Tradition is important to Augusta National Golf Club, as CBS' Jim Nantz perennially reminds us ("the Masters, a tradition like no other"), but it has embraced technology, too, to wit: On Tuesday, it released a Masters app for the Apple iPad ($1.99 in the App Store).
It's basically a scaled-down version of its website, Masters.com, with one notable exception: The iPad app will feature the ESPN (Thursday and Friday) and CBS (Saturday and Sunday) telecasts. We think. The app itself shows in its Live Channels lineup "TV Broadcast" each day of the tournament. The App Store says "Saturday and Sunday's live CBS simulcast," and does not mention the Thursday and Friday broadcasts on ESPN.
Other live channels available on the iPad app (as well as Masters.com) will be Masters on the Range (Monday through Wednesday), interviews (everyday), the Par 3 Contest on Wednesday, and, on each day of the tournament, Featured Group 1 and Featured Group 2, Hole Nos. 15 and 16, Amen Corner and Masters In-Depth.
A nice feature is the Personalize page. Check the box next to the names of players in which you are specifically interested and you'll get "real-time alerts on their tournament performance," the app promises. The same names will also appear atop the leaderboard.
Its "Highlights & Features" section has a wide array of on-demand video features in "HD-quality," it advertises. The quality of the video indeed is impressive on the iPad screen.
Provided it all works according to plan come tournament time, it would be hard to argue that it isn't worth the $1.99 investment.
-- John Strege
