A moving golf simulator, 80 miles of cables and supermarket sandwich bags: Inside Sky Sports' innovative coverage of The Open

Daily Mail​

4 days ago

The infrastructure, logistics and innovation involved in Sky Sports' coverage of the 153rd Open Championship has been simply mind boggling to behold.
Walking into Royal Portrush via the television compound speaks to that.
It's a buzz of camera operators, producers and the odd presenter running between one of the broadcasting trucks to the pick-up zone, ready to jump on the back of a golf buggy and head out onto the golf course.
This is a remarkable operation. While it happens almost every week on the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour, Sky Sports has certainly upped its game for one of the biggest golf tournaments on the planet.
One can only imagine the amount of money and time that is spent transporting trucks from around Europe, stuffed full of high-spec television equipment, to Royal Portrush.
While walking through the television compound on Wednesday, trying not to trip over one of the cables that wind their way around the golf course, I must have counted at least 20 TV trucks, broadcasting live feeds of the action all around the world.
Sky tell me that they have approximately 80 miles of cables weaving their way around the course.
Coincidentally, that is, as the crow flies, the same distance between Royal Portrush and Royal Troon in Scotland, the site where last year's Open Championship was held.
Among the trucks, you'll happen across multiple large containers, all housing green rooms, styling rooms and production studios.
In the control rooms, producers sit at huge desks, fronting a wall of television screens each feeding a different image from one of the 110 live feeds being sent in from camera operators out on the golf course.
With 156 players in the field on Thursday, there's a lot to take in. But Sky's producers cover the drama with expert precision.
'Ready camera six… Three, two, one, now,' one producer says, before quickly switching back to the 17th green where another player has sent a wedge shot out of a bunker to within three feet of the hole.
In the commentary box, presenters, including the likes of Nick Dougherty, Iona Stephen and Wayne Riley, sit around four screens arranged in a square. Here they gather to watch the broadcast and narrate the action from inside one of the giant tour trucks, which expand out sideways almost doubling in width while parked up.
While Sky is renowned for its sensational football, cricket and Formula One coverage, the broadcaster is an industry leader when it comes to golf.
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It's output is slick, smooth and seamless.
That became even more evident when the rains came down on Friday afternoon.
While the playing contingent were struggling to contend with the conditions, with patrons ducking and diving to escape the torrential rain, Sky was still there to capture all the carnage.
Its TV crews and presenters took innovative measures to protect their radio and camera equipment, with some, including Iona Stephen, resorting to covering their microphones in plastic sandwich bags which you can buy in a supermarket.
The R&A is expecting over 278,000 people to descend on this stunning seaside links track this week and the atmosphere has been truly phenomenal, with many arriving to follow Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy.
Sky Sports presenter Josh Antmann sent viewers into hysterics on Saturday as he took the role of the roving reporter, mingling with the incredible crowds that followed the Northern Irishman around the course, while trying to feed back to the compound on what was going on.
Antmann nearly lost his cameraman in the process, and at one point was seen sticking his hand up in the air, to flag where he was to the TV crew as he was engulfed in a swarm of patrons, while trying to get a good vantage point, close to McIlroy.
Even amid the chaos, he delivered the segment perfectly and highlighted how much McIlroy's homecoming meant to the people of Northern Ireland.
The heavens opened on Friday, but Sky were well prepared to continue their coverage even amid the torrid conditions
Those around the ropes on Saturday sure were treated to a stunning display by the Northern Irishman, who holed out for eagle on the 12th green, sending those in the gantry into meltdown.
'I heard that roar,' Wayne 'Radar' Riley, who was on the other side of the course, said.
'Everyone here is roaring for Rors!'
This week, Sky is deploying several new innovations in order to add a new dimension to its coverage. Its goal? Bringing people watching at home closer to the action. Sky does this using artificial intelligence, cutting-edge camera equipment and some very innovative thinking.
The Open Zone made its annual return for the tournament this week. If you're unfamiliar with it, The Open Zone is Sky's custom-built driving range, where presenters deliver a variety of segments analysing the players and the golf course.
This year, Sky has added what's known as its Platform Golf system, a movable stage situated on the driving range, which allows presenters and players to replicate any lie or any green formation that you might find on the golf course.
The platform features a 30-foot putting surface as well as a hitting mat. The putting track can be tilted and adjusted to mimic a breaking putt on the undulating 17th green, for example. The hitting mat is also adjustable, allowing players to hit the ball above or below their feet.
It is the first time that a golf broadcaster has deployed this type of technology at a major championship.
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Three-time major winner and Sky Sports Analyst, Sir Nick Faldo gave a demonstration of the new system on Wednesday during a break between segments.
He picked out a line, before addressing his ball, but just narrowly sent his putt beyond the hole.
On Thursday, I returned to The Open Zone to watch English star Marco Penge, who missed the cut this week despite finishing T2 with McIlroy at the Genesis Scottish Open.
Penge, who won the Challenge Tour Final in 2023, is notorious as one of the biggest hitters in the game right now. He took to the stage at The Open Zone with Antmann, spoke about his technique, before striping his driver over 350 yards, with a ball speed of 186mph, straight down the middle of the range.
Sky's new Sportsbox AI system is a sophisticated piece of tech that allows Sky Sports Golf's analysts to create detailed 3D avatars of players like Penge, to delve into how they hit the golf ball.
On a weekend when low ball flights are key to avoid the wind, it is interesting to see how Sky deployed the software to better understand how players are compressing the golf ball to send a low stinger down the fairway, cutting through the wind.
That is combined with the broadcaster's new AI system, SkyScope, which allows a producer to capture the motion of a professional golfer's swing. Presenters like Henni Zuel can then take a deep dive into that player's swing mechanics, giving viewers an idea of just how players like McIlroy swing the golf club.
It's a remarkable piece of tech that can be used alongside the broadcaster's SkyScope technology, an award-winning augmented reality tool that produces an avatar of a player hitting a shot in the studio. For those interested in swing mechanics, it is a brilliant way to truly understand how pro players transition their body weight through the golf ball.
Camera crews can operate Spidercam on the 18th green by pulling or releasing four wires that control the device, allowing for smooth and sweeping vision to be recorded of those completing their round on the 18th
As with every Open Championship, the R&A has set up a stadium that surrounds the green on the 18th hole. Packed full of patrons, the noise that stems from this green is hair-raising. But in order to translate the atmosphere from the green to the TV, Sky Sports has debuted its new Spidercam for the first time ever in golf.
The camera is hoisted high into the air by four pieces of scaffolding that surround the stadium. Camera crews can move the camera by pulling or releasing four wires that control the device, allowing for smooth and sweeping vision to be recorded of those completing their round on the 18th.
Speaking on the new innovation, Neil Armit, chief commercial officer at The Open, said: 'The Open stands among the world's greatest sporting occasions, an event that calls for the highest standards in live television production to ensure that millions of viewers worldwide can witness every moment, every detail of play and every chapter in the unfolding story of this historic Championship.'
Sky's new innovations certainly are bringing viewers closer to the action than ever before.