This week’s New Mexico Open broadcast will feature a commentator who doesn’t exist. “Duff Foreman,” an AI-generated character, will appear alongside former PGA Tour winner Notah Begay III and broadcaster Ryan Burr during the tournament’s live coverage, though Foreman won’t be physically present because he isn’t a real person.
Organizers believe Foreman is the first AI-generated golf commentator to interact live on-screen with human hosts. He’s expected to jump into unscripted conversation, offering commentary on play, course conditions, weather, and rules across nine hours of live coverage.
The New Mexico Open is a Sun Country PGA event, a section of the PGA of America, with a $137,000 purse on the line. It’s a real professional tournament, streamed on YouTube and televised locally, now serving as the test case for putting an AI voice into a live sports broadcast.
Begay, who is both playing in the tournament and calling it, defended the decision in a press release from tournament organizers.
“Golf fans are always looking for a better understanding of what players are thinking and why they make certain decisions,” Begay said. “If Duff Foreman delivers what we’re expecting, he’ll become another voice in the broadcast, helping us explain strategy, analyze swings, consider changing conditions like weather and course setup, and answer questions in real time. I think that kind of conversation could make the game more interesting and enjoyable for viewers.”
Foreman already has a presence online. His X account posts AI-generated content, and the bio links to a YouTube channel, X-Treme Golf, featuring clips such as Foreman playing golf from the summit of Mt. Everest.
The rollout has drawn mockery on social media in the days leading up to the tournament.
Whether the broadcast experiment expands beyond this one event remains to be seen. For now, the New Mexico Open and the PGA of America are positioning themselves as the first to put a fully AI-generated commentator into a live golf broadcast.
