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PGA Tour announces its first daily fantasy sports integration with DraftKings partnership

July 23, 2019
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The PGA Tour took its next steps toward integrated gaming Monday, announcing a multi-year partnership with DraftKings, a daily fantasy sports entity.

“We are excited to partner with DraftKings, an industry leader in innovation and fan engagement, in this groundbreaking step for the PGA Tour,” said Luis Goicouria, PGA Tour senior vice president media. “The partnership with DraftKings provides the tour with a unique opportunity to innovate in a new industry and to further engage our fans.”

Fans have been able to play golf-related contests—which involve gamers picking a lineup of players for respective tournaments—for some time. However, the new deal will allow DraftKings users to receive real-time video highlights for players in their lineups. Other elements of the partnership include shared content between the two platforms, as well as product enhancements to the tour's ShotLink data.

The deal comes months after the PGA Tour loosened restrictions on gambling and liquor company endorsements. Previously, the tour had prohibited players from competing in paid DFS games involving golf, or endorsing DFS companies.

“Ever since the Supreme Court’s decision last year we have been publicly engaged about sports betting, traveling the country talking to state officials and our constituents,” said Andy Levinson, the tour’s senior vice president of tournament administration, in February. “The public sentiment has generally been positive.

“The benefits of these relationships is tremendous, not the least of which is, from an integrity perspective and having the ability to work with organizations, we’ll gain some insight on what’s going on, from that perspective, in our sport. Fan engagement is also a key and the ability to reach people who might not otherwise follow our sport.”

The deal begins this week with the tour's WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.