A Tradition Unlike Any Other: The AI-Inspired Masters My Group

Every shot. From every player. On every hole. That’s the pledge of “My Group”, the newest feature in the Masters app and website (with a Jimmy Roberts voiced tutorial here).

Developed by IBM, the 2020 Masters rolls out the next innovation in viewing after last year’s mostly excellent debut of every shot, every player (with just a few exceptions).

The latest twist: you can build a playlist of players and artificial intelligence will put together shots and highlights for you. They are also saying you can view (almost) live coverage of only the players you want to see.

I will be most interested to see how this “sounds” given the lack of fans on site or announcers adding big picture context to what you’re seeing. That’s also a nice way of saying you might want to have your Masters music playlist on a loop.

Here is a setup video hosted by Scott Van Pelt featuring a distinctly pharmaceutical ad vibe with actors pretending to look at screens in places no normal person would watch golf. I’m not sure they should be encouraging viewing while behind the wheel unless, of course, AI is also driving your Tesla. Then it’s okay:

Every shot. From every player. On every hole. My Group is the newest feature in @TheMasters app, using @IBM technology to bring you all of the action this year in Augusta. Download the app now and get your My Group ready: https://t.co/AWhFwOa9pI
 #IBMSports #IBMPartner pic.twitter.com/uL70Lr0DrH

— Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) November 9, 2020