Brooks, Bryson set for ‘Match’ showdown in Vegas

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NAPA, Calif. — Brandt Snedeker birdied the final two holes for a 7-under 65 and a three-stroke lead over Phil Mickelson and two others Friday in the PGA TOUR’s season-opening Safeway Open. Playing alongside Hall of Famer Fred Couples, Snedeker had eight birdies and a bogey on the North Course at Silverado Resort and Spa. The leader won the Wyndham Championship in August, opening with a 59 en route to his ninth PGA TOUR title. “I played really solid golf all the way around,” Snedeker said. “I only played two bad shots all day. My speed has been great for two days. These green can get away from you if you’re not paying attention.” Snedeker had a 12-under 132 total. Mickelson followed his opening 65 with a 69 to join Michael Thompson (65) and Ryan Moore (67) at 10 under. “I’m cautiously optimistic,” Mickelson said. “It’s certainly turning from pessimistic because I didn’t think that I was going to be here on the weekend and the next thing you know I’m up on top of the leaderboard.” A week after going 0-2 in United States’ Ryder Cup loss to Europe in France, the 48-year-old Mickelson bogeyed three of his first eight holes, and rallied with four birdies on his second nine. “I shot 4 under to kind of salvage the round,” Mickelson. “I’m surprised. I’m hitting a lot of good shots. I didn’t expect that. What I am doing well is putting, like I can putt.” Moore won the last of his five PGA TOUR titles in 2016. “I feel like the seasons I’ve played really well I’ve kind of come out with a good start here,” Moore said. “I need a good start. I need something to kind of solidify my schedule for next year or else you’re just kind of floating around in between.” Thompson’s lone PGA TOUR victory came in the 2013 Honda Classic. First-round leader Sepp Straka followed his opening 63 with a 72 to drop into a tie for fifth at 9 under with Kevin Tway (67) and Sungjae Im (69). “I really didn’t hit the ball very well today,” Straka said. “Yesterday I wasn’t flawless. I kept the ball in the right spots. I didn’t do that today. I short-sided myself a lot.” Ricky Barnes matched the course record with a 61 to get to 8 under. The 49-year-old Couples matched Snedeker with a 65 to reach 7 under. Playing on a sponsor exemption, he plans to make the tournament his last PGA TOUR event other than the Masters. Mark Mulder, the former major league pitcher playing in his first PGA TOUR event, missed the cut with round of 75 and 74.  

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – The PGA TOUR and TrackMan announced today they are expanding golf’s most advanced club and ball tracking and tracing solution. By combining TrackMan’s cutting-edge Doppler Radar and club and ball tracking technology, TOUR events will have tracing capabilities for every golf shot hit during the season. This will significantly enhance how fans experience the world’s best golfers by providing more detail for television, OTT and digital platforms. This agreement will double previous ball-in-motion tracing capabilities on the golf course, allowing nearly every shot to be traced and automatically shared with television and OTT partners and across TOUR digital platforms such as PGATOUR.COM and the PGA TOUR app. The arrangement with TrackMan begins in 2022 for PGA TOUR LIVE and TOUR digital platforms, while the domestic television partner agreement begins in 2023. This expansion will immediately offer fan enhancements such as the visualization of ball flight paths for shots inbound to the green in TOURCast. “We’re excited to increase the volume and depth of tracking and tracing for every shot on the PGA TOUR,” said Ken Lovell, PGA TOUR Senior Vice President Golf Technologies. “TrackMan’s sensors will substantially increase content available for analysis and initiate the development of new insights, while creating the opportunity for us to develop innovative visualizations for fans to view all the incredible shots on TOUR.” Fans will see more information beginning in 2022 on how and why the ball moves and arrives at a certain position. This is achieved by using TrackMan technology to capture club speed, ball speed, curve, landing spin, launch angle, spin rate, spin axis, apex, carry and more. The advanced aerodynamic models can also determine the effects of wind, weather, and altitude on a shot so that fans can understand how a shot was impacted by environmental factors. In addition to doubling the collection of radar and tracing information, the new system will substantially increase the range and sensitivity of the content that will now be layered with video for use on any TOUR media platform. Klaus Eldrup-Jorgensen, co-founder and CEO of TrackMan, commented “We have been working closely with the PGA TOUR for more than 15 years, to accurately measure and report data on club delivery, ball launch, ball flight, and tracers for the best players in the world. We are proud to be chosen to implement our new solutions with the PGA TOUR, which will ultimately include all shots for all players. The future of golf will be told in new and innovative ways, the fan experience will elevate to a new level, and the stories about how good these guys play is just beginning.” The club and ball tracking and tracing solution has become a valuable element to “ShotLink powered by CDW,” the TOUR’s real-time data collection and scoring system. As the TOUR and CDW continue to innovate the acclaimed scoring system that has benefited tournaments, broadcast partners, players and fans in countless ways over the years, the TrackMan system contributes to the automated data collection efforts by allowing ShotLink to auto-trigger on shots without input from a person. The new technology being deployed expands tracking capabilities from tee boxes only to shots hit from the fairway and around the green, where the system determines the exact 3D position of the ball at any point in its flight. The TrackMan technology has the ability to lock onto a ball that starts behind the trees and only becomes visible to the radar halfway through its flight. It’s able to accurately track balls up to 400 yards in any conditions; rain, fog, sunrise, and sunset. For a typical TOUR event, around 40 units are placed around the course to track shots with advanced radar and camera units on tee boxes and greens to capture final resting position. TrackMan also recently developed a mobile system that will be used for the capture of radar and tracing information from the fairway and will automatically integrate into TOUR media platforms, which is aided by AWS, the TOUR’s Official Cloud Provider. There are no cables or connections with the mobile system, which adds very little weight for the operator. The TOUR is testing the mobile system for expanded future use on PGA TOUR Champions, the Korn Ferry Tour and in other executions. The club and ball tracking and tracing system will utilize AWS Fargate, Media Services, and numerous other AWS products to process and deliver radar and tracing on every shot in nearly real-time. The full suite of AWS products will allow TrackMan to reduce their onsite footprint and allow fast and easy access to the devices and information from anywhere around the world.

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