RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif., – NEC Corporation of America (NEC) will establish a biometric first during this week's ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills Country Club where facial recognition technology will make what is widely believed to be its debut at a golf event.
Credentialed media covering the LPGA's first major championship of the year will undergo NEC’s NeoFace Watch face recognition solution before they can access the ANA Inspiration Media Center, enabling secure entry to the facility.
The industry-leading video face technology will also be positioned at the main entrance to Mission Hills Country Club, where faces of individuals will be captured and extracted from the video feed and matched in real-time.
While facial recognition software has been used by the Olympic Games and soccer World Cups, it has never before been implemented at a golf tournament.
“NEC’s facial recognition solutions allow organizations to focus on the people, patterns and predictions that are needed to create a safe and enjoyable environment,” said Raffie Beroukhim, senior vice president, Advanced Recognition Systems, NEC.
"The demonstration at the ANA Inspiration event in Rancho Mirage is a prime example of how our advanced recognition systems can bring these benefits to a world-class sporting event.”
NEC’s state-of-the-art algorithms have been validated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in a comprehensive range of tests.
NEC was also recognized recently by global research firm Frost & Sullivan as its ‘Best Practice Company of the Year for North America for Face Recognition Technology for Government and Public Sectors’.
The first of the LPGA’s five major championships on the 2017 schedule, the ANA Inspiration was won last year by New Zealand's Rolex Rankings world number one Lydia Ko.
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