vStream & The European Tour nominated for ‘Best Innovation of the Year’

The European Tour Shot Clock has been nominated for ‘Best Innovation of the Year’ in the Yahoo Sports Technology Awards. The event, which has been dubbed ‘The Oscars of Sports Technology’ will take place in London on May 2nd.

The awards will take place on May 2nd in London

The nominees for the Best Innovation of the Year 2019:

(This celebrates the best technological innovation in sports created over the past 18 months)

  • BT Sport and EE deliver 5G
  • European Tour for Shot Clock Masters
  • Hawk-Eye Inspection System for NASCAR
  • Hawk-Eye Live Ball Tracking in Tennis
  • SciSports for Insight Global Football Recruitment Platform
  • Vald Performance for the GroinBar Hip Strength Testing System

What is the Shot Clock Masters?

The first Shot Clock Masters took place in June 2018 at the Diamond Country Club in Atzenbrugg. This event was like no other and was be the first time that a shot clock has been used for an entire golf competition. In an effort to speed up the game and add an exciting twist to the competitions, players will be given a time limit for each shot they take.

The speed of the game, or “pace of play” as it is known, has been a major topic of discussion among players, spectators and tournament organisers in recent years – especially when players spend too much time lining up shots. The European Tour set itself a goal for the future, to make the game of golf faster with the intention of making it more attractive and interesting for fans.

Shot Clock Masters 2018

How does it work?

Players who do not take their shot within the allocated time will be given a one-shot penalty. The first player to tee off is given 50 seconds to get their shot off once the countdown begins, with the subsequent players being given 40 seconds each on the clock. Each player is allowed to extend the time on the clock by an additional 40 seconds a maximum of twice per round. These time-extensions are there as a safeguard in case a player has a particularly difficult shot to make.

Each player is accompanied by a referee on a buggy, on which a visible digital clock and a scoreboard are set up. The referee uses a tablet to operate the stopwatch and the screen. The shot clock is also synchronised to the broadcasting studio, for live television display across Sky Sports and the Golf Channel. All of this for up to 20 buggies, 24 groups across 18 holes and timing 8640 shots a day.

vStream Co-Founder, Andrew Jenkinson, had this to say about the success of the shot clock: “Working with the European Tour on this initiative has been an incredible experience. The team, led by CTO Michael Cole, have a new mandate to innovate in one of the most traditional sports there is, whilst keeping the strong heritage intact. The Shot Clock Masters is the perfect blend of innovation and technology facilitating a more engaging spectacle for spectators and TV audiences, whilst also improving the experience for the players on the course. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, with one group setting a tour record of a sub-4 hour round on day one.”

Michael Cole, CTO for The European Tour, spoke of the challenge involved in implementing the clock: “Delivering the Shot Clock is possibly one of the most challenging technical projects ever delivered directly into the field-of-play for a major televised sports event.Cole went on to praise the results that the clock had on the pace of play as well as the players’ performances during the event: “The Shot Clock Masters appears to be a huge success – quickening pace of play by 30 minutes and yet also reducing the average score by one shot, whilst providing a great engaging spectator feature.”

Andres Pitt (vStream CTO), Paul Dunne (Team Ireland), Andrew Jenkinson (vStream Co-Founder), Gavin Moynihan (Team Ireland)

vStream Digital Media

vStream is headquartered in Dublin, with offices in London and New York. Specialising in storytelling through creativity, innovation and technology, vStream works with clients in Sports (F1, The Premier League, The European Tour, The NBA and International Rugby), Retail (Westfield, Selfridges, Brown Thomas, Value Retail), Automotive (Audi, BMW, MINI, McLaren, Mercedes, VW Group), Visitor Attraction (The Old Jameson Distillery, The 49ers Museum) Pharmaceutical (Pfizer, Roche) and Construction and Development (Ballymore).

For more information contact info@vstream.ie or visit: www.vstream.ie