SMT/IDS Drives Open Championship’s Scoring, Display Systems, and On-Site Services

SMT/IDS continues its partnership with the R&A and the Open Championship this week by providing a host of video presentation services unique to golf’s oldest major. SMT/IDS – a provider of data integration, graphics presentation, scoring solutions and on-site services to live sports and entertainment television – has supported the Open Championship since 2010.

For the 2014 Open Championship, SMT/IDS is providing the official scoring system, intranet services, web feeds, LED display production and video editing production. SMT/IDS is providing on-site support with a team of 11 technicians and administrators.

New SMT/IDS services this year include 17 on-course LED video boards on holes one through 17 that each display content that is unique to each hole. The LED presentation includes leaderboards, player statistics and locators, as well as a produced video highlights. These highlights are also distributed to the on-site Championship Information Systems intranet (CIS), TheOpen.com and The Open mobile applications.

Additional enhancements for 2014 include an encoded live television broadcast feed integrated onto the onsite CIS intranet and onsite collection of player photographs/head shots for use within various systems.

“We are pleased to expand our services to the Open Championship,” says Ryan McDonald, SMT/IDS project manager. “Last year, we demonstrated four LED displays on four holes at the Open at Muirfield, and are excited to offer a total of 17 on-course displays this year that feature content customized for the Championship. As our partnership continues to flourish, we expect to further enrich the fan experience with our innovative technologies.”

When: July 13-20, 2014
Where: Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England