PGA Tour debuting new Aon-sponsored segment this weekend

Aon will have four 'Better Decision Breakdown' segments this weekend at The Sentrypga tour

With the PGA Tour’s debut in Hawaii this weekend will come new broadcast integrations from one of its Official Marketing Partners, Aon.

The two have been partners since 2018, with Aon sponsoring the tour’s “Aon Risk Reward Challenge,” which tracks players throughout the season based on risk/reward decisions and awards the winner with $1M. 

Now, Aon has added more broadcast elements to coincide with the changes to the PGA Tour schedule. The tour has new eligibility criteria as it relates to its Signature events, The Next 10 and The Swing 5. 

The Next 10 represents the top 10 members not otherwise exempt from the FedExCup standings. The Swing 5 includes the top five FedExCup points earners, not otherwise exempt, from the swing of Full-Field and Additional events preceding each Signature Event. 

Aon is sponsoring both the Next 10 and Swing 5 and will have special segments starting with this weekend’s broadcasts of The Sentry to highlight them, said Alex Turnbull, the tour’s senior director of broadcast production.  

The “Better Decisions Breakdown” will include metrics like accuracy depictions, expected outcomes, model-based shot dispersion and strokes gained analysis. 

In the past, segments around the Aon Risk Reward Challenge would cut away from the live tournament. But with fans’ calls for more live shots, “Better Decisions Breakdown” will be additive and worked into the golf on screen.  

“Our fans want more context and want to understand the difficulty of shots, all the while seeing live shots,” Turnbull said. “We’ve come up with these executions, areas and moments within the broadcast, that we know NBC and CBS will lean into.” 

Turnbull said this weekend’s coverage will feature four “Better Decisions Breakdown” segments total, with two each day during NBC’s 4-6pm ET window (coverage returns to Golf Channel at 6).  

The new segments also won’t be tied to a specific hole like the Risk Reward Challenge was, said Andy Weitz, Aon’s chief marketing officer.  

“We asked our broadcast partners, what if we can unshackle the challenge from a single hole,” Weitz said. “We realized they had new real time analytics capabilities so we could interrupt the broadcast less. They loved the idea.”  

“These will be natural storytelling and messaging that becomes part of the fabric of our season,” Turnbull added.  

CAA oversees Aon’s partnership with the tour.