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Watching Golf this Week: The Open Championship, aka The British Open

July 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Are you ready for the third major of the year? It all kicks off Thursday morning at one of the stranger-named courses, Royal Lytham & St. Annes (not St. Anne’s), which its own website describes as “It is not a conventionally beautiful golf course, surrounded as it is by suburban housing and flanked by a railway line, but it has a charm all of its own.” Never you mind. This is the British Open, aka The Open Championship, and it’s all about history. With Champions at the course named Seve. Tom Lehman, Gary Player, and most recently, David Duval in 2001.

And best of all, golf when you wake up in the morning here in the U.S.! If you want to watch the Open Championship this weekend you best have a cable subscription with ESPN (and really, who doesn’t in the sports world). If you want to watch online or on your mobile device, you need a cable sub with the WatchESPN qualifying carriers: Verizon FiOS, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks or Comcast. This tourney is four days of wall to wall ESPN coverage, including ESPN radio, probably a bunch of SportsCenter from the Open broadcasts… starting at 4:30 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday, to catch all of Tiger and Phil, who are going out early.

And who will win it? Odds on favorite is, of course, the man who would be back: Tiger Woods. If he plays all four days like he played the first two days at Olympic, Tiger will be tough to beat — he’s even been seen working on his infamous “stinger” shots. Lurking in the gorse is Phil Mickelson, who is way overdue overseas — and had himself a few nice sub-70 rounds at the Scottish Open last weekend as a tuneup.

What about the local lads — guys like Lee Westwood and Luke Donald, who reign atop the world standings but have zero majors between them? Of the two I like Westwood’s chances since he always seems to be in it at the end, while Donald tends to disappear. Maybe like Darren Clarke last year, this is Westwood’s time. As a dark horse I like a guy who I saw live for the first time at the U.S. Open, and marveled at the style of his swing: Former British Open champ Louis Oosthuizen. Go join the MSR group on the ESPN fantasy golf game if you want to show your own picking savvy.

In case the Open isn’t enough golf, there is also a PGA Tour event this week, the incredibly ignored True South Classic in Madison, Mississippi, as well as the fun-to-watch American Century Classic from Lake Tahoe, where celebs and athletes from other sports show off their golf prowess, or lack thereof (see Barkley, Charles). We will include TV times for those tournaments as well, below.

Our final pick? We say Tiger gets off the major schneid. Here’s where to follow the action:

THE OPEN CHAMPIONSIP

(all times Eastern)
TV COVERAGE
Thursday, July 19 — ESPN, 4:30 a.m. — 3 p.m.
Friday, July 20 — ESPN, 4:30 a.m. — 3 p.m.
Saturday, July 21 — ESPN, 7 a.m. — 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 22 — ESPN, 8 a.m. — 1 p.m.

RADIO
ESPN RADIO (check local channels)
Thursday, July 19 — 7 a.m. — 1 p.m.
Friday, July 20 — 7 a.m. — 1 p.m.
Saturday, July 21 — ESPN, 9 a.m. — 3 p.m.
Sunday, July 22 — ESPN, 8 a.m. — 12 p.m.

Radio broadcasts will also be available through the Open app, at TheOpen.com, and at
ESPNRadio.com.

ONLINE
This is long, but worth it… what follows is the entire ESPN lineup of content from The Open:

The Open Championship on ESPN Digital Platforms
WatchESPN
All Open Championship programming on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3 is also available on computers, smartphones and tablets through WatchESPN and the WatchESPN app, which are accessible to fans who receive their video service from affiliated providers Bright House Networks, Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon FiOS TV.

ESPN.com
News, blogs and columns from ESPN.com national columnist Gene Wojciechowski and senior golf writers Farrell Evans and Bob Harig.
“Digital Drive,” an exclusive ESPN.com program hosted by ESPN the Magazine columnist Rick Reilly, will be produced each day.
“CoverItLive” live chat with Michael Collins throughout the championship.
“Red Light/Green Light” with Collins each day, examining pin placements on selected holes.
The ESPN Golf Cast application, which offers an easy-to-use interface with scoring, “CoverItLive,” video and social media elements.
Best Ball Majors, the latest installment of the ESPN Best Ball Challenge.
Interactive leaderboards and live scores.
Extensive video content, including highlights, analysis, clips from SportsCenter and press conferences.
Photo galleries, podcasts, live chats, SportsNation polling.
Mobile WAP site.
Spanish-language highlights and coverage on ESPNDeportes.com.

ESPN3
ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network will carry ESPN’s telecast of all four rounds of The Open Championship. An additional feed will have live coverage of the 1st & 18th Holes, plus player interviews from the practice range, highlights and features. Trey Wingo and Jim Kelly will share the host role, with analysts Jane Crafter and Kim Thomas and reporter Mark Donaldson. Former Open Championship winner David Duval, who is competing in the event, also will serve as an analyst while not on the course.
ESPN3 also will have a Spanish-language feed with ESPN Deportes golf announcers Francisco Aleman and former LPGA pro Silvia Bertolaccini as well as the International View from the BBC/World coverage and alternating coverage of holes 8, 9 and 10.

ESPN Mobile
Live mobile video simulcasts of ESPN’s Open Championship telecasts on Thursday-Sunday will appear on ESPN Mobile TV. The Best of The Open Championship programs for the first, third and final rounds and Thursday’s The Open Championship Today programs also will be simulcast.
News, highlights and a leaderboard will appear on the ESPN mobile Web and there will be Open Championship Insider content, news and columns, scoring alerts for top players and video shot packs for select golfers.

PGA SHOT TRACKER
No Shot Tracker at the British Open, but it will be online for the True South Classic.

FACEBOOK PAGE
Get yourself close to the Claret Jug at The Open’s Facebook page.

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW
The Open’s own Twitter feed.
Geoff Shackelford — well known golf writer. If you’re not following Geoff you are missing the online boat.
Golf Channel — official Golf Channel feed
@PGATOUR — official PGA Twitter feed
@StephanieWei — great golf writer who is a Twitter fiend. You may also catch her video reporting debut this weekend. Go Stephanie!
Doug Ferguson is the lead golf writer for AP. Good Twitter insights that often aren’t part of your wire-service lead.

TOURNAMENT APP
Powered by video mavens at Ooyala, the Open’s App has everything you want in a handheld device app. iPad, iPhone and Android. You will still need the ESPN contract to view live video, though.

WHAT’S THE COURSE LIKE?
The Royal Lytham & St. Annes has its own website, and there is good stuff on the PGA site as well.

WHO WON THIS THING LAST YEAR?
Darren Clarke.

WHY IS IT CALLED LYTHAM & ST. ANNES?
Because the two towns of Lytham and St. Annes-on-the-Sea grew together and formed one seaside resort. And they dropped the “sea” bit. According to Wikipedia.

FEDEX CUP LEADERS
1. Tiger Woods, 1,952 points
2. Zach Johnson, 1,920
3. Jason Dufner, 1,849
4. Hunter Mahan, 1,654
5. Bubba Watson, 1,617

See the full standings for the FedEx Cup points list.

WORLD GOLF RANKINGS
1. Luke Donald; 2. Rory McIlroy; 3. Lee Westwood; 4. Tiger Woods; 5. Webb Simpson.
See the official World Golf Ranking list.

TRUE SOUTH CLASSIC TV
Thursday, July 19 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Friday, July 20 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Saturday, July 21 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Sunday, July 22 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.

AMERICAN CENTURY CLASSIC TV
Saturday, July 21 — NBC, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Sunday, July 22 — NBC, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, British Open, ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN3, Facebook, Golf, Golf Channel, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Live sports via mobile, Live Sports Video Consumption, PGA, Tiger Woods, Time Warner Cable Television, Twitter, Verizon Wireless, WatchESPN, WatchESPN Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Watching Golf this Week: The British Open, aka The Open Championship, is ESPN’s Baby

July 17, 2012 by 3 Comments

Since this thing starts darn early Thursday morning — how does 4:30 a.m. Eastern time sound to you? We decided to give you a heads-up on watching golf this week, since after all it is the British Open… or as they call it over there, the Open Championship. The nut is: It’s all ESPN, all week long, for coverage of golf’s oldest tourney. To wit:

The 152nd renewal of golf’s oldest major, The Open Championship, will air live across ESPN platforms July 19-22 from Royal Lytham & St Annes in Lancashire, England. ESPN will present 36 hours of live four-round television coverage as well as prime time and afternoon encores for 73 total hours on TV.

For the first time, ESPN Radio will broadcast live action from The Open Championship with 24 total hours over the four days of the event. More than 140 hours of digital platform coverage also will appear on computers, tablets and mobile devices.

ESPN, ESPN3 and WatchESPN will have 10.5 scheduled hours of live play from each of the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday, July 19-20, from 4:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. ET. The third round on Saturday, July 21, will air live from 7 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. with the final round on Sunday, July 22, airing live from 6 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

When it comes to watching golf — on TV or the computer — for me it is a yearly tossup as to which one I like better of the four majors, between the Masters and the British Open. Though I respect the challenge of the U.S. Open, watching it is sometimes more train wreck than golf excitement. You would have to go back to Tiger at Torrey Pines in 2008, for me, for visual excitement. The British Open, on the other hand, has weather, history, and some funky golf shots made necessary by the sheep-mown lands. It’s rarely boring and a treat after watching cookie-cutter TPC courses week after week.

Lately, the Masters has been a pleasure for online fans simply because of the multitude of offerings sent our way over the innerwebs, including the great Amen Corner cam that stays fixed on the middle stretch of Augusta National. The British Open, which rotates from course to course, is going to get a little of that treatment this year, as ESPN is promising some isolated-hole coverage of its own via its online channel, ESPN3. That’s in addition to wall-to-wall TV coverage ESPN has announced — we won’t even try to copy the list, just go here and look. Basically if you love the British Open you’re going to love ESPN this week. Gorse, heather and Scott Van Pelt. And with any luck, no Boomer.

Who’s going to win this thing? Good question. The good news for U.S. golf fans is that if you want to spend all your time watching Phil and Tiger, ESPN is even making a concession for you — though the promos on ESPN Monday night were talking about a 5 a.m. Eastern start time to coverage, Geoff Shackelford and others found out that the Worldwide Leader will actually start its cameras a half-hour earlier, to not miss any of Phil or Tiger’s early rounds.

Can I have a hallelujah? More specifics in our regular WGTW post on Thursday. Remember, you need to have a valid cable contract with Verizon FiOS, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks or Comcast to watch the ESPN coverage online.

Filed Under: British Open, ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN3, Golf, PGA, The Masters, Tiger Woods, WatchESPN Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

ESPN’s John Kruk Shilling for Nokia — ‘The Phone for Sports Fans’

July 14, 2012 by 1 Comment

Not sure that just having an ESPN app pre-loaded makes something a phone for sports fans — I mean, c’mon, who can’t download an app — but for your weekend entertainment, here’s ESPN baseball analyst John Kruk shilling for Nokia. OK, I do like the bit at the end. No word on whether the stadium he’s at has Wi-Fi, though. Or whether Kruk was chillin’ at the ESPYs Nokia preparty. Anyway.

Filed Under: Apps, AT&T, Baseball, ESPN, Nokia, Wi-Fi, Windows Phone Tagged With: , , ,

Watching NASCAR this week: Lenox Industrial Tools 301

July 13, 2012 by 2 Comments

There was a great finish last week at Daytona, with Tony Stewart making a last lap pass and then holding off a trailing gang of rivals to win his 18th race at the fabled track. Only Dale Earnhardt has more wins at Daytona. The win moved Stewart up 4 places in the driver standings.

The victory must have been even sweeter for Stewart since he was forced to start at the back of the pack due to a failed inspection, and it took him some time to fight his way to the front. He passed Matt Kenesth and then led to the finish. Jeff Burton managed to roar by Kenesth at the end for second followed by Joey Logano and then Ryan Newman.

There was some last minute prerace activity as NASCAR suspended driver AJ Allmendinger just prior to the race for failing a random drug test that he took on June 29, with NASCAR reporting that he had an illegal stimulant in his system. He has claimed that he does not take drugs and that there is an error in the test. Team Penske flew in Sam Hornish Jr in from Charlotte at the last minute, barely a half hour before the race started, to replace Allmendinger.

Since then Allmendinger has elected to bring in his own experts to test his “B” sample, something that is expected to happen next week at the earliest. If he fails he will face an indefinite suspension and need to take a program to get reinstated.

ESPN put up some interesting tidbits about the first half of the season and one that really jumped out at me was this one that points out how unimportant winning is compared to simply finishing. Brad Keselowski has three victories, five top-5s and eight top-10s this season, which is good for 9th currently. Kevin Harvick has zero wins, three top-5s and eight top-10s, but Harvick is 6th in the standings.

Lenox Industrial Tools 301
Next up is a trip to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 on a 1.05 mile, oval track. It is interestingly the largest sporting facility in New England and can seat 105,000 spectators. There is also a 1.6 mile road course on the site.

Twitter– Instead of pointing to a number of Twitter addresses as we have in the past it seems to make much more sense just to send you to a site that appears to have consolidated a who’s who of racing twitter addresses instead. So head over here for a list.

Broadcast
July 15 at 12 noon ET TNT

Sprint Cup Standings
1) Matt Kenseth
2) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -25
3) Greg Biffle -44
4) Jimmie Johnson -58
5) Tony Stewart -90
6) Kevin Harvick -90
7) Denny Hamlin -92
8) Martin Truex Jr. -92
9) Brad Keselowski -103
10) Clint Bowyer -104

Nationwide

Kurt Busch won last week in Daytona with a tremendous finish in a race that had 42 lead changes, more than its fair share of crashes and must have delighted any fan that watched. His car looked like it was about to blow at any second over the last few laps and he managed to reach the front of a greatly diminished field with a lap to go and then held on for dear life. The top five was filled out by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael Ammett, Austin Dillon and Joey Logano.

Broadcast
July 14, 2:30 pm ET ESPN

F.W. Webb 200
This week Nationwide will be featured in a shorter race in New Hampshire, the F.W. Webb 200. This may be old hand and I have just missed it but Nationwide is providing a nice behinds the scene view of teams activities with garagecam Head over here to take a look.

Nationwide Series Standings
1) Elliott Sadler
2) Austin Dillon -8
3) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -18
4) Sam Hornish Jr. -35
5) Justin Allgaier -72

Filed Under: Athlete to Follow, Dale Earnhardt Jr., ESPN, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sam Hornish Jr., Tony Stewart Tagged With: ,

July Systems Provides ‘Apps Backbone’ for Developers

July 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I think that everybody reading this has a host of apps on their smartphone, and know that some are better than others. Often the first release of an app is limited both in focus and in capabilities as developers big and small seek to stake a claim in the market and then improve on what they have started.

Some have the resources to make the next step, expanding their apps and opening up their brand to the mobile market in a meaningful way. This means not just developing for multiple platforms but developing relationships with advertisers and sponsors to monetize their work.

For many they need to turn to expert help from someone such as July Systems. July Systems is one of the behind the curtain players that enables app developers to move forward with the resources that they need to compete. It provides tools, development environments, strong partnerships and relationships to the table.

The company has an impressive customer list, with many of the major players in areas such as broadcast media, print journalism and sports leagues as its clients, but it seeks to appeal to developers large and small with its technologies and capabilities. Among the honor roll are CBS, Intel, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo, ESPN, NBA, the Wall Street Journal and the NFL.

The goal of July Systems is not just to help build great apps but to do something that is just as important, to enable the developer to take the vital step to monetize the apps and create revenue streams across multiple platforms, devices and operating systems. It works not only on the IT side but also on the marketing side of the coin for customers.

Nathan Kerry, July’s senior vice president of Global Client Management and Channels said that sports brands realize there’s enormous value in mobile, from creating a loyal fan base to generating more revenue. He noted that by nature, sports fans want to be engaged and be a part of the action. Sports were one of the company’s primary focuses when it was formed.

For the sports developer the company has a huge range of services and tools. A quick look at its modules include ones for real time score updates, photos and video interaction, alert and push notifications, to name a few. Sports development was the foundation of the company and it has now been expanding into new markets.

Its platform also provides a live events package and the ability to scale dynamically. Keys in this changing time also include free automatic software updates and cross platform support that continues to grow as additional products are released.

Kerry said that is just the beginning of what it brings to the table. It works with its clients to develop a cross platform strategy from the beginning, urging them to first create in HTML5 and then add any OS specific features afterwards. This way they build once for multiple platforms, and while there are some features that they might miss out the flip side of this is that it avoids issues like OS fragmentation such as is occurring in the Android space.

Another feature the company brings is its partners, and the role they play varies a great deal. In some cases such as Amazon’s web services it introduces the client the opportunity to scale operations quickly and easily. Then there are partners such as PayPal and ComScore, which can be delivered as installable modules in a finished product.

In the past many companies focused on getting an app out now and then integrating it with the rest of its properties, now more are taking a holistic approach, seeking to have that integration, service and support from the start, Kerry said. The importance of this is that it encourages sponsors to support apps and mobile environments since unstable and poorly devised platforms will not gain any significant sponsorship, he noted.

For app developer it provides basically anything and everything that they might want to get a solid basis for their development. Starting with an Eclipse-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE) it also delivers a suite of prebuilt modules that still have the ability to be configured for specific uses by the developer. Included is a range of tools for building, testing, debugging, running and managing apps all built around its Mi Platform. July Systems also offers discovery, design and development teams as well as providing operations and support for customers.

While July has an impressive list of major clients, the company is now seeing strong growth from smaller developers and it has tools for them. It has a Mi Platform Express, basically a quickstart program that would allow a company to create apps without real programming know-how, simply using marketing functions.

The quickstart program and the company’s modular approach enable mobile developer to rapidly prototype a project, say a tie in with an advertiser for a specific event, and do the development in a day rather than weeks, The compressed cycle leads to the ability to continually deliver fresh content to the market while bringing in sponsors and advertisers for new endeavors.

As customers become increasingly familiar with mobile apps for sports and other events the professionalism of the app along with the back room infrastructure will be increasingly important in order to maintain user interest and so enable the creation of revenue. Tools and development partners such as July Systems will only become increasingly important because of this trend.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, ESPN, iOS, July Systems, Social Media Data

Watching Golf this Week: The John Deere Classic, and Senior Open

July 12, 2012 by 1 Comment

So who needs the big names? If you, like me, watched the end of last weekend’s Greenbrier tourney you saw some top-notch golf from guys I guarantee you never heard of before — and saw Ted Potter Jr. show off some stones, going eagle-birdie to get into a playoff with um, um, with… oh yeah, Troy Kelly, and win.

I love these guys. Tiger who? Phil who? The anonymous-guy PGA could continue this weekend as the pros head to a spot near and dear to my heart — western Illinois, aka Quad Cities territory — for some Midwestern heat, corn bugs, fireflies and the John Deere Classic, where Steve Stricker will be trying to win the thing for the fourth time in a row. And just for good luck, Stricker’s wife will be carrying his bag.

With Zach Johnson as your highest-ranked star, it’s a field that may have you saying “who’s he” a bunch. But as last week showed, maybe that’s not so bad.

So if you need a bunch of birdies before tuning in to the wind and gorse at the British Open next week, head on over to the Golf Channel and CBS (no online video this week) for a taste of the Midwest.

BONUS GOLF COVERAGE: If the John Deere isn’t your cup of tea — or even if it is, don’t forget that the U.S. Senior Open also takes place this week, in Lake Orion, Mich. See below for TV, which is basically ESPN Thursday-Friday and NBC Saturday-Sunday. There may be some online action via WatchESPN, but you need a compatible cable contract if so.

Here’s where to follow the action:

THE JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

(all times Eastern)
TV COVERAGE
Thursday, July 12 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Friday, July 13 — Golf Channel, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Saturday, July 14 — CBS, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Sunday, July 15 — CBS, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.

U.S. SENIOR OPEN TV
Thursday, July 12 — ESPN, 3 p.m. — 7 p.m.
Friday, July 13 — ESPN2, 3 p.m. — 7 p.m.
Saturday, July 14 — NBC, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Sunday, July 15 — NBC, 3 p.m. — 6 p.m.

RADIO
SIRIUS XM (Satellite)
12 p.m. — 6 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m. — 6 p.m., Sunday

ONLINE
No Live@ video this week — the PGA’s live online video doesn’t return until the Barclays in late August, so you will need to get your online fix from…

PGA SHOT TRACKER
If all you want is shots and distances (which can be addicting) get your fix via Shot Tracker.

FACEBOOK PAGE
Of course the John Deere Classic has a Facebook page. Like it.

And don’t forget the Senior Open Facebook page.

TOP TWITTER FEEDS TO FOLLOW
The John Deere Classic has its own feed.
Geoff Shackelford — well known golf writer. If you’re not following Geoff you are missing the online boat.
Golf Channel — official Golf Channel feed
@PGATOUR — official PGA Twitter feed
@StephanieWei — great golf writer who is a Twitter fiend. Check her Instagram stream for some cool shots of the Homestead, one of our favorite places.
Doug Ferguson is the lead golf writer for AP. Good Twitter insights that often aren’t part of your wire-service lead.

TOURNAMENT APP
This is new — at least to us — but if you are there the John Deere Classic has its own app, which looks like it has all the stuff the regular PGA app has plus some local info. Download away.

WHAT’S THE COURSE LIKE?
The tourney has some fine info on the TPC Deere Run. Here’s the course’s own website.

WHO WON THIS THING LAST YEAR?
Stricker. And the year before. And the year before.

LOCAL FLAVOR
I love that Wikipedia names five cities for the Quad cities. In the old days the hard one to get in trivia answers was East Moline, which if memory serves was bigger than Moline itself. Argue in the comments if you know better. We’ll link to the Quad Cities Times for our local coverage.

FEDEX CUP LEADERS
1. Tiger Woods, 1,952 points
2. Jason Dufner, 1,849
3. Hunter Mahan, 1,654
4. Bubba Watson, 1,617
5. Matt Kuchar, 1,423

See the full standings for the FedEx Cup points list.

WORLD GOLF RANKINGS
1. Luke Donald; 2. Rory McIlroy; 3. Lee Westwood; 4. Tiger Woods; 5. Webb Simpson.
See the official World Golf Ranking list.

Filed Under: Apps, CBS Sports, ESPN, Golf, Golf Channel, NBC Sports, PGA, Tiger Woods, US Open, WatchESPN Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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