How do you capture every moment of a golf tournament spanning hundreds of acres, tens of thousands of shots and dozens of players competing simultaneously? That question is at the heart of this conversation recorded at AWS re:Invent, where I spoke with Eric Hansen, VP of Product at the PGA Tour, and Elaine Chiasson, who leads the global golf team at AWS, to explain how data and AI are reshaping the way fans experience the game.
Eric explains why modern professional golf has more in common with Formula 1 than most people realise. Every ball hit, every position on the scoreboard and every shift in momentum generates data that must be processed immediately. With more than thirty thousand recordings spread across a single tournament and only a fraction of that shown on traditional broadcasts, the PGA Tour faces a constant challenge. How do you give fans context, insight and a sense of presence when most of the action is never seen on screen?
Elaine talks about how AWS helped the Tour lay the foundation to answer that question. From migrating decades of video and recording data to the cloud to applying generative AI for automated commentary, language translation and real-time insights, this collaboration goes far beyond infrastructure. Together they experiment with automated camera changes, AI-driven production workflows and personalized fan experiences that surface the right information at the right time, whether you’re following the leaderboard or a single favorite player.
The conversation is also about trust and accuracy. Eric shows how the PGA Tour validates AI-generated commentary to ensure it remains aligned with the sport’s standards, while Elaine highlights why operational discipline and governance are just as important as innovation. They explore what hyper-personalization looks like in the PGA Tour app, how global broadcasting might evolve, and why the long-term opportunity lies in making every shot for every fan.
As live sports moves toward a future shaped by data, automation and AI agents working behind the scenes, this episode provides a clear look at what that transformation really means. So as golf continues to blend tradition with technology, what kind of fan experience do you want to see next, and how comfortable are you with AI in charge?
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