Georgia’s largest sports event is getting an AI upgrade.
As The Masters Tournament gets underway at Augusta National this week, IBM is rolling out new fan features on the official Masters app and Masters.com. Fans tuning in from home will now have more in-depth analysis options and a more robust digital experience to bring them closer to their favorite players.
What can golf enthusiasts expect? The app gives users shot-by-shot insights, curated projections, and more historical insights around the green. Notably, the app will debut an AI-enabled Spanish language narration feature, broadening its accessibility and enabling a wider audience to follow their favorite players throughout the tournament. “Hole Insights” is the first time fans are able to receive insights based on live Tournament play directly on the Masters website, according to a press release from IBM.
AI For Georgia’s Biggest Tournament
The brain behind the new features is the IBM Consulting Sports & Entertainment group. Most of the team lives in Atlanta, IBM Partner Monica Ellingson told Hypepotamus.
Underpinning the golf analysis is generative AI models developed on IBM watsonx. The technology allows people to build, train, and deploy custom AI applications. It also helps manage all the data sources needed to keep their workflows running smoothly. IBM and the Augusta National Golf Club worked together to co-create golf-specific features on watsonx that brings the tournament to life for those who couldn’t secure a much-coveted ticket to the professional golf championship that takes place each spring in Georgia.
The technology giant has worked with the Masters to roll out digital experiences for more than 25 years. The relationship started with IBM launching masters.com back in 1996. Over the last several years, the team has rolled out important features like hole-by-hole player predictions and MyGroup, which enables the audience to watch every shot, on every hole, from all their favorite players.
Advances in generative AI has allowed the Masters and IBM to bring more “enhanced personalization” to golf fans around the globe, Ellingson said.
“By leveraging the latest in generative AI technologies from IBM’s AI and data platform, watsonx, fans can watch every shot of their favorite players and listen to AI-generated narration in multiple languages. With Hole Insights, fans can learn more than ever before about the infamous Masters golf course. Using current Tournament and historical data as input to large language models, IBM can generate Hole Insights on projected performance for every shot location,” Ellingson added.
The IBM Consulting Sports & Entertainment team’s work at the intersection of golf and AI has earned international recognition recently. In 2023, the team took home an Emmy for its advancements in curating sports highlights through AI and ML (machine learning).
