph
— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) March 18, 2026
Still wrapping my mind around the fact that this was all filmed last week and then turned around for an episode yesterday
pic.twitter.com/iWuod89eF8— claire rogers (@kclairerogers) March 18, 2026
There’s a lot of good stuff in the first Chasing Sunday. Akshay and Greiner wrapping their heads around Brooks not using a yardage book was particularly amusing. pic.twitter.com/gMt5UfabYy
— Patrick McDonald (@pmcdonaldCBS) March 18, 2026
More of this. 😍
The PGA Tour released two full minutes of player-caddie convo between Akshay Bhatia and Joe Greiner on No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass. This is from ‘Chasing Sunday’ — the new collaboration with NFL Films that drops today. pic.twitter.com/8TAqTGrpvs
— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) March 17, 2026
I wrote about the PGA Tour’s new mic’d-up film, Chasing Sunday, which is so good for one man reason: It trusts that golf — and all its little, glorious inside-the-ropes details — is enough. https://t.co/wlHttj8fnY
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) March 18, 2026
Chasing Sunday is the content golf needs. If you haven’t seen it yet, carve out an hour to do so. This thing rocks.https://t.co/ncxNbYgBD8
— Skratch (@Skratch) March 18, 2026
Really hoping that the PGA Tour’s Chasing Sunday is the type of content that starts to roll out way more frequently.
Show golfers doing golf things and golf fans will enjoy it.
A perfect concept. https://t.co/UGT3cJL4Pi
— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) March 18, 2026
Sports leagues are always trying to chase new fans and sometimes that can lead to diluting their product or trying to make it into something that it’s not. LIV Golf with its shotgun starts and party-like atmospheres are a great example of that as it has failed to make an imprint on the American sports scene at all.
Other ventures have seen sports try to focus more on storytelling and human interest, Netflix’s Full Swing has done that to some success with heartwarming features on the likes of Joel Dahmen and Tony Finau.
But while that has its benefits in trying to reach new fans, sometimes what is best for engagement is to showcase what truly makes a sport great and unique and go all-in on that front. That’s what Chasing Sunday has done for golf fans. “Show golfers doing golf things and golf fans will enjoy it.” The PGA Tour hasn’t really had that kind of opportunity before, but this film delivered it in spades.
Hard Knocks might have outlived its usefulness for the NFL, but the PGA Tour is fertile ground for this kind of film. And given the overwhelmingly positive response from the golf world, there will hopefully be much more of it to come.
About Matt Yoder