Interview: Michael Cole, chief technology officer, DP World Tour
AI promises to revolutionise the experience of watching or taking part in the traditional sport of golf for players, fans and TV viewers – the IT chief leading the change explains how
Michael Cole, chief technology officer (CTO) at DP World Tour, the men’s professional golf tour that oversees 42 tournaments in 25 countries, wants to use data and emerging technology to create a digital platform that powers new immersive experiences.
Cole, who joined the organisation in late 2017, says that as well as delivering improvements for players, media organisations and commercial partners, the key to success will be ensuring that golf fans everywhere have an engaging experience, regardless of their location.
“One of the bigger challenges, and it’s one I’ve maintained throughout my time with this organisation, is that watching golf at home has always been incredible,” he says.
“We have a great TV product, lots of digital overlays, and lots of insights. The on-course spectator faces a different challenge – observing and keeping track of 18 fields of play, while they can only ever be in one place at one time.”
Cole says golf, by its nature, is complicated – the game features up to 156 players, not two teams, and it’s played over four days, not 90 minutes. However, he believes digital transformation can bring simplicity and create more immersive coverage for people watching the tournaments.
“I’ve always been a great advocate for recognising that technology can bridge the experience gap between the armchair fan and the on-course spectator,” he says.
“What I’m really excited about is how the capabilities in AI can help simplify the complexity of the traditional game and bridge the gap to give on-course spectators as good an experience as armchair fans.”
DP World Tour is working with HCLTech on discovery and scoping exercises as the organisations begin the sprints to build a new website and app. Cole says these two digital locations are mechanisms to help fans receive deeper insight about what’s happening in golf.
“Ultimately, we think we can add to the drama as well,” he says. “That’s something that has always been challenging in golf – to deliver drama in real time for the fan who isn’t there in person. Through the developments with HCLTech, I expect we can bring some of that drama, via devices and digital channels, to golf fans, wherever they are in the world.”
“I’m really excited about how the capabilities in AI can help simplify the complexity of the traditional game and bridge the gap to give on-course spectators as good an experience as armchair fans”
Michael Cole, DP World Tour
While refined user interfaces are an important step in what Cole calls the second phase of digital transformation, these developments are by no means the only outcome of the partnership with HCLTech. “The website and app are just the starting point,” he says.
In this second transformation phase, Cole and his team will work with HCLTech and its support and development capabilities, including almost a quarter of a million staff in 60 countries, to deliver AI-enabled change. He says one area where AI could have an impact is in multilingual shot commentary.
“The DP World Tour, by virtue of being effectively the global tour, has some complications. And what I mean by those complications is that we currently host over 40 different tournaments in 25 countries, with different communities and languages,” he says.
“The ability to use technology for multilingual translation in real time to better serve international and global audiences is something that will be on the roadmap. My expectation is we will see some of that capability sooner rather than later.”
Embracing emerging technology
In the longer term, Cole expects DP World Tour to apply generative and agentic AI in a range of areas. He turns first to content production.
“As an organisation, we are still quite reliant upon people to create the narrative we serve through the digital channels today,” he says.
“But we also know that AI capability can generate content and do this work far more expediently in real time, which means we can get content to our key stakeholders quickly and efficiently.”
These stakeholders include fans, broadcasters and other parties that would benefit from real-time insights, such as gambling companies and betting communities.
“That’s about servicing them with greater depth on the performances of individual players,” says Cole. “It means giving these stakeholders real-time information, not just based on the historical form, but the form by the round on that course, and even with changing weather conditions. We know AI capability can help us achieve that goal.”
Cole also anticipates AI can help push real-time insights to players, providing crucial data on their on-course performance.
“Think about how we could take all of that real-time shot and multilingual commentary and create a summary of every single shot that has been played on every single round, serve that out to each player at the end of every round, and at the end of the tournament,” he says.
“Players would then have greater insight in terms of how they played, such as the contextual importance and relevance of every shot, and that information would help them with their own performance, so they can take the learnings and be at the height of their abilities for the next tournament. There’s a great parallel here about how the performance of the technology can help the performance of the players.”
Maintaining a balancing act
So, when will the AI-enabled advances of this second stage of digital transformation come to fruition? Cole says the answer to that question will become apparent as DP World Tour’s relationship with HCLTech and its other technology partners evolves.
“For the start of the 2027 schedule, you will see the launch of a new website and app, and we will start to roll out a whole suite of new features as we move along the roadmap,” he says.
“You’ll see some of that capability from launch, and we will continue to evolve that capability as we enter further into this relationship.”
Cole says his internal IT team needs trusted technology partners, including Amazon Web Services and Fortinet, to reach its business goals.
“I’m excited about partnering with an organisation like HCLTech that’s got access to far more resources and capability than the nimble team we have here, and that is the model that helps us,” he says.
“We’re very much a partner-led organisation, particularly in technology. We now have nine technology partners across the Ryder Cup and the DP World Tour. Getting access to that breadth and depth of expertise will allow us to bring this innovation to fruition rapidly.”
All digital leaders will recognise that developing a strong relationship between a small internal IT team and disparate external partners requires a careful balancing act. Cole says the key to unlocking technology advances through this combination of resources is twofold – tight integration and continuous development.
“The main thing that makes innovation happen is that we believe in authentic integration, where we use their capabilities to the best advantage. That’s a model that we’ve adopted over the past few years, and it creates tremendous value for us, but it also creates a lot of value and benefit for partners like HCLTech through storytelling,” he says.
“A key aspect of onboarding technology partners is that I don’t expect them to take our requirements and deliver the work. I expect a transfer of skills and knowledge, so that my team learns and develops. Unless we’re addressing the skillsets of my team by working with these partners, we’re never going to be at the height of our performance as well.”
Keeping busy
Critically, none of the advances that Cole and his team are pioneering will be developed in isolation. Take the current efforts to develop a new website and mobile app, with a design process informed by a panel of 300 golf fans. Could other digital leaders take a similar customer-led approach? Potentially, says Cole.
A key aspect of onboarding technology partners is that I don’t expect them to take our requirements and deliver the work. I expect a transfer of skills and knowledge, so that my team learns and develops
Michael Cole, DP World Tour
“I can’t speak for other sports, but I do know that the approach we are taking is the right one. We are providing the sporting platform, HCLTech is providing that global depth and breadth of IT expertise and resources, and then we’re working with those 300 fans. We’ve reached out to them; they come back to us, and offer really compelling feedback,” he says.
“We must get this approach right because fans are a key stakeholder in this development. In total, there are about 18 development sprints. The fan panel will be involved in every sprint along the way, giving us critical feedback, so we know that when we do launch the new website and app, they will resonate. It’s crucial we can deliver content to the new generations of fans and in a way that they wish to consume.”
In many ways, the advances that Cole aims to introduce now are a continuation of the transformation he’s overseen during almost nine years with the organisation. As a member of the executive team, he provides a trusted voice on technology-powered business change. He also chairs the organisation’s health and safety committee.
Cole says leading technology for DP World Tour has been a learning process. From overseeing IT management at Ryder Cups to managing the organisation through the coronavirus pandemic to continued digital transformation, the role has involved many new challenges and fresh opportunities.
As an example, his team has spent the past two years digitising the organisation’s entire historical archive. Cole says they’ve digitised over 50 years of historical European Tour content, across 20,000 tapes, 27,000 hours, and 1.2 petabytes of data. All this data will be crucial as the organisation moves to its next phase of hyper-personalisation.
“I know, looking ahead, there is plenty to be focused on,” he says. “I alluded to the fact that we’re now entering the second era of transformation, and one that’s going to be fuelled and driven through AI, and now with nine tech partners on board, there’s plenty to keep me genuinely busy.”
