The Quinn Direct British Masters

Creative Technology has enjoyed a long and successful relationship with the European PGA through closed circuit TV provider Viewpress Television.

In recent years, CT has witnessed an increasing demand for integrated video and information displays across a wide range of sports applications. Golf provides its own unique set of challenges due to the large number of players and the requirement to display 22 columns of scoring information after each name.

CT created a bespoke stand-alone wireless leader board system in 2006 for Viewpress. Viewpress are the promoters of the 2007 British Masters at the Belfry, building on the relationship formed in 2006 they asked CT to design and build Europe’s first fully electronic leader board, to be located on the 18th green. The challenge here was to provide an economical display capable of being read from over 150m whilst displaying 16 rows of up to 40 characters.

After a number of tests with various LED products in different configurations the Mitsubishi OD10 display was selected in a 61m² 16:9 configuration. One of the overriding factors in selecting the Mitsubishi system was the excellent uniformity of the display. Golf scoreboards are traditionally on a white background and lower quality LED systems typically have poor uniformity which is particularly noticeable on a solid white background.

Unisys, providers the official scoring system for all European PGA events, created a custom output configuration matched to the displays in a 1024 x 576 pixel configuration. Viewpress integrated this feed with their own tournament TV production and live pictures from the host broadcaster.

As is often the case at golf events, access to the site was extremely difficult. Not only did CT have to plan and coordinate the movement of around 10 tons of equipment into a lakeside location between two fairways, the installation and removal had to be timed to minimise disruption to play on one of Europe's top courses. With over 20 years providing leading edge displays to the PGA including every European Ryder Cup since 1986, CT have the required expertise and experience to overcome these challenges and undertake successful projects of this type.