Naver Expands Golf Fan Participation Content with Open Talk and Official Handicap...

Naver announced on the 17th that it has acquired the broadcasting rights for the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) and will live stream a total of 30 tournaments this year. Additionally, it will introduce various services for sports fans, including ▲Open Talk supporting simultaneous viewing of broadcasts, ▲the nation’s first golf fantasy game ‘PickN Golf,’ and ▲the official handicap service ‘N Golf MY Golf.’

As of the 16th, among approximately 3,484 Naver Sports Open Talks, golf is a sport with particularly strong individual player fan bases. Especially after securing the KLPGA broadcasting rights, users can use the ‘Watch Broadcast Together’ feature within Open Talk to cheer for their favorite players together.

Naver recently launched an official handicap service on the 6th, targeting the rapidly growing golf fan base centered around the MZ generation. The official handicap is recognized worldwide by organizations such as the Korea Golf Association (KGA), the United States Golf Association (USGA), and The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A). Naver signed a business agreement for the ‘Official Handicap Project’ with the Korea Golf Association and SmartScore in January, based on which it introduced ‘MY Golf.’

Naver Sports users can easily obtain an official handicap by linking SmartScore data in MY Golf. They can also objectively assess their skills and set clear goals through recent scores, average scores, rankings by gender, age, and region, and trophy collections. This can serve as proof at overseas golf courses and tournaments that require an official handicap.

Jung Hyun-soo, leader of Naver Sports, said, “Naver, which provides a new community based on the common interest of golf, offers various content including live broadcasts, Open Talk, short-form videos, shopping live, and lessons by professionals and keywords.” He added, “We will continue to expand diverse user-participation content beyond the fun of watching and the joy of cheering together, delivering a unique satisfaction.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.