U.S. Open Site Sets Live Internet Records


June 19, 2008

San Diego - The United States Golf Association announced Tuesday that USOPEN.com set a record for live concurrent streaming viewers during the playoff round of the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego.

More than 2.5 million streams were served on USOPEN.com, surpassing all previous single sporting event numbers. The numbers peaked at more than 600,000 concurrent streams during Monday's playoff.  

USOPEN.com streamed the Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott and Tiger Woods grouping on the first two days. Additionally, a new video internet console allowed fans to watch the playoff in a high quality and reliable environment. The technology was provided through its newest corporate partner IBM, which designed and hosted the site. 

"USOPEN.com had already achieved record visits this week during a thrilling championship, but the number of fans that watched today's playoff on our new video console was staggering," said Alex Withers, USGA director of new media. "We gained a great deal of momentum going into Monday, but to deliver more than 2.5 million streams in one day really shows how USOPEN.com got fans closer to the action than ever before.

"Fans on both USOPEN.com and ESPN.com were able to view the playoff live on the new USOPEN.com video console," said Withers.

Other innovations to the USGA site were in-depth course analysis, mobile leader boards, live interactive gaming and fan message boards.