Nick Saban surprises Justin Thomas at THE PLAYERS media day

In a newly announced partnership that promises to revolutionize how fans consume the game, the PGA TOUR has partnered with AWS as it looks to modernize the way golf content is created and distributed. The AWS partnership comes at the perfect time as the TOUR grows its global media services. A range of AWS services will be utilized in this new media landscape to simplify content delivery, create new digital experiences, and provide enhanced access to archived broadcast footage and highlights. "We are excited to utilize AWS media services to further enhance new and existing innovative services for our fans," said Scott Gutterman, the PGA TOUR's Senior Vice President, Digital Operations. "Features like Every Shot Live and TOURCast will now be powered by AWS, which will allow for a more streamlined process and overall better product for our fans." There's more. As the Official Cloud Provider of the PGA TOUR, this partnership will make it easier to tag and log historic PGA TOUR media assets. Nearly 100 years of content will now be easily accessible to help the TOUR and its media partners enhance its broadcast and digital content quickly and efficiently from around the globe. AWS will help the TOUR store real-time and historic content that will give fans and media access to content dating back to the 1928 Los Angeles Open. This "data lake" will contain video, audio and images that AWS technology will tag for easy cataloging. This will help the TOUR and its content partners search, review, annotate and package new content and give them instant access to key moments in the TOUR's history. "Our hope is to one day give fans access to all of this content to provide them with a deeper and richer enjoyment of our sport," Gutterman said. To round out the partnership, AWS will become a Trustee of First Tee, a youth development organization supported by the TOUR that reaches more than 3.7 million youth across the United States and select international locations each year, helping them build their strength of character through the game of golf. "Growing and diversifying our fan base is a top priority for us," said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan, "and thanks to the collaboration and innovation from AWS, people will have more ways than ever to experience the game of golf, while personalizing our content to engage with the tournaments and players they support." This is just the start of a new era for the PGA TOUR, its fans, and communities worldwide.

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LA QUINTA, Calif. — Austin Cook played a six-hole stretch in 6 under and shot an 8-under 64 in breezy conditions Saturday to take the lead at the CareerBuilder Challenge. Cook began the run at La Quinta Country Club with birdies on Nos. 4-5, eagled the sixth and added birdies on No. 7 and 9 to make the turn in 6-under 30. After a bogey on the 10th, he birdied Nos. 11, 12 and 15 and saved par on the 18th with a 20-footer to take a 19-under 197 total into the final round on PGA West’s Stadium Course. He won at The RSM Classic in Sea Island in November for his first PGA TOUR title. Fellow former Arkansas player Andrew Landry and Martin Piller were a stroke back, and Jon Rahm and Scott Piercy were 17 under.

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Matt Fitzpatrick’s fast start helped him move out in front in the Race to Dubai standings as Rory McIlroy looks to make ground in the first round of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship. Fitzpatrick birdied his first five holes and finished with a bogey-free 7-under 65 on Thursday for his lowest round on the Earth Course, where he is a two-time winner. The U.S. Open champion was tied for the lead with Tyrrell Hatton, who went on a run of four straight birdies from the 13th hole but finished with his lone bogey on the par-5 18th. McIlroy leads the Race to Dubai standings as he bids to be the DP World Tour’s leading player for the fourth time in his career, but needed a birdie on the 18th just to get under par with a 71 that tied him for 22nd. Ryan Fox, who is second in the points table to McIlroy, managed only a 73 to sit tied for 33rd. Fitzpatrick would clinch a first Race to Dubai title with a third win at the DP World Tour Championship, provided McIlroy or Fox don’t finish the event in second. Even a second-place finish would be good enough for Fitzpatrick as long as McIlroy doesn’t finish lower than seventh. Fitzpatrick said he was playing with “a real sore throat” but was laughing with his caddie after his early run of birdies. “It was a nice start to the day,” the Englishman said. “The biggest thing I’m so pleased about is just hitting 17 greens. And the one I missed I was a complete idiot.” McIlroy birdied four of his first eight holes but couldn’t get anything going on the back nine and gave away a cheap shot when he three-putted for his fourth bogey on the 16th. “Certainly not what I had hoped for,” McIlroy said. “Just started to drive the ball a bit crooked on the back nine… It was nice to birdie the last just to shoot under par. But obviously I’ve had three weeks off since THE CJ CUP, so just sort of trying to knock the rust off a little bit.” The top-ranked McIlroy is trying to win the FedExCup and Race to Dubai in the same year for the first time, having won each event on three occasions. His last Race to Dubai title came in 2015, having also won it in 2012 and 2014. Four other players — Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry and Adrian Meronk — also have an outside chance of overhauling McIlroy in the standings. Of those, Fleetwood had the best opening round with a 68. Hatton looked set to take the sole lead after capping his late run of birdies with a 64-foot downhill putt on the 16th. “It was hit and hope,” Hatton said of that shot. “Obviously holing a putt from that distance down a tier like that, you need a lot of luck. There was a few times today where I did get lucky, and that was obviously a nice break.”

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