The 2023 Masters Tournament takes place this week from April 6 to 9 in Augusta, Georgia—and IBM is playing a key role in delivering live coverage to sports fans.
Key Details
- IBM’s iX team and Masters are collaborating together on the Masters Tournament app, which allows for live coverage and data tracking for every event in the tournament.
- Data is gathered by cameras, microphones, laser coordinate tracking technology, and volunteers and gathered at a data center on the grounds of the tournament.
- The data is then shared through six different clouds, analyzed through application and survey processes, and transformed through automated artificial intelligence, trained on thousands of analytics models and decades of stored data.
- This near-instantaneous process allows the app to offer scoring predictions, highlight reels, and spoken commentary from large language models—all with a simple user interface.
Why It’s Important
Sports analytics is a serious business, both because it has come to take a major role in how modern sports are organized and how rules are enforced, and in how technology has enhanced the viewer experience for fans. Statistical analysis has become an integral part of how baseball teams build their lineup, and soccer tournaments use algorithms to catch cheating.
IBM’s team has worked closely with Masters organizers to develop an app that delivers live simulcast coverage, real-time analytics, and commentary on every shot of the tournament. This requires an incredible amount of coordination and preparation and near-instant coordination to provide event coverage at the moment to thousands of fans watching the event on the app.
For example, a query to the page for the 8th hole might send all video content of the player on that particular hole in a clip order the reflects the progression of play. Or, let’s say we visit a player’s profile page: the page provides related content for all content tagged with the player’s name and receives the most relevant and current highlights.
And this video provides some insights.
The Masters Tournament app is available for download on Apple and Android devices.
Notable Quote
“To understand how IBM produces the insights found in the Masters app, you have to follow the data, all the way from the rolling hills of Augusta National Golf Club to the palm of your hand,” says IBM.
