Virtual Eye News
Virtual Eye - Ryder Cup 2012
- Details
- Published: Tuesday, 02 October 2012 12:39
This week in Chicago the Virtual Eye golf team were at the heart of what many are already describing as one of the greatest sporting comebacks... ever. Going into the final day of the 39th Ryder Cup at the Medinah Country Club, the European Team had to win at least 8 of the final 12 singles matches to retain the Cup. They were given little or no chance but, against the odds, they "Did if for Seve" ( Seve Ballesteros - the great Spanish golfer who died last year) and provided a great sporting spectacle that will go down in history.
The Virtual Eye golf team were there to provide multiple coverage of the Ryder Cup for The European Tour, B-Sky-B, PGA.com and SKY 3D. "This would have to be the greatest golf tournament we have ever been involved in," said Golf Manager, Ben Taylor. "The spotters out on the course, James, Paul and the "old man" got the best seats in the house but Phil, Ben Sharpe (doing the 3D stereo coverage for Sky UK) and I got ring side seats as well, being able to see all the camera coverage from around the course in the control room. We were with the European Tour Production Team so that final day was totally crazy. People were cheering every putt that Europe sunk... and Emma, one of the graphics team, even got her rosary beads out - she is totally convinced that made the difference."
As a footnote - the week did not start well for the Virtual Eye team. Arriving at the venue on the Tuesday they discovered that 3 of the 4 computers they needed had been damaged in transit. Calls back to the office in New Zealand saw a team there build replacement machines in under 4 hours so they could have them aboard a flight out of New Zealand that night. The freighting company pulled out all stops and had the computers cleared all the way through to Chicago where they arrived at 5:30 am on Thursday. The coverage, which started on Friday morning, went without a hitch.
