Turner Sports To Offer Bevy of Tech for ‘The Match: Tiger vs. Phil’ Coverage

Turner Sports pulled back the curtain on its production-technology plans for coverage of Capital One’s The Match: Tiger vs. Phil – the winner-take-all, $9 million PPV match featuring Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas on Friday, Nov. 23. The production will incorporate a number of innovative technologies into the live golf presentation, including first-of-its-kind integrations centered on predictive data. Turner will also deploy mics both players and caddies, drones for course coverage, Toptracer shot tracking, Virtual Eye real-time golf animations, and more.

The broadcast will include real-time, hole-by-hole statistics that will be displayed on screen to forecast the probability of certain outcomes during the match.  The data is based on a model and algorithm that combines ShotLink Intelligence with characteristics of Shadow Creek to calculate the likelihood of various scenarios to occur. Separately, after a hole has concluded, the broadcast will integrate a proprietary data stream provided by the MGM Resorts Race & Sports Books – in association with the MGM/GVC Interactive Gaming Joint Venture – to deliver odds, moneyline and other information associated with the golfers’ performance.

Both Woods and Mickelson will selectively make side challenges against one another during the live competition.  For instance, Woods or Mickelson could raise the stakes by challenging the other to get closest-to-the-pin; whether one of them can make a crucial putt from 10-feet away; the chances of getting “up-and-down” from a certain location on the course or similar competition during a hole as they play their match, with money being donated to the winning golfer’s charity of choice.

Live PPV coverage will also integrate enhancements that will provide fans with inside access to Woods, Mickelson and Shadow Creek including.

Woods and Mickelson, along with their caddies, mic’d throughout the entire event, to capture the strategy and competitive banter that takes place during the winner-take-all $9 million match play competition.

Turner will also deploy drones throughout its coverage – branded “Drone View by AT&T” – to deliver camera angles “that have never been seen before for a live golf event,” according to Turner’s announcement.

Data elements from Toptracer will display real-time trajectories and flight path for each shot, while Virtual Eye real-time golf animations will also factor in.

A variety of super slo-mo cameras will also provide more defined coverage of specialty shots on the course.

The match will also be broadcast in 4K HDR on DIRECTV channel 106 for $29.99.

The match will take place Friday, Nov. 23, at 3 p.m. ET with a suggested retail price of $19.99. The match will be available on PPV through Turner’s B/R Live (available now for purchase), AT&T’s DIRECTV and AT&T U-verse. The PPV event will be distributed to other cable, satellite and telco operators including Comcast, Charter, Cox, Verizon and Altice in the U.S. and Rogers, Shaw and Bellin Canada through In Demand and Vubiquity (an Amdocs Company).   Turner International will facilitate the distribution of live PPV access outside the U.S. and Canada.

In addition to live pay-per-view event coverage, accompanying content will be distributed across wide-ranging Turner, WarnerMedia and AT&T platforms including HBO Sports (24/7 reality franchise will capture all the excitement leading up to the match when it airs Tuesday, Nov. 13, at 10 p.m.), Bleacher Report and House of Highlights, and TNT (select content from the event a week following the live competition).

The media rights agreement with Turner was completed in partnership between CAA Sports, Excel Sports Management and Lagardère Sports. Excel and Lagardère Sports, who represent Woods and Mickelson respectively, are also the event organizers for The Match.