LPGA to Invest in Shot-Tracking Technology for Real Time Betting on Golf

• LPGA looking to follow in footsteps of PGA

• “Regardless what I think of legalized gambling, it’s here, and it’s only going to get more significant,” Commissioner Mike Whan says

• Women's Golf more popular than Men's in Asia where sports betting is massive

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Ladies Professional Golf (LPGA) will be following in the Professional Golf Tours (PGA) footsteps by offering a shot-tracking system that will help those betting events in real time.

“Regardless what I think of legalized gambling, it’s here, and it’s only going to get more significant,” Commissioner Mike Whan told GolfChannel.com. “You can stick your head in the sand and act like it’s not going to happen, but you’re still going to have betting issues. So, wouldn’t you rather get control of it, make sure you educate your players, make sure you understand the audience and make sure the data disseminated is real, accurate and managed by people you trust?”

A shot-tracking system and database would help the LPGA control the information used in a variety of prop bets unique to golf.

“If we can get our heads around this and be the ones who provide the quality, reliable data, we have a chance to bring a whole new audience to our tour, both in the states and around the world,” Whan said.

Women's Golf is especially lucrative worldwide.  In Asia, the women are more popular than the men, and this translates into the gambling realm.

“The largest percentage of sports betting comes from Asia,” Whan said.

But this won't happen overnight.

Whan expects it will be at least four years until the technology can be realized.

From Yahoo.com:

Whan is looking for the tour to take a measured first step. He imagines beginning with a limited real-time betting window, where a shot-tracking database is focused on the final three or four holes of a tournament.

“The reality is we are three or four years from being able to jump into that,” he said.

Whan is devising the first stage of a realistic game plan.

“If we start by trying to create bet-able data with 144 balls in the air over a six-mile, 18-hole track, it’s going to take a long time and a lot of money,” Whan said. “But if we try to create bet-able data over the final three or four holes of every tournament, or for the final four groups, that’s something bite size, that can be done more quickly,” Whan said.

That’s a more manageable investment into this uncertain new world, he said.

- Alistair Prescott, Gambling911.com