Amazon Web Services (AWS) is swinging its machine-learning and analytics services into action to bring golf fans closer to the course and transform how they experience golf tournaments.

PGA Tour has selected AWS as its official cloud provider to transform the way golf content is created, distributed and experienced, bringing fans closer to the action on the course while also helping the PGA streamline its media operations.

With this agreement, AWS becomes the official cloud provider, artificial intelligence cloud provider, deep learning cloud provider and machine-learning cloud provider of the tour.

The tour will use AWS machine learning, storage, compute, analytics, database and media services to process and distribute video footage from each golf tournament, while giving fans new ways to engage with content. The PGA captures hundreds of hours of raw footage at each tournament and will leverage AWS to transform this content into digital experiences that provide fans with a more complete and personalised experience across competitions.

For instance, Every Shot Live, a streaming platform powered by AWS, will give viewers live access to every shot from every player in a tournament. During a tournament, fans will have access to more than 32,000 shots from a starting field of 144 golfers. The fans can choose to follow any player in real time and experience each shot via streaming content.

In addition, AWS will power TourCast, an evolution of the leaderboard that will give fans video game-like control of the golf viewing experience, allowing them to change their viewing perspective with alternative camera angles, navigate around the course, view speed rounds, and display player and shot stats on demand.

The PGA will also use AWS media services to make it faster to deliver video content for televised event coverage and streaming for online viewers. To accomplish this, the PGA will use AWS to process and distribute content simultaneously, formatting it for reliable viewing over various delivery platforms and devices, including smartphones and tablets. This will make tournament footage available globally to authenticated broadcasters, content subscribers from AWS, and other sources.

In addition, the PGA will build a data lake for real-time and historic multimedia content on Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3). It will migrate nearly 100 years of media content to AWS – including video, audio and images dating back to the 1928 Los Angeles Open – and stream live footage from future tournaments into the data lake. It will then use the Amazon Rekognition deep learning service that makes it easy to add image and video analysis to applications to tag content automatically with specific metadata such as player names and sponsor logos.

This will help its content partners search, review, annotate and package new content, as well as give them instant access to key moments from throughout the tour’s history to aid commentary and add depth to event coverage. Fans, too, will benefit from enhanced access to years of this tagged and archived golf footage and highlights through the tour’s web and mobile apps.

“This transformational partnership with AWS will give our fans the opportunity to experience the PGA Tour like never before,” said PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. “Growing and diversifying our fan base is a top priority for us and, thanks to the collaboration and innovation from AWS, we are creating more ways to experience the game of golf, while personalising our content to enable fans to engage with the tournaments and players they support.”

To round out the partnership, AWS will become a Trustee of First Tee, a youth development organisation supported by the PGA that reaches more than 3.7 million young people across the USA and select international locations each year, helping them build their strength of character through the game of golf.

As part of the support for First Tee, AWS will assist the organisation in developing an online community for coaches, parents and participants where they can access the First Tee curriculum and resources and connect with peers in the programme.

“The world’s top sports organisations – for instance, the NFL, NHL, Formula One, Nascar, Bundesliga and now the PGA Tour – continue to turn to AWS to help them innovate for their fans and players at an unprecedented rate,” said Andy Jassy, CEO of AWS. “The partnership and experience we create with the PGA Tour will be unique. Unlike other sports, there’s more than one ball in play on a golf course, which makes it harder for fans to follow how every player is performing. Our collaboration with the tour will change the way that fans will be able to connect with the sport by giving them real-time access to virtually every moment on the course and letting them determine how they experience the game.”