The Players Championship has held a unique position in the golf world since it began in 1974. With a prize fund of $10 million it holds the largest purse of any tournament. Its field usually contains the world’s top fifty ranked golfers but it is not considered an official event by the European Tour like the Masters, US Open and PGA Championship. It is essentially a quasi Major Championship that is a stroke behind the four majors. [tweetable alt=”Lots of fans don’t realize that the #ThePlayers is one of the most technologically advanced tournaments in the world.”] But despite its “fifth major” status The Players has just as many technological bells and whistles as the four majors and then some.[/tweetable]
In 1983 The Players was the first event to have electronic scoreboards so that fans could keep up with action around the course. A luxurious perk for fans at the time.
In 2007 The Players’ scoreboard supremacy continued when it became the first golf tournament with the deployment of the Tour’s state of the art Mitsubishi LED Scoreboards. It was also the first event to run fully produced video highlights on these scoreboards. Additionally it was the first event with a fully electronic media center utilizing a 17-projector system with the largest projection screen in the Southeastern United States.
The Players also consistently deploys the most LED solutions of any golf event with 22 LED Scoreboards and 5 Large Format Video Boards. To put this in perspective, collectively there are more LED pixels on display at The Players than there are in the center displays at Cowboy Stadium.
This year The Players has implemented several initiatives to make sure fans stay connected. Fans are permitted to bring their phones and tablets onto the grounds where free solar powered charging stations are present.
As with any major sporting event, connectivity will be crucial for spectators at TPC Sawgrass. Fans will be able to follow marquee groups all four days of the event exclusively on the PGA Tour digital platforms. The PGA Tour app is available on iPhone, Android, iPad, Windows Phone and Blackberry 10. It features live leaderboard and scorecards, play-by-play coverage, latest tournament news and video, player information, social media feeds and more. The mobile app will follow two key groups each day, providing coverage outside the television broadcast and complimentary coverage during the telecast.
Another useful digital option for fans is to visit livemaps.pgatour.com and view a Google map of the course. Here fans can track their favorite player from a mobile device, find the best viewing spots on the course, locate the nearest concessions, restrooms and more based on their GPS location.
But perhaps the best tech perk for fans in attendance at TPC Sawgrass is the ability to rent FanVision devices from The Players shops on course. These handheld devices will deliver Players tournament action via a dedicated in-venue broadcast network. This content is separate from streaming data via mobile devices and will not be susceptible to poor signals or network overloads. The FanVision device offers live video, leaderboard stats and the ability to watch replays from multiple angles in addition to many more fan-friendly features.
So when you’re watching players struggle on the fabled 17th green this year be mindful of the tournament’s history with technology and how it is making sure to keep fans happy by pulling out all of the digital stops. More sports venues of all kinds should take notes and get on par with The Players Championship.