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GREENSBORO - One fan at the PGA Tour's Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic might watch a drive down the fairway at Forest Oaks Country Club and say "nice shot."
Another might watch that same drive and ask, "How far did it go? What's the he there? Which club did he use? How far is he from the sand? How did the last five players who hit into that spot do on their next shot?"
This year, the second golf fan can look forward to attending the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic without the fear of being strangled by the first At last, all those questions can be answered, instantly, by an infinitely patient computer.
The computer goes by the name ShotLink, and it is being introduced at PGA Tour events throughout the year. The system was developed by IBM and Palm (makers of Palm Pilots) and will debut March 1 at the Genuity Championship in Miami.
"This is really going to be neat," said Dick Baker, tournament director for the Chrysler Classic, which will be one of the first PGA events to make use of the new technology "It's a major enhancement to what fans have been used to seeing traditional."
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Golf tournaments and their television broadcasts are no strangers to computers, of course, but ShotLink takes the technology of the PGA Tour up several notches and into Internet time. No longer will volunteers use pen and paper to collect data as...