World Golf Tour™ Partners with Pinehurst Resort

By: Sport News

World Golf Tour, the world’s most authentic online golf experience, today announced its partnership with the prestigious Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, N.C. For more than a century, legendary golfers have graced the greens of Pinehurst, which now consists of eight world-class courses. Two of the resort’s courses, No. 2—often boasted as one of the most challenging courses in the world—and No. 8—ranked 16th in Golf for Women’s top 50 courses for women—will be recreated for virtual play at World Golf Tour.

Highlighted as one of the top golf resorts in the world by Golf Magazine, Travel + Leisure Golf, and Golf Digest, Pinehurst has played host to more single championships than any other golf course in the country, including the PGA Championships, the North and South Open, U.S. Amateur Championships, U.S. Senior Open and the U.S. Open Championships.

World Golf Tour will bring Pinehurst Resort’s No. 2 and No. 8 courses to life online by utilizing helicopters equipped with cameras and GPS systems to capture high-definition images of the courses from multiple angles. World Golf Tour’s patent-pending physics simulation engine will then weave the images together to bring the course to life, creating the most authentic golf experience available online.

“Pinehurst Resort is extremely excited to be partnering with World Golf Tour,” said Stephen Cryan, director of retail for Pinehurst Resort. “For the first time, Pinehurst No. 2 and Pinehurst No. 8, two of the best courses in the world, will be available to a worldwide online audience on a daily basis. The details and quality of graphics in the World Golf Tour online experience is second to none and we are proud to offer this to our customers and potential guests.”

“It’s an honor to be chosen to recreate an elite resort such as Pinehurst,” said Chad Nelson, President of World Golf Tour. “We are thrilled for people to start reliving and creating new historic moments on the legendary course from the comfort of their homes and offices. We spent a great deal of time developing the technology that makes our online golf experience unique and the graphics superb, and this has paid off in the quality we can offer to players. Bringing our patrons Pinehurst is a major milestone in our commitment to providing the definitive premium online golf experience.”

Currently in Beta format, World Golf Tour’s complete version will launch in early 2008. In-game chat functionality, multi-player competition, avatar personalization and many more features will be components of the release.

The World Golf Tour experience will offer numerous monetization and charitable opportunities for partners and sponsors alike. Currently, World Golf Tour is working with some of the top names in golf, such as PGA.com, TaylorMade and adidas Golf, to showcase their products within the online experience. In addition to recreating courses for competitive play and sponsored tournaments, World Golf Tour will feature in-depth information about the resorts in the game, as well as provide direct links to tee time reservation systems and resort booking sites.

About World Golf Tour

World Golf Tour™ (WGT) offers the most authentic online golf experience, making the game of golf accessible and affordable to all. WGT’s social networking format will enable players to tour exclusive courses worldwide, learn the rules of the game, test equipment, and stay connected through the extensive online community. WGT’s partner sponsors, such as TaylorMade, adidas Golf and top golf courses and resorts will provide exclusive luxury benefits such as premium products, prizes and tournament purses. For more information, please visit www.worldgolftour.com.

About Pinehurst Resort

Located in the North Carolina heartland, world-renowned Pinehurst is a 2,000-acre resort property and 4,000-member strong country club. Built in 1895, it has served as a championship golf site since the 1901 North and South Amateur Championship, whose past winners include Walter Travis, Francis Ouimet, former USGA president Bill Campbell, Jack Nicklaus and Davis Love. Other major international golf events at Pinehurst have included the PGA Championship in 1936, the Ryder Cup Matches in 1951, and the TOUR Championship in 1991 and 1992, in addition to its USGA championship heritage.