Amazon Web Services Partners with DP World Tour to Enhance Golf Experience

The DP World Tour has announced a strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), designating AWS as its Official Cloud Provider. This collaboration aims to revolutionise the golfing experience by integrating advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics into various aspects of the Tour, enhancing the experience for media, spectators, and players alike.

Transforming Fan Engagement with AI Technology

With this partnership, the DP World Tour will leverage AWS’s powerful AI infrastructure to create a suite of innovative solutions. These tools will combine real-time data with historical insights, fundamentally changing how fans engage with the sport. AWS Media Services will enable the streaming of video and on-demand content, allowing fans to view fast-round compilations and other tailored content featuring their favourite players.

Nina Walsh, global leader for media, entertainment, games, and sports at AWS, highlighted the complexity involved in building an AI system that accurately understands the nuances of golf. She stated, “Imagine following a crucial shot on your mobile device and instantly understanding not just the distance, but the historical success rate, the impact of the wind, or how the player performs under pressure, all narrated in your preferred language. That’s the experience we want to deliver to every golf fan worldwide.”

The partnership will also introduce new data-driven insights and shot commentary, complete with instantaneous language translation. This approach aims to create a more immersive viewing experience for fans watching from home or engaging through social media.

Innovative Solutions for Operational Efficiency

The DP World Tour’s extensive content library will benefit from a new AI-powered media asset management (MAM) system. This system will automatically tag metadata, transforming the Tour’s large content ecosystem into an intelligent, searchable archive. This innovation will make it easier for fans to access content featuring their favourite players and significant moments in the sport.

AWS will also enhance the Tour’s “Virtual Twin” product, which creates a digital replica of each golf course, processing over one million data points per tournament. This technology merges historical data, current conditions, and predictive analytics, offering a comprehensive view of each hole. Fans will be able to experience all the action from any location on the course through mobile devices and venue screens.

For operational teams, AWS will develop a new intelligence platform designed to process and analyse vast data sources in real time. This platform will facilitate informed decision-making regarding marshal deployments, food and merchandise concessions, and crowd management. Amazon Bedrock and Amazon Quick Suite will make this business intelligence accessible, empowering the Tour to make better, data-driven decisions.

The DP World Tour is committed to realising its “Tournament-As-A-Service” vision, which aims to create intelligent golf courses that deliver a consistent, data-rich experience. This vision will advance significantly from 2026, with tournament applications and data fully integrated into AWS, enabling greater scalability and flexibility in delivering the Tournament-As-A-Service concept across more events each season.

Michael Cole, Chief Technology Officer of the DP World Tour, acknowledged the complexities of organising golf tournaments, stating, “A golf tournament is one of the most complex events to deliver in professional sport. Instead of a single stadium, we are building a smart city every week, often in remote locations.” He added that hosting tournament services on AWS would allow for a more connected and intelligent course experience globally.

In line with its sustainability efforts, the DP World Tour aims to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040. AWS will support this initiative by powering “Green Drive Live,” a new data platform to monitor and optimise energy use, emissions, waste, water, and logistics. This platform will employ machine learning to forecast and enhance future environmental performance through simulated operational scenarios. A live emissions dashboard will also be featured at venues and in the tournament app, providing real-time metrics.

Since 2024, the DP World Tour has implemented a programme to increase the number of television broadcasts produced remotely, which has reduced the carbon footprint of each tournament by approximately 87 tonnes. The partnership with AWS is expected to further enhance the scale of this remote production rollout, aligning with the Tour’s sustainability goals.

This collaboration between the DP World Tour and AWS marks a significant step towards transforming the future of golf, promising to elevate the experience for fans, players, and stakeholders alike.