ShotLink is one of the best things that the PGA Tour does, and it's available at practically every tournament on the schedule held in the United States. However, fans will quickly realize this week that there is not ShotLink and TourCast information and visualization available for the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
The PGA Tour has chosen to not make the ShotLink data public this week, according to Sports Business Journal, as they are looking to use this tournament to test out ShotLink Pro and ShotLink 2.0. The Tour has been rolling out a new version of ShotLink that they believe will do a better job at collecting shot-by-shot data from every player in the field and allow them to present more granular data to players and fans, as well as improve how that data is presented to fans and sports-betting partners alike.
The trick, though, is that this new version of ShotLink has not yet been tested at a team-based event, and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans is the only event on the FedEx Cup schedule that has a team component. That means this week is a bit of a test subject for gathering data, verifying it and making sure it looks good for public consumption. The testing this week is meant to have an eye toward an even bigger event this fall: the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal in Canada.
All of the data captured this week via ShotLink 2.0 will be available for sportsbooks looking to offer hole-by-hole bets and update their models throughout the course of the tournament. However, there may be situations where that data could need to be corrected in real time, so it will be important for golf bettors to pay attention to the telecast and compare what they might be seeing in their apps with what they're seeing on the golf course.
