Amazon Web Services continues to expand its reach into the sports world. The latest deal, announced Tuesday, is with the PGA Tour, which will make AWS its official cloud provider. The pro golf organization will use AWS to process and distribute video footage to various platforms and services such as Every Shot Live, which debuts next week at The Players Championship, and TOURcast, an interactive way to track shots throughout a tournament. The PGA Tour will also migrate nearly a century of content to AWS. “Our collaboration with the TOUR will change the way that fans will be able to connect… Read More
Intel continues to push forward with its virtual reality technology in the sports world. The tech giant today announced a partnership with the PGA Tour to live stream the action from The Players Championship this weekend — specifically, at the famous “Island Green” on hole 17. The company’s “Intel True VR,” its new VR brand that builds off the acquisition of virtual reality startup Voke last year, will power the stream, available to users with Samsung Gear VR headsets and the new PGA Tour VR Live app throughout the 4-day tournament that kicks off Thursday. There will be three cameras — on… Read More
Bryson DeChambeau is clearly the PGA Tour’s geekiest golfer. The 23-year-old California native who earned a physics degree from Southern Methodist University has brought his data-driven, science-influenced, and exceptionally eccentric philosophy to the world’s top professional golf circuit in a big way. GeekWire had a chance to catch up with DeChambeau last month at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where the PGA Tour pro was helping promote a new smartphone app from Bridgestone that helps golfers find the best golf ball for their game. “I would say I’m at the leading edge of technology in regard to the game… Read More
Twitter continues to amp up its live streaming ambitions in the sports world. The social media company today announced that it will stream more than 70 hours of live competition from 31 PGA Tour tournaments in 2017. Golf fans can use Twitter to stream early coverage of each tournament, starting with the CareerBuilder Challenge on Jan. 19 and ending with the Tour Championship in September. The feed will come from the first 60 to 90 minutes of PGA Tour Live’s coverage, which includes pre-round analysis, interviews, and range coverage. As far as actual live competition, you’ll only be able to see action from… Read More
Embed from Getty Images The golf grip is getting geeky. PGA Tour golfer Bryson DeChambeau worked with Microsoft and Seattle-area startup Sensoria over the past eight weeks to create a prototype “smart grip” that analyzes how much pressure he applies to the golf club throughout a swing. As detailed by Microsoft in this blog post, DeChambeau let Microsoft and Sensoria — a smart-garment maker based in Redmond, Wash. — build sensors into his grips that measure force and pressure exerted. In golf, how tight or loose a player grips the club can be a key determining factor for ball flight. There are different schools of… Read More
