Roll the dice

The PGA Tour will start an “Integrity Program” next year to protect its tournaments from potential gambling influences.

The tour has hired Genius Sports, which will develop a monitoring system that tracks real-time betting activity and use algorithms to identify potentially suspicious patterns in global betting parlors. Genius Sports also will develop an educational program for players, caddies and officials to make them aware of potential corruption.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said he is not aware of any gambling issues but that “no sport is fully immune from the potential influence of gambling.”

“We established this program not because we think there’s a problem, it’s just the world is dynamic, gaming is a reality in every sport,” Monahan said Tuesday.

“You look at every other major sport, they have similar programs in place and we just wanted to be proactive and we want to know what the activity is in the international marketplace in markets where gaming is legal.”

He said he is not aware of any specific incidents in golf. He also said the tour did not start the program with fantasy leagues in mind. That said, the tour is intrigued by daily fantasy games.

“Fan engagement, I think, is important for any sport. You look at the activity in other sports and you look at the activity in golf, it’s significant,” he said. “So if we could play a role, that’s something that we would be interested in in the future.”