I’m a fan of Phil Mickelson, so when I turned on the Masters golf tournament on CBS on Saturday, I was disappointed to see him buried low on the leaderboard. In the game of golf, that means my favorite player wouldn’t be getting much airtime.
That is, until I downloaded the Masters iPad app ($1.99), which not only features the live broadcast, but four other streams with live commentary. Two streams followed “featured groups” — one of which was Mickelson — and two more were fixed at popular spots on the Augusta National course. There are live streams from the practice ranges and player press conferences, too. And it works not just on WiFi, but on 3G connections, as well.
The app also features a real-time leaderboard with integrated video highlights. Click a birdie on the second hole, for example, and watch the replay. There’s also customizable alerts — the app would send me a push alert when Mickelson teed off or completed a hole.
I found myself watching the app more than TV. Golf is perfect for a second-screen experience. With so many simultaneous players, major tournaments scream for more streams and interactive scoring. The only thing missing with the Masters app is social media integration, but it was the best example I’ve seen of a second screen app that I actually used throughout the broadcast.
One big issue: the Masters folks had to push an update on Friday — right in the middle of the tournament — to fix some stability issues. Lots of early users experienced app crashes, and often times live streams failed to load. I downloaded the app Saturday morning and missed most the issues.
