Digital Sport’s Weekly Wash-up 08/04/2016 – Masters Edition

April 8, 2016 Adrien Danjou

To celebrate one of the biggest golf events of the season, here’s a very special Masters Edition of our weekly wash-up.

Bubba Waston launches his own emojis

Just in time for the start of the Masters on Thursday, world number 7 golfer Bubba Waston unveiled his own range of emojies, named “Bubbamoji”.

Hundreds of exclusive and unique emojis, stickers, audio visuals and gifs using the American player-inspired expressions can be bought on iTunes.

With this creative activation, Waston and creators wanted to offer fans the chance to express their emotions in a fun way, encouraging people to really get involved with the tournament, as well as support Bubba Watson.

Everything you've all been waiting for… Bubbamojis!!! #bubbamoji #urwelcome https://t.co/EkOs9mg06i pic.twitter.com/e9NkFRvtCo

— bubba watson (@bubbawatson) April 5, 2016

IBM goes ‘Masters crazy’

To celebrate the 20th year of being the Official Technology Partner of the Masters, IBM has launched several tech innovations to allow fans to follow the tournament in unique ways.

Firstly, IBM is live-streaming the Masters in 4K, making it the first sporting event to do so. Masters’ Amen Corner, the most celebrated stretch of holes in golf, will be live streamed in 4K to bring fans closer than ever to the beauty of the tournament. The live 4K feed can be viewed in two ways: DirecTV Satellite TV or Internet-connected 4K Smart TV.

Then, IBM is allowing fans to follow the action via a dedicated app for the Apple Watch and Android Wear. Thanks to real-time data, IBM is allowing the app users (this app is also available for smartphones) to track the position of a player’s ball.

Their third and final innovation is in partnership with legend Tom Watson who is playing his final Masters. IBM’s cognitive technology platform, IBM Watson, will analyse Tom Watson’s performance in order to show golf fans how the company’s technology can be used to garner deep insights from the performance delivering relevant information about the golf course.

Masters in VR with NextVR

As part of the tournament, California-based Virtual Reality company NextVR is providing a new experience for golf fans, broadcasting live action on hole 6 and 16.

The company’s VR cameras are positioned on the tee-boxes and greens and will really work to give viewers a front-row seat. Content from NextVR is available on the company’s app for Samsung Gear VR on the Oculus Home app store.