• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, April 2, 2008

In its first year covering the first two rounds of the Masters golf tournament, ESPN will offer the event simultaneously on-air and online. The tournament will be held Thursday and Friday, April 10 and 11. ESPN will air the event on both its flagship network and broadband site ESPN360.com.

In addition, live camera shots of play on the famed 15th and 16th holes will be available on masters.org.

ESPN.com will occasionally give visitors snippets of live coverage. A day before the tournament, for the first time ever, the par-three content will be on ESPN and ESPN360 live. The 38-year-old event includes past champions and current stars.

ESPN announcer Mike Tirico will be the lead voice on the coverage of all events. CBS, which will carry the final two rounds, will produce the telecasts on ESPN.

ESPN takes over the early-round package from USA this year.