Zen Green Stage scores Sky Sports hat-trick at Royal Portrush

SHEFFIELD, UK - - The adjustable Zen Green Stage completed a hat-trick of Open appearances last week, once again acting as the dynamic and exciting centrepiece for the Open Zone during Sky Sports Golf’s impressive TV coverage of the 148th Open Championship from Royal Portrush.

Its TV appearance in Northern Ireland last week meant that the Zen Green Stage was present at each of this year’s four Majors – in Augusta for The Masters, at Bethpage Black in New York for the PGA Championship, at Pebble Beach for the U.S Open, and at the Open Championship, each time as part of Sky Sports Golf’s presentation of the event.

At Royal Portrush, for the third year running the world’s leading golfers and coaches used the Green Stage’s adjustable slopes to put on Open Championship masterclasses for the watching TV audience.

Danny Willett (who placed joint 6th) and Tom Lewis (joint 11th) used the Green Stage in full-swing mode to show how to hit approach shots from sloping lies, and five-time PGA Tour winner Billy Horschel used the Green Stage to give viewers tips on reading green contours in a live putting clinic – as did former European Ryder Cup star Oliver Wilson.

Superstars such as Adam Scott and last year’s Open Champion Francesco Molinari also showed off their skills on the Green Stage, as did Ryan Fox, Branden Grace and Dame Laura Davies and numerous others who took part in Sky Sports’ entertaining 148-Yard Challenge.

Tour coaches Pete Cowen and Graham Walker also presented from the Zen Green Stage, with the latter talking about how he helps last week’s runner-up Tommy Fleetwood with his short game on Tour.

Sky Sports pundits Paul McGinley, David Howell and Andrew Coltart took part in a live putting contest on the Zen Green Stage, tackling a variety of real-world slopes, and the rest of Sky Sport’s talented presenting team also took their turns on the Green Stage, including Nick Dougherty, Sarah Stirk, Tim Barter and Iona Stephen.

“The team at Sky Sports is incredibly receptive to new ideas, and it is a privilege to have such a profound relationship with Europe’s leading sports broadcaster” said Zen Green Stage founder, Nick Middleton. “Being able to put superstars onto real-world slopes in the live Open Zone environment creates brilliant flexibility when planning a TV feature, especially with instruction in mind.“Sky Sports continues to lead the broadcast revolution” he continued. “Innovations such as last week’s debut of Sky Scope are just the latest example of how Sky Sports is showing the world how to present golf in an accessible, entertaining and authentic way.”

See www.zenoracle.com for all details.

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Zen Green Stage, designed and built in Sheffield, England, is the world’s first affordable computer-controlled, digitally-adjustable golf playing surface which can accurately replicate every putt within the scoring zone, including double-breaking compound putts. Packed with ground-breaking innovations which enable slopes and green speed to be changed with ease, it enables golfers to experience the combination of green speed, slope and contour for every makeable putt on the planet. Zen Green Stage can also be used as a full-swing platform to create real-world sloping fairway lies. Other golf teaching technology can easily be used with the Zen Green Stage to provide the perfect indoor coaching setup.

“Sky Sports has had the pleasure to work closely with Zen Oracle to help them with their development of the Zen Green as an aid for pundits and sports professionals alike to analyse putting in a very compelling way. It is also used to simulate a slope when driving or playing a shot in the Sky Sports Shot Centre Golf simulator. The Zen Green is used for analysis on live broadcasts both from the Sky sports dedicated Shot Centre TV studio at Sky Studios in Osterley and at the major Golf events in the Sky Zone outdoor studio area. It provides professional insight to golf fans and Sky viewers from this easy to use, reliable and scientifically proven product which can replicate a wide range of slopes and even twists on its surface.”
JASON WESSELY, HEAD OF GOLF, SKY SPORTS.