Fans of the John Deere Classic will have the opportunity get a closer look and insight into the thought process of PGA Tour players as they return to TPC at Deere Run — right at their fingertips.
Tour restrictions aimed at reducing transmission of the coronavirus mean some aspects of the tournament have been forced to go digital, including all ticket sales. It also means no more printed daily pairings sheets and spectator guide.
"The guidance (from the PGA Tour) is to be as contactless as we can throughout the course for the safety of our volunteers and all of the spectators on site, while still giving them the information they need on site, but in a much safer way," said Ashley Hansen, director of communications and special events for the John Deere Classic
The latter sparked an opportunity to give fans "something unique and different for attendees that they had not seen at other PGA tournaments," said Cathy Rockwell, advertising director of the Dispatch-Argus and Quad-City Times.
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Fans walking into the John Deere Classic can pull out their smartphone, open their camera app and take a photo of a QR code that will immediately pull up an interactive spectator guide.
The QR code will take fans to a new website created by the Dispatch-Argus, where they can find a course map, hole-by-hole information, daily pairings and tee times, history of the John Deere Classic and general information about the golf tournament, in addition to new features.
Attendees can click to watch a video of TPC at Deere Run golf pro Andrew Elliot discuss and demonstrate how to play the critical shot on every hole and the strategy with which the pros approach every hole.
Fans can also click to see a 360-degree view of every green.
"Allowing the viewer to be able to pan over the putting surface and read greens the way a pro might," Dispatch-Argus and Times Executive Editor Matt Christensen said.
A link within the the digital spectator guide will also take individuals to up-to-the-minute coverage of the tournament from the Dispatch-Argus' and Times.
"Our job is to inform the community to the best of our abilities, and that doesn't always mean a printed paper," Christensen said. "We have tools like this developed and it's a matter of tailoring them to meet the needs of the event or news that we're covering. In this case, a digital solution was something that was right in front of us."
He stressed the newspapers will still provide the same "tee-to-green coverage in the newspaper" as it has in the past.
"We're still going to be covering the heck out of the tournament with the best sports team in the Quad-Cities," while responding to changing consumer trends and using innovative approaches "to keep patrons tuned into what's happening on the course" easily and conveniently while on the go from their mobile device, Christensen said.
QR codes will be located at the entrance gates to the tournament and across the course for fans to scan at any time, Rockwell and Hansen said.
All current ticket holders will also receive an email with a link to the interactive spectator guide, Hansen said.
"I think it's a cool opportunity we never had before, and give spectators a little insider view of what (players) are thinking through as they move around Deere Run," Hansen said. "It's a unique opportunity for us that we normally don't get to share, and we're really excited about that and happy to partner with the Dispatch-Argus and Quad-City Times."
For more exclusive coverage from the John Deere Classic, go to https://qconline.com/exclusive/jdc/.
