Far Hills, N.J. (June 10) – When the U.S. Open returns to Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links on June 17-20, golf fans will be able to use a variety of exciting technologies, digital applications and devices to access scoring, live streaming and the latest news from their home, office or virtually any location.
Aided by corporate partner IBM, the USGA’s goal is to bring golf fans closer to the U.S. Open at www.USOPEN.com. New to the website this year is an interactive play tracker that expands and modernizes the traditional leaderboard and gives control to the user. This new feature includes an overview map that allows users to follow all groups on the course and a dynamic heat-mapping feature with red, gray and green color indicators to show how hard different parts of the course are playing during each round, using scoring averages on each hole.
“Our USOPEN.com community has grown to 6 million fans in just under two years,” said Alex Withers, the USGA’s managing director of digital media. “We’re also seeing strong growth in the mobile space and in the use of social media tools to share information from and about our championships. Collectively these tools are providing a level of engagement for fans that simply didn’t exist a few years ago.”
Along with USOPEN.com’s flagship LIVE Marquee Group coverage, the official website will offer new features such as:
An Enhanced Course Section that interactively presents the U.S. Open course setup at Pebble Beach through high-resolution images of each hole, flyover and course walkthrough videos and a new Experience History feature developed in association with World Golf Tour that allows fans to watch a video clip of a historical shot from a previous U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and then attempt to replicate it through an HD golf experience. For example, fans can watch and then play out Tom Watson’s famous chip-in shot at the par-3 17th that propelled him to a two-stroke victory over Jack Nicklaus in the 1982 U.S. Open.
HD Live Streaming across devices, extending the LIVE Marquee Group coverage to the iPhone and a wide range of other mobile browsers.
The Rules Corner where USGA Rules officials provide expert commentary on rulings pertaining to each day’s action.
The U.S. Open Facebook Fan Page includes news, highlights and blogs, allowing fans to connect with one another and share their U.S. Open experiences, comments and photos.
Integrated Twitter experience with a Mixx Channel built into USOPEN.com, aggregating live Tweets from fans on the course via the American Express Experience Tent, commentators and other golf experts.
Also, during championship play June 17-20, American Express, a USGA corporate partner, will provide CourseCast radio and TV devices to enhance the on-site viewing experience for American Express Cardmembers, bringing them even closer to the action.
About the USGA
The USGA is the national governing body of golf in the USA and Mexico. The USGA annually conducts the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Senior Open and 10 national amateur championships. It also conducts two state team championships and helps conduct the Walker Cup Match, Curtis Cup Match and World Amateur Team Championships.
The USGA also writes the Rules of Golf, conducts equipment testing, provides expert course maintenance consultations, maintains a Handicap System® and celebrates the history of the game. Since 1983, the USGA Turfgrass and Environmental Research Program has awarded more than $31 million to more than 400 research projects for better turf and a better environment at universities across the country. The USGA also funds an ongoing “For the Good of the Game” grants program, which has allocated more than $65 million over 13 years to programs that bring the game’s values to youths from disadvantaged backgrounds and people with disabilities. For more information about the USGA, visit www.usga.org.
Contact:
Daniel Hubbard
dhubbard@usga.org
Web Address: www.usga.org
USGA Phone: 908-234-2300
