The PGA Tour and DirecTV have formed a new partnership that will bring golf fans closer to the PGA Tour.

DirecTV will employ a mosaic channel called Mix Channel to provide golf fans with an in-depth view of four non-major tournaments this year, starting with this week’s Memorial Tournament.

The channel is free to all DirecTV subscribers, and will show a four-in-one mosaic screen that features four different views of the action. Golfers will be able to select any one of the four channels to watch in full screen, and all of the channels will be fully produced and have their own announcers. The channels are:

• CBS Sports Feed — the typical tournament coverage.
• Launch Pad — coverage of an important driving hole. At the Memorial, Launch Pad will cover the 529-yard No. 15 at Muirfield Village GC, which is reachable in two shots. The action will be captured by cameras positioned on the hole’s tee box and landing area. Golfer’s swings will be broken down and analyzed using slow motion replays, Pro-Tracer shot tracking and split-screen comparisons.
• Shot Link — for the stats-intensive viewers. It provides a look at current action through a stats-intensive broadcast.
• Featured Group — focuses on a specific group of golfers throughout a round.

These features give viewers the “chance to experience the PGA Tour in creative, entertaining ways beyond just the telecast,”  said PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem in a press conference on Tuesday. Viewers will also be available to view the channels for the first time on the PGA Tour’s iPad app.

Besides being used to expand weekend coverage of the Memorial, it will also be used for the Travelers Championship, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and The Barclays. It has been used in the past during major championships, including this year’s Masters Tournament, and will be used for the next three majors — the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship.

“I know from our own internal research among the application users at the Masters, the average daily viewing time was 25 percent higher than non-application users,” said Mike White, CEO of DIRECTV. “Kind of those that use it tend to tune in more frequently and watch it longer. You are picking up the passionate, real golf fans that are kind of focused on these kinds of interactive viewing applications.”

The Mix Channel will also display a full-time leaderboard along with the channel’s four video cells, which will show tee times, live scoring and the leaders’ location on the course.

“I think most folks who have followed our sports have heard me talk over the last couple of years, a major objective of ours is to package what goes on at a golf tournament on the PGA Tour in a way that is most appealing to our fans, to deliver that content in many different ways, across multiple platforms,” Finchem said. “The partnership we’re announcing today with DIRECTV represents a real advancement in achieving these objectives.”

Viewers will be able to find this product on channel 710 starting this weekend.