The U.S. Open comes to The Olympic Club in San Francisco this week. A golf major in the heart of the tech universe deserves a killer mobile app. Can the USGA deliver?
In most ways, the U.S. Open Golf app has plenty of what golf fans will be looking for while following the tournament. There is a leaderboard, news feed, relevant tweets, and plenty of video discussing the course as well as player profiles. The interface is very consistent between the iPhone and Android versions. In fact, the home screen looks better in this case on Android with its emphasis on the large, san serif fonts.
Along with images and news updates, a radio stream is available for those who may not be able to catch the action on TV. It could also be useful for those on the grounds of the course trying to keep tabs on the action. This is the fifth time that The Olympic Club has hosted the tournament, so there is plenty of intriguing history and anecdotes to learn about.
The iPhone and Android apps are designed to allow anyone to follow the competition. Unfortunately, the app doesn’t really have anything extra for those who will be attending in San Francisco this week. For detailed info about all of the festivities, you are best off heading to the official USGA site.
The app is smooth and bug-free on both platforms (I tested it on an iPhone 4S and GSM Nexus S). By default the videos go full-screen on Android, which especially looked great on the 4-inch screen.
Another plus: the ad support was minimally invasive. Instead of a large banner taking up screen real estate (I’m looking at you ScoreCenter) there are permanent icons from IBM and American Express. Just avoid tapping that space to stay within the app and enjoy the golf action.
Downloading the U.S. Open Golf app for iPhone and Android is really a no-brainer for golf fans who want to connect further with this year’s national championship.
Download the U.S. Open Golf app from the App Store
Download the U.S. Open Golf app from Google Play
