Wicket comes away big winner as Golfweek's Tech Lab makes 'major' move to Charlotte
Wicket comes away big winner as Golfweek's Tech Lab makes 'major' move to Charlotte
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Wicket wins Golfweek Tech Lab grand prize
Wicket's facial authentication platform took home the $25K prize at Golfweek Tech Lab, presented by T-Mobile for Business.
The 2nd annual Golfweek Tech Lab, presented by T-Mobile for Business, was held in Charlotte.
18 startups competed for awards in five categories, plus a grand prize.
Wicket, a facial recognition ticketing system, won the grand prize.
Other category winners included VRTL, Platform Golf, and Play Anywhere.
If the first Golfweek Tech Lab, held in 2024 at the PGA of America's new Frisco headquarters, proved the perfect starting point for a new festival focused on golf innovation, this year's gathering in Charlotte — just days before the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow — cemented the event as a major player in the yearly golf calendar.
With 18 startups on site, the second annual event, again presented by T-Mobile for Business and produced by Golfweek and underdog venture team, included a session with Scott Gutterman, the PGA Tour's SVP/digital and broadcast technologies.
'If you look back across the history of the sport, the sport has always evolved, the sport has always changed,' Gutterman said. "We will always uphold the tradition of the game, but we want to be looking forward. We want to be looking forward to what does golf mean to new and developing demographics.'
That sentiment was echoed by others at the conference, one that saw a guest panel of judges, including venture capitalists and business leaders from the world of golf. That group selected the winners of a best-in-show competition with participating companies hoping to earn recognition across five categories, as well as a grand prize. The judges evaluated each startup based on set criteria, including video submissions, onsite demonstration, and presentation to judges.
The winners were announced by T-Mobile's SVP of Systems Realization Grant Castle.
The grand prize winner was Wicket, which uses facial recognition to scan people into sporting events by linking them with their tickets. According to its mission statement, Wicket features a "biometrics platform that enhances the experience for fans, guests, and employees while providing a smooth, seamless experience for clients and teams, allowing them to leverage existing assets effectively."
The company is based in Massachusetts.
The category winners were:
Fan Engagement: VRTL
Athlete Performance: Platform Golf
Digital & Media: Play Anywhere
Business Solutions: Wicket
5G: Wicket
According to Nate Scott, the vice president and general manager of sports and events for Gannett, Golfweek's Tech Lab was an unmitigated success.
"I'm delighted with our second year of Tech Lab. I'm a geek for this stuff, and seeing how entrepreneurs are imagining the future of the sport is always super exciting to see," Scott said. "Golf has had a reputation for being set in its ways, yet I think there's as much experimentation and innovation happening in the sport as any other."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
11 hours ago
- Forbes
PGA Tour Announces Changes To Tour Championship Format
In an attempt to approve its much maligned season ending tournament, the PGA Tour announced this week that its controversial starting strokes format to the Tour Championship is no more. Beginning this August, at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, the Tour Championship will switch to a 30 player field, with all golfers starting at even par, eliminating the starting strokes format that has been in place since 2019. The championship will now be a 72-hole event and the winner will take home the FedEx Cup, prize money (to be determined), and a five year PGA Tour exemption. ATLANTA, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 01: Scottie Scheffler holds the FedEx Cup trophy during the final round ... More of TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club on September 1, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images) For years the PGA Tour has been looking for ways to make the Tour Championship more interesting and appealing to golf fans. In a statement released this week, commissioner Jay Monahan stated, 'our Fan Forward Initiative has helped us evaluate each part of the PGA Tour season and today's announcement is a first step in the evolution of our postseason.' During the Memorial Tournament, the PGA Tour's player advisory board met and approved the changes to the season ending event. Monahan went on to state, 'the Player Advisory Council led a thorough process to respond to what our fans are asking for: The most competitive golf in the world, played for the highest stakes, in the most straightforward and engaging format.' In response to data indicating that fans want to see scores closer to par, the PGA Tour Rules Committee will 'adjust its course setup approach to encourage more risk/reward moments throughout each round, further heightening the drama and competition to determine the FedEx Cup champion.' World number one player, and Player Advisory Council member Scottie Scheffler recently declared, "we want the Tour Championship to be the hardest tournament to qualify for and the FedEx Cup trophy to be the most difficult to win. Xander Schauffele backed up Scheffler's stance saying, 'I think it being sort of the hardest tournament to qualify for, just being 30 guys and 30 guys after a year-long race, I think it kind of fit to not make it 30-under winning.' He went on to say, 'I think it makes sense to make it difficult. So with that being said, I mean, pin locations, grow the rough, make the fairways smaller. I mean, to start you just make fairways small and grow rough, make greens firm and fast. It's going to be pretty difficult.' 'As the PGA Tour continues to evolve and respond to feedback from fans and players, additional enhancements to the Tour Championship are being evaluated and will be announced in the coming months,' the PGA Tour's news release stated. This has fueled speculation that the Tour Championship could be moved from East Lake Golf Club to other venues or the format could be tweaked to a possible match-play bracket style tournament in the future. For now, the match-play style bracket format possibility has fallen apart based on player feedback. 'It's just not what the players wanted to do,' Kevin Kisner, a member of the Player's Advisory Council said. 'Seventy-two-hole stroke play on an iconic golf course is what all the best tournaments play.'
USA Today
15 hours ago
- USA Today
Lynch: Prepare for posturing on anniversary of Framework Agreement that already achieved its goal
Lynch: Prepare for posturing on anniversary of Framework Agreement that already achieved its goal Friday marks two years since the announcement of the Framework Agreement between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, and all one can say about the passage of time is that it has proven the truth of John Irving's elegiac observation about how 'the people who once mattered the most to us wind up in parentheses.' The two men who conceived the accord (Ed Herlihy and Jimmy Dunne) have thrown their last fists in this scuffle, having exited the Tour's Policy Board. One of its three signatories (Keith Pelley) has departed the DP World Tour, while another (Jay Monahan) has had his authority as Tour commissioner hog-tied by players and investors. Only the PIF governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, remains as he was on June 6, 2023, right down to the libertine spending for chaste returns. The Framework Agreement predicted a definitive deal between the parties by the end of '23, but those privy to the process say none is imminent, Al-Rumayyan having been radio silent for three months. Which means apologists and propagandists will maintain their industrious output of the past 720-odd days, mitigating or touting every twist in the narrative. This promises to be a week in which both the Tour and PIF (by way of its LIV proxies) insist that the clock ticking over into a third year is much worse for the other side. In truth, it's not good for either. A year ago, even loyalists were tempted to short the Tour's stock. LIV was still spending and had poached Jon Rahm; broadcast ratings were sinking; sponsors were antsy at best, and leaving in some cases; tournaments were unhappily adjusting to a scheduling caste system and weakened fields; the investors of Strategic Sports Group were demanding efficiencies in a corporate structure unaccustomed to accountability; players were complaining because, well, because there was oxygen available. The organization appeared highly incentivized to reach a deal with the Saudis. Today, the Tour has regained some swagger. LIV's biggest signing since Rahm was a YouTube influencer; TV ratings have improved; multiple sponsors have re-upped; tournaments have mostly stabilized, though there remain too many events with fields so diluted that one almost expects Brandel Chamblee to get a start; the GloHo survived its (first) round of budget cuts; players are still … It's an organization with little incentive to cut a deal, other than wanting cash and the return of a handful of players, most of whom will be free agents anyway by the time a new structure would be implemented. What the PGA Tour lacks — other than fan-friendly information transparency on everything from equipment testing to drug testing to disciplinary matters — is clarity on its future. Which is breeding a damaging perception that its product is incomplete, that it is searching for a missing puzzle piece it doesn't actually need. That clarity won't come until the Tour's board delivers a definitive 'No sir!' to Yasir. And LIV? It isn't judged by the same commercial standards as its rival. Television ratings are negligible, but no one cares; sponsors are scarce, but everyone gets a discount at Freddy's Frozen Custard; budgets are for actual businesses, not hostage-taking enterprises; player dissent is contractually forbidden, so they applaud themselves with the forced enthusiasm of the North Korean politburo when Comrade Un is scanning the room. As June 6 nears, LIV will need its online incels to manufacture a sentiment that it must still be taken seriously, despite all evidence to the contrary. Scott O'Neil will soon reach six months as LIV's CEO and will be keen to show that his shop is open for business, ready for a fresh round of recruiting and commercially stable (an audacious claim when your regulatory filings show that you've flushed north of $5 billion, but the Great White Pilot Fish can carry the can for that). Perhaps new partnerships will materialize — maybe a broadening of the deal that put Salesforce logos on some LIV players at the PGA Championship, or a financial institution eager to expand its interests in the Kingdom, or a company that counts PIF as a valued investor. Marriages of convenience that — like LIV's broadcast arrangement with Fox Sports — are less a vote of confidence in the product than a means to pursuing some greater prize. While the key parties posture around June 6, there'll be earnest hand-wringing in some quarters about the urgency to deliver on the Framework Agreement, which ignores the fact that its promise has already been realized. That accord was only ever intended to end the expensive and reputationally hazardous litigation. It succeeded in that. The two years since have merely been a squabble over who gets to write the epilogue.
CNET
19 hours ago
- CNET
My Week With AT&T Internet Air Left Me Bummed
With all the talk of a possible recession, tariff uncertainty, the high price of eggs and market fluctuations, it can be challenging to part with your money. Once you decide to spend a bit, you want that purchase to be worth it. If it isn't, falling short of what you hoped for can be especially frustrating. When it comes to home internet, I often say that the best broadband connection is one you never notice. With steady buffering and long load times, AT&T's 5G internet offering, AT&T Internet Air, never let me forget that I was using it. Seemingly overnight, we've seen a rise in 5G home internet popularity. One report found that 89% of new broadband subscriptions in the past two years came from just two 5G providers: T-Mobile and Verizon. So when AT&T launched AT&T Internet Air late in 2023, I was excited to see how it compared. I was quickly disappointed. I have as friendly a testing environment as you'll ever find for an internet provider. I live alone in a one-bedroom apartment, and the list of connected devices I own is shockingly short: Just my iPhone SE, Apple TV 4K and a MacBook Pro that I use to work from home. That's not much strain to put on a Wi-Fi network, but even so, AT&T Internet Air couldn't handle it. That's why I have a hard time recommending the service to anyone. AT&T's wireless internet connection consistently delivered download speeds below 10 megabits per second -- a far cry from the 90Mbps to 300Mbps it advertises. That said, wireless internet speeds are more dependent on location than wired options like cable and fiber, so your experience may be much better than mine was. (Subscribers on AT&T's subreddit reported speeds in the 150Mbps to 300Mbps range.) Locating local internet providers There were things I liked about AT&T Internet Air -- namely, the easy setup and useful app -- but that's like saying I like everything about a car except the fact that it can't go above 25 miles an hour. Internet providers have one job -- to deliver a fast, reliable connection -- and on that front, AT&T Internet Air was an unequivocal bust. Read more: My T-Mobile 5G Home Internet Experience: What I love and What I Wish Were Better Joe Supan / CNET Setting up AT&T Internet Air All in all, it only took me 11 minutes to set up AT&T Internet Air. It truly couldn't have been simpler. The box only comes with two items: A gateway device and a power outlet. I followed the instructions in the box, downloaded AT&T's Smart Home Manager app and scanned the QR code on the device. The app suggested that I place the gateway device near a window and facing west if possible. I was able to find a spot that checked both boxes near my desk, where I'd need the strongest internet speeds possible. Once I'd landed on a location, the app ran a quick test and gave me the approval. I was now ready to test out the connection. AT&T Internet Air speed and reliability There's no way around it: AT&T Internet Air's speeds were incredibly disappointing, and the speeds I was getting would be basically unusable for most people. It boils down to the advertised speeds versus the actual speeds you get. After dozens of speed tests throughout the week, AT&T Internet Air averaged a download speed of 5.86Mbps and 9.87Mbps upload in my apartment. The highest download speed I got at any point was 10.63Mbps, while upload speeds peaked at 14.38Mbps. At the same time, my $50 Connect More plan through Xfinity -- advertised as 300Mbps download -- returned average speeds of 321/109Mbps. AT&T Internet Air's latency was also very high, with an average ping rate of 298ms. That's bad news if you plan on doing any online gaming, where 40ms or lower is considered ideal. AT&T says that users typically experience download speeds between 90Mbps and 300Mbps and upload speeds between 8Mbps and 30Mbps. My upload speeds fell within that range but I never came close to 90Mbps download. The highest I got was 14.38Mbps. (I used Ookla for all of my speed tests, which is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.) Wireless internet like AT&T Internet Air or T-Mobile 5G Home Internet is inherently more erratic than a wired connection like cable or fiber. Because it transmits data wirelessly from a cellular tower, it's more vulnerable to network congestion and weather disruption. That's why router placement is particularly important -- if you don't have a clear line to the nearest tower, your internet connection will suffer. But I did have a clear line. I could find a spot for the router right against a window facing west, just as I was instructed during setup. The problem didn't seem to be the location of my home, either: AT&T's coverage map shows the entire city of Seattle blanketed in 5G Plus speeds, which it describes as its fastest tier. AT&T's coverage map indicates that I should have been able to access AT&T's fastest speed tier. AT&T I tried moving the router to a few different locations over the course of testing but speeds never improved. In fact, it got even slower when I moved it to another room or away from the window. AT&T recommended calling customer support to help determine the best spot for the device based on where the closest cell tower is. Wireless internet providers like AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon all include a caveat in the fine print that says they may temporarily slow your speeds if the network is congested. That might explain my test results if they were all happening at 'internet rush hour' -- the hours between 7 and 11 p.m. when traffic is highest. But I tested AT&T Internet Air at various times throughout the day and never saw much of a difference. How was it using AT&T Internet Air? If anyone can get by with slow internet speeds, it's me. I live alone and I don't do any bandwidth-stressing activities like online gaming and the only devices connected to the internet are my phone, laptop and streaming device. But even with that minimal setup, AT&T Internet Air struggled to pull its weight. Zoom meetings at work were reliably unreliable, to the point where I had to switch back over to my Xfinity connection several times. Working in Google Docs, the connection would routinely drop out, causing me to wait a few seconds before I could continue writing this review. AT&T Internet Air's range was basically limited to the room with the router. When I ran speed tests in my bedroom -- one wall away from the router -- my connection slowed to a mere 1Mbps in download and upload speed. It was a frustrating experience. I found myself switching back over to Xfinity or cellular data on my phone every time I wanted to do something like watch a YouTube video from the group chat or take a FaceTime call. I don't need gig speeds -- I probably don't even really need 100Mbps speeds -- but I do need at least 15Mbps, which is what Netflix recommends for streaming in 4K. Unfortunately, AT&T Internet Air failed to clear even that low bar. How does AT&T Internet Air compare to other 5G internet providers? 5G home internet has taken off in the past few years and AT&T is later to the party than competitors T-Mobile Home Internet and Verizon 5G Home Internet. In general, using 5G technology for home internet has been an unequivocal success. A survey from J.D. Power released last summer found that customer satisfaction is higher for wireless customers than cable or fiber, even though it received lower performance scores. 'A lot of the concerns I had heard about fixed wireless access were that it's just never going to be as fast as fiber,' Carl Lepper, senior director of the technology, media and telecommunications intelligence practice at J.D. Power, told me at the time. 'But for a lot of people, affordability trumps that. And it's not often that you need superfast speeds, depending on how you're using your internet.' 5G home internet often reaches rural households where cable and fiber aren't available and it's a significant step up from the satellite or DSL service that those internet users are typically stuck with. And because 5G providers are cellphone carriers first and foremost, they offer significant savings when you bundle home internet with a cellphone plan. Provider Monthly price Advertised download speeds Advertised upload speeds AT&T Internet Air Read full review $60 ($47 with an eligible AT&T wireless plan) 90-300Mbps 8-30Mbps T-Mobile Home Internet Read full review $50-$70 ($30-$50 with cellphone plan) 87-415Mbps 12-56Mbps Verizon 5G Home Internet Read full review $50-$70 ($35-$55 with qualifying Verizon 5G mobile plans) 300-1,000Mbps 20-75Mbps Show more (0 item) Shop providers at my address Those savings aren't quite as significant with AT&T as they are with T-Mobile and Verizon, but paying $47 a month for home internet is still a solid deal. If you're not bundling with a cellphone plan, AT&T Internet Air is on the expensive side and there's no guarantee that it will make up for it with faster speeds -- as my week with AT&T showed. The final verdict: AT&T Internet Air could still be useful for some After those disappointing results, you might be surprised to learn that I still wouldn't swear off AT&T Internet Air completely. Other customers have clearly gotten faster speeds than I did -- Reddit users regularly report speeds north of 700Mbps -- and there's a chance my apartment is just in a particularly bad location for the service. Unlike T-Mobile 5G Home Internet, AT&T Internet Air does not offer a free trial, so you'll be out at least $60 if you sign up and find out the speeds aren't fast enough. I'd still recommend going with T-Mobile or Verizon first if you want to try out 5G home internet, but AT&T Internet is still worth a shot if you're stuck with limited options. I tried AT&T Internet Air for a week FAQs: What is AT&T Internet Air? AT&T Internet Air is a 5G fixed wireless connection that offers a singular plan. Pricing starts at $60 monthly or $47 if you bundle it with an eligible AT&T wireless plan. In areas where AT&T's faster fiber service is unavailable, this fixed wireless option could be an alternative for some. Is AT&T Internet Air fast? AT&T Internet Air advertises download speeds of 90Mbps to 300Mbps and upload speeds of 8Mbps to 30Mbps. However, after conducting a dozen speed tests at home, my actual speeds were significantly lower than what was advertised. The highest speed I was able to reach for upload was 14.38Mbps, which is on the lower end of that range. With AT&T Internet Air, I only averaged 5.86Mbps download and 9.87Mbps upload. Compared to other 5G providers, Verizon and T-Mobile advertise much faster speeds, topping out at 415Mbps and 1,000Mbps, respectively. However, it's worth noting that even if you get faster speeds at your home with a 5G fixed wireless connection, your speeds can be temporarily slowed down during network congestion. In addition, AT&T's latency is very high, which can be pretty bad if you're a gamer. The average ping rate that I received at home was 298ms. For online gaming, your ping rate should be 50ms or lower.
