IBM has been an official sponsor of The Masters for 20 years now, and this year’s tournament will be no different. Except this year’s partnership will feature IBM Watson, their cognitive technology, and a long time tour pro that bares the same name, Tom Watson.
Tom Watson is set to play his final competitive rounds at The Masters, which begins today. The two-time winner in 1977 and 1981, will most likely miss the cut, but he will have more time on television over the four-day tournament than almost anyone outside of the leaderboard. Watson and Watson, will be featured on many, very hard to secure, television advertisements this weekend.
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The commercials will showcase IBM Watson’s ability to analyze the game of golf, and a golfer’s swing, as they look back on some of Tom Watson’s greatest moments at The Masters. The advertisements will highlight some of IBM Watson’s unique tracking capabilities when highlighting the golfer’s game: “(Tom) Watson being 1.2 strokes better than the field every time there were 10 mph winds and 0.6 strokes better every time the humidity level increased by 10%.”
Additionally, IBM will once again be the driving force behind the increasingly popular Masters App, and there are some updates for 2016. Their new technology for the app will allow users to track every shot taken, by every player, from the exact location on the course, in real time. IBM has set up small laser tracking devices on every fairway and green at Augusta National to provide fans with an aerial map of how players work their way through each hole.
The technology giant will introduce this tracking technology for wearables, such as the Apple Watch and Android Wear for the first time as well.
“Watson Social Media Command Center” will also be new this year at Augusta, and will allow patrons and Masters officials to see what, and who is generating the most buzz on social media during the tournament. However, all of these great innovations for player tracking, and IBM Watson’s ability to analyze the game of golf will have to be done outside of the historic grounds, since The Masters officially prohibits the use of any and all cell phones and Smartphones during the competition.
As we covered recently, The Masters will also be debuting live 4K video from the Amen Corner, with the help of IBM. Virtual Reality will make its debut as well at Augusta this weekend, as NextVR is set to give fans the chance to experience holes 6 and 16, through their app on compatible Samsung Gear VR devices.
Tom Watson is very excited about IBM’s player tracking technology, and is a big advocate of technology becoming more of a part of golf as a whole, “You can follow any golfer you want and see exactly where they are…because on CBS they follow just a handful of players…”
IBM is also ready to showcase all that their Watson technology can do for golfers, and they understand that Tom will be of great help. IBM’s Sponsorship Manager John Kent said “We thought the partnership with Tom would be a great opportunity not only to celebrate his illustrious golf career…but also to show how fans and athletes, including golfers, can harness the power of data and analytics.”
IBM, who has helped power The Master’s website for 20-years now, and two-time Green Jacket winner, Tom Watson are ready to give golf fans a glimpse into the possible future of the sport and could make the marriage of technology and golf a tradition unlike any other.