Rozner: Hint of future with PGA Tour's Every Shot Live

For some of us, walking the course during a golf tournament is about as good as it gets.

Pick a player to follow in the morning and again in the afternoon, put in 12 miles over 36 holes and bask in the balmy weather.

But if you're not inside the ropes, it might be difficult to see all that you want to see.

Now, imagine watching a golf tournament on television, one in which you could follow a player and see every shot from that player during four days of action, with cameras only a few feet away and audio from player and caddie.

Obviously, most people would select Tiger Woods, but he gets enough airtime that you normally don't miss a shot.

What if, however, you wanted to pick another player?

Perhaps you have a wager on anyone from Abraham Ancer to Xinjun Zhang, and you want to see that player from the first shot Thursday to - hopefully - the final shot Sunday.

Sounds impossible, right?

Well, it's happening this week at The Players Championship, where for the first time ever literally every shot by every player will be livestreamed from a full-field tournament and available on PGA Tour Live and NBC Sports Gold.

It just so happens that it's the "fifth major" on a brutal course with the best field of the season and the most stringent selection criteria, including any of the four majors.

This is indeed the future of sports TV, where you will someday be able to stream Javy Baez for nine innings, Patrick Kane for three periods, Patrick Mahomes for four quarters, Giannis Antetokounmpo for a full game or Jon Rahm for 18 holes, a camera focused entirely on them and chosen by you, ultimately with the ability to wager instantly on a specific at-bat, a particular shift, one pass play, a single possession or an essential putt, probably from the same site on which you view the action.

"This is the first step in what we believe to be the future of the PGA Tour," said Scott Gutterman - the Tour's senior VP of digital operations - on Monday from Florida as he preps for a huge week. "This is really about the personalization of content so fans can watch who they want, when they want, on any device, from anywhere in the world.

"We are definitely anticipating sports betting being a part of what we've done, and a big part of sports betting is getting content. It's at the forefront of our thinking."

For the love of Hal Sutton and all that's holy, what an extraordinary undertaking, one that has been years in the making and won't occur again until a year from now at TPC.

One can envision a few years down the road this being available for every tournament and in every game of every sport.

"This is probably the most requested feature in my time here," Gutterman said. "People say, 'Why can't I watch my guy when I want?' Until two or three years ago, the technology wasn't there. Now, the technology is there and the cost has come together with it as technology gets cheaper.

"We did some testing last year and went to (PGA Tour commissioner) Jay Monahan and told him we can pull this off. He said, 'Let's do it.'

"One thing I do tell people is this is really an experiment and we will learn a lot from it. There will be some glitches and we'll sit down in a week or two and evaluate, and then we'll do it again next year."

Over four days, there will be more than 31,000 shots, 430 rounds of golf and 750 hours of live TV. There will be 120 cameras to cover 150 acres of Sawgrass, 93 of those cameras for the Every Shot Live broadcast.

Every tee box will have an unmanned camera, every fairway at least one wireless camera, every green a manned camera and microphones ubiquitous.

Minus announcers in many of those spots, you will get to feel the natural environment and hear the on-course conversations, something we would approve of more often in golf broadcasting.

All tee shots will feature TrackMan, and most shots will have Toptracer technology.

The way it works is you can pick a group and watch that group for as long as you want, switching to another group any time you like. The group producer will be in Atlanta or London, clipping every shot for easy replay of the round, also on-demand.

Every Shot Live will be staffed by 63 camera and switch operators located in London, and international coverage in four languages will be available in 35 countries.

If you remember the original Tour Cast - think video game - from about a decade ago, that is also returning in a 3-D experience, showing every shot of every round.

And this is really just the beginning. Picture a personal RedZone Channel in any sport.

"Further down the road, I could see a GreenZone version where you see every meaningful shot on every green," Gutterman said. "We have as much content as the NFL, so the possibilities are there for so much more that we can do."

This is the first step as a Tour sometimes slow to change jumps to the lead with a technology that all sports undoubtedly would like to feature.

"We have a commitment to evolve and to innovate and continue to take our sport forward," Monahan told CNBC on Monday. "That's something we'll be doing this week with every player, Every Shot Live and some other added elements."

There will be eight cameras covering every conceivable angle of the Island Green - including one bunkered on 17 - and the cable-suspended FlyCam will offer views of the Pete Dye nightmare down the stretch at the water-surrounded 16th, 17th and 18th holes.

If anyone yells, "Be the right club today," there's a chance you'll hear it.

And see it live.