Nobody does it like the Masters.
That goes for everything from merchandise to concessions to TV broadcasts and more.
This spring, golf fans are being wowed by the latest feat from Augusta National Golf Club—a new and improved version of the Masters Vault.
Available on the official Masters website, the interactive video archive now allows fans to search for every shot shown on every final round Masters broadcast dating back to the black-and-white days of 1968.
The Masters Vault runs on AI technology from IBM, which has worked with Augusta National for three decades and also plays a key role in other digital content like the popular Masters app, which lets fans watch every shot—whether it’s shown on TV or not—in near real-time.
“We are running something called the Masters Lab, that is basically innovations for the future, year round,” Kameryn Stanhouse, IBM VP of global sports & entertainment partnerships at IBM, tells Front Office Sports. “There’s a phrase that we use called ‘Masters Perfect.’ There’s perfect and then there’s ‘Masters Perfect.’”
The new vault search features, which Stanhouse says could be added to the Masters app by next year, were created over a year ago and were tested out behind the scenes during the 2025 event. “None of this happens overnight,” she says. “This is a long, iterative process.”
Also ahead of this year’s Masters, which will be played April 9-12, legendary caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay—who was on the bag for all three of Phil Mickelson’s Masters victories—served as a consultant for improvements to the “hole insights” app and website feature that provides data for every shot taken by every player on every hole during the Masters.
The Masters Way
The Masters consistently draws more mainstream sports interest than any other event in golf.
Last year’s final round broadcast on CBS averaged 12.7 million viewers as Rory McIlroy completed the career grand slam.
On social media, the Masters has more than 8 million followers across major platforms, typically earning universal praise for the accounts’ classy and creative content.
Off the course, Augusta National last month announced the launch of a search process for its first chief technology officer.
“I think that the perception of them and what’s actually happening behind the scenes are two very, very different things,” Stanhouse says.
