The PGA Tour wants to create a product similar to NFL RedZone, with video of every shot on every holeGETTY IMAGES
The PGA Tour for the first time at the Quicken Loans National at TPC Potomac had "three fixed, high-resolution cameras, part of the tour's upgraded ShotLink+ ball-tracking system," replace the "human-operated laser on every green of every hole, capturing the ball in motion as opposed to only the ball at rest," according to Neil Greenberg of the WASHINGTON POST. PGA Tour technology partner CDW Senior VP/Product & Partner Management Matt Troka said, "It's the next phase of how we get the data without having to have human interaction on everything that happens." Greenberg noted the "amount of data collected by the PGA Tour is staggering." PGA Tour Dir of Broadcasting Production Alex Turnbull "estimates there are 174 million shot attributes in the tour's database, making it unwieldy for humans to make sense of them all." Instead, the PGA Tour is "partnering with Microsoft and will use artificial intelligence to leverage 20 years of statistical data and 80,000-plus hours of video in its digital library." The change "might go unnoticed by fans watching a tournament, but the quality of the on-screen product should be much improved." PGA Tour VP/Digital Operations Scott Gutterman said that the Tour will also "use the AI platform to automate content creation, providing round recaps for every player in the field following every round of a tournament, and create more video highlights, allowing it to 'easily put out 200 to 250 videos per week.'" Gutterman: "We are trying to figure out how to get video of every shot from every hole across the entire course so we can create something similar to the 'NFL RedZone,' which would allow you to go from green to green as players are getting ready to putt for birdie or win an event." Greenberg noted the Tour "plans to do much more with its data, with some of those advancements having a direct impact on sports betting and daily fantasy leagues" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/1).
