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We’ve seen a week of firsts on the PGA Tour at the Black Desert Championship.
Not only has the circuit returned to Utah for the first time in 61 years, they have also introduced robots on the fairways of the Black Desert Resort.
In a potentially revolutionary move, the PGA Tour is embracing more technological change utilising the resort’s four fully automated fairway mowers throughout the night on tournament week.
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The mowers are deployed from 2am until 6am, cutting 51 acres of fairway grass before the first tee shots are struck. The Firefly Automatix mowers are all electric too, emissions free and quiet.
Robot mowers have, of course, been around for a long while now, but this is the first time they’ve ben trusted to manicure the fairways on the PGA Tour.
“I’m used to having a man sitting on a mower,” the Black Desert Resort’s superintendent Ken Yates told Golf Digest. “But they’ve proven themselves that they can do it. And I’m comfortable with them. They’re doing a great job. Once they mapped the course it was really easy. It flowed really well.”
Robot agronomy?! The future is now 🤖
Four self-driven mowers are deployed from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. to mow 51 acres of land @BDChampionship. pic.twitter.com/zmXafmjcEZ
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 10, 2024
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So could this be the future of the fairway mowers for the PGA Tour?
“They’re just cautiously watching,” Yates said. “But of course with anything new, you’re going to be like that. It’s a new course, a new technology, a new tournament, and we all fit together. We’re all taking the leap together.”
Canadian Adam Svensson leads after an 11-under-par 62 in the $7.5million event in Utah.
Sweden’s Henrik Norlander and American Matt McCarty trail Svensson by two after a low-scoring day that was suspended by darkness.
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