The PGA Tour will give one lucky fan the chance to cover two rounds of the 2010 PGA Tour Championship for PGATour.com–the grand prize of the PGA Tour’s first ever social media contest which was announced earlier today.

Golf fanatics are encouraged to upload a one minute video explaining why they’re golf’s ultimate fan and why they should be chosen for the contest. The public will then vote on the entries. The top 10 entries become finalists, whom are then judged by a PGA panel of experts. The winning fan will then fly to Atlanta to cover the Championship September 22-23.

The winner will accompany the PGA Tour’s Social Media Coordinator and assist at press conferences and special events involving tour players on both days. The winner will also cover the Championship by tweeting from a new PGA Tour Twitter account, @PGATourFan, and contribute articles and other content to PGATour.com’s “Live Report” and the Tour’s YouTube page. “The winner will have a unique opportunity to ‘take the mic’ and get a one-of-a-kind, behind-the-scenes look at the Tour Championship,” says PGATour.com Executive Producer Scott Gutterman.

Gutterman explains why the PGA Tour is launching its first social media contest now. “We were looking for a way to directly involve fans in the coverage of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup this year,” says Gutterman. “Our contact with our fans has grown through social media this year and we thought this would be an opportunity to engage them more directly in our events.” Gutterman says that golf fans have plenty of reason to be excited as the Tour views this contest as a “proving ground” for future PGA Tour social media based contests.

Like the sound of covering the PGA Tour Championship? Submissions are due by September 3. Learn more about the contest and submit your entry here.

Rock Software CEO and President John Shahidi knows a thing or two about developing official apps for athletes. His company has developed official iPhone apps for NFL stars Chad Ochocinco, Jared Allen and NBA star Dwight Howard. I interviewed John via email to learn how Rock Software approaches app development, his assessment of the current market and thoughts on growth potential.

How did Rock Software begin?

I was sitting in my living room with my brother Sam and buddy Jordan (Palmer) and we all just got iPhones but couldn’t find any good apps to download. My brother came across the RunPee.com site and contacted the owner to make their site mobile and create the app. Jordan plays for the Bengals and when he went to camp that summer and came across Ochocinco & Ocho asked “why are you making apps like this and not a real app like one for me?” Pretty much history from there.

Do you think athletes’ social media apps will become the norm in the future, a sort of virtual trading card? Why or why not?

It depends on who makes it. They can be glorified baseball cards or even a glorified website but you have to get the right people to build them and understand the athlete/celebrities brand.

The Chad Ochocinco iPhone app sold for $2.99 when it debuted in September, 2009. The app is now available for free, as are all of Rock Software’s iPhone apps. How has your business model changed since the Ochocinco app debuted in September of 2009?

The users who are downloading Chad’s app are his diehard fans. None of us, Chad included, felt right about charging his diehard fans for the app. We can figure everything else out later.

Recently Rock Software released an iPad version of the Chad Ochocinco app. What are some of your expectations for the iPad genre of apps? How will your iPad apps differ from their iPhone counterparts?

We are actually more excited about making iPad apps then iPhone. I can’t really disclose why “yet” but stand by…

On your website you state that your company is currently developing Android apps. What are your plans for Android?

We are building an Android team right now. They are getting pretty aggressive and in the tech world, you can never bet against Google.

Aside from NBA teams with official iPhone apps, the sports industry really hasn’t seen much widespread adoption of team or league specific apps capable of selling tickets or merchandise to fans. Do you think this is something we will see in the future?

Oh yes, we are actually working on an iPhone and iPad app for an NFL team right now. It will be focused giving fans access to tickets, online store and something more that you can’t get from the homepage – Sam is proposing a further on the cheerleaders and also cheerleaders interviewing players, exclusively on the app.

As someone who is active in the social media and app development spaces, what are some of your impressions of the state of the sports industry in social media in general?

It has changed a ton. I was lucky enough to get into the sports biz right in the beginning of it when Twitter just had Shaq. Now it’s weird if an athlete does not have a Twitter account. Now fans have direct access to athletes without the media giving you what they want to see. Chad was the most hated guy in the NFL 2 years ago and now is the most loved.

In what ways do social media sites like Facebook and Twitter fit into Rock Software’s current business model and social media presence?

They both have helped. The apps, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube page and homepage should all be in sync with one another.

What’s one aspect about being an iPhone app developer that might surprise sports fans or your audience in general?

It is not easy. It’s a ton of hard work. Not really to develop but to make sure there aren’t any bugs. Not complaining though, developing these things are fun.

What’s your favorite thing about sports in the social media space? Least favorite thing?

I have met a lot of cool people, especially clients. I met Larry Fitzgerald, Erin Andrews, Ryan Grant, DJ Drama and a lot of agents and managers on Twitter. Least favorite thing are the stupid questions.

This afternoon LeBron James finally joined Twitter as @KingJames. Fellow NBA superstar Chris Paul broke the news with a tweet and an ESPN report confirms that the account does indeed belong to James. Given all the interest in where James will land this off-season, wouldn’t it be something if he made his announcement on Twitter?

Minor League Baseball’s Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Phillies’ AAA affiliate, are one of the first pro teams with their own iPhone app. The IronPigs are offering their app for free for a limited time to celebrate the app’s launch earlier this month.

The IronPigs app allows fans to listen to live game audio, purchase tickets, read stats and headlines and even check up on the latest weather. I emailed IronPigs General Manager Kurt Landes to get his thoughts on the app, the IronPigs’ social media presence and what he views as the future of smart phone apps in the sports industry.

When did the IronPigs decide to develop their own iPhone app? Was this something fans had asked about?

We initially gauged the feasibility of doing an iPhone app only 2-3 months ago.  Once we received a recommendation and realized we could launch an iPhone app within a relatively short period of time we decided to go for it.  Our fans are always looking for new, exciting and interactive ways to associate themsleves with our team and our organization.  Knowing how iPhones are so prevalent, it was a smart promotional effort choosing to put ourselves in the actual hands and pockets of our fans.

The IronPigs maintain a strong presence on social media sites and host the 2010 Triple-A All-Star Game at Coca-Cola Park on July 14. How have fans reacted to the team’s social media presence, especially as it relates to the All-Star Game and other events at the stadium?

We have made it a priority to tap all social media outlets in an effort to interact with our fans on a more consistent basis.  We have hundreds of fans that each day interact with different IronPigs social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in addition to our brand-new app.  We have had an unbelievably positive reaction to our App, with over 1,300 downloads in just three days, extremely positive customer reviews and top 25 rankings in the sports category of the App Store on iTunes.  Social media is a significant tool within our overall marketing campaign and we make sure it’s incorporated into all of our stadium and fan promotions.  Specific to the All-Star Game, we introduced ticket sales to the event by creating a viral personalized video to our fan base that created a huge buzz and led to the game and related events selling out six months beforehand.

While fans can purchase tickets through the iPhone app, the app currently takes fans through the website purchase page via the app. Is a dedicated purchase page something the organization may add in the future?

Our online ticketing system is TIcketReturn and they do not currently have a software development kit that supports the iPhone.  Yes, we are hopeful to have a dedicated purchase screen as soon as that feature is available to us from TicketReturn.  We also would like to offer  the opportunity for fans to display their seating bar code(s) on their phone rather than on individual hard tickets to gain access to the ballpark in the future.

What are some of your future plans with the team’s iPhone app? Do you think we will see more official team iPhone/iPad and Android apps in the future?

There is great potential for future versions and upgrades of the current App.  It will continually become more interactive as more technologies are introduced.  In the next week, we will debut an interactive game to go along with our in-park “The Great Pork Race” at Coca-Cola Park. And yes, we are hopeful to launch Android, Blackberry and iPad counterparts soon.

What do you view as the biggest challenge that sports teams face with regards to social media? How do you address that challenge?

Staying on the cusp of all of the new mediums and technologies can be a difficult task but by dedicating our efforts to a few of the more popular sites (Facebook, Twitter) we have been able to have a number of positive responses.  Overall, we’ve always taken the initiative that we want to be the first to offer our fans any number of new technologies as they occur.  For us, it’s not just about providing the service and convenience, it’s also about having our fans understand and be excited that we continually invest in new ways to “wow” them and when we do, it’s done in a first-class manner.  Sports teams need to continually understand there are so many ways to interact with fans now.  It’s not enough to just have a web site and print pocket schedules anymore.

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Key points:

• The IronPigs’ app has been downloaded over 1,300 times in just three days
• An official app is a new way to “wow” your fans and extend your brand
  
• Ticketless entry to games is on the horizon

The IronPigs are not the only MiLB team with their own iPhone app. The Charleston RiverDogs, Fort Myers Miracle, Hudson Valley Renegades and St. Paul Saints are all owned by the Goldklang Group and have official apps available for $1.99 in the App Store. The Richmond Flying Squirrels also have a free iPhone app from developer Critical Technologies Group.

If your local team had an official app, would you download it? What are some of the features you’d want in your team’s official app? Are team apps the next big thing?

NBA free agency kicked off yesterday in what has been described as the most anticipated offseason in league history. Superstar free agents LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson are all on the move and hoops fans can’t stop talking about it.

Where will LeBron go? Will Wade and Bosh join him? What about Joe Johnson, who received a six year, $121 million dollar contract offer from Atlanta? While stars joining new teams during free agency is nothing new, something else about this offseason is: players on Twitter.

Bosh and Wade both maintain official Twitter accounts, as do many NBA players. Yet never before have sports fans had the chance to interact with their hoops heroes so directly during free agency as they have done this offseason. Speculation amongst fans and the media grow with each tweet, as Techcrunch reported this morning. Ultimately Twitter is just another way for players to tease fans and the media about where they’ll go but does present a different way of interacting with players than in years past.

Has following stars like Bosh and Wade made free agency more interesting to you? What about the constant speculation from the media and fans? Sound off in the comments.