ESPN

Thanks to Play the Pros, you can take on the real Tiger in live tournaments.

You just sank a 30-foot virtual birdie to beat your friend who is playing "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10" as (who else?) Tiger Woods, but what if you had to sink that same putt to beat the real Tiger's score?

Can you already feel your collar tightening?

That's the premise behind "Tiger 10's" innovative new feature called Play the Pros, where gamers will go online to compete in tournaments while putting their scores up against the real PGA tournament leaderboards.

And to make sure gamers don't get the upper hand on the real pros, when you sign in to the tournament, you're signing up to play a more challenging, more realistic game of golf than the typical "Tiger" experience. That means that the courses in the games are going to feel like a major with faster greens and thicker rough. It means that you're going to experience the same weather conditions at the course thanks to the rain, wind and sun being updated on your machine on a hole-by-hole basis. And it also means that gamers won't be able to add spin or utilize the putt preview when trying to out-Tiger Tiger at his own game, both in real and polygonal life.

What this also means is that gamers aren't just signing up for the final round. When EA Sports says you're playing a Live Tournament, they mean it, as gamers will actually play all four rounds at PGA events like the US Open, playing one round per day while braving the terrain and top scores at courses like Turnberry, Bay Hill, Torrey Pines and Bethpage Black.

“

You can actually play alongside the PGA Tournaments while they're going on. We release right before the U.S. Open, so you can go in and play Bethpage in U.S. Open conditions against the actual leaderboard as it's going on. So while Tiger's playing his first round at Bethpage, you can be playing your first round as well.

” -- "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10" Producer Travis Sailer

"You can actually play alongside the PGA Tournaments while they're going on," says the game's producer, Travis Sailer. "One of the great things about our new ship date in June is that it's more aligned with the Tour. We release right before the U.S. Open, so you can go in and play Bethpage in U.S. Open conditions against the actual leaderboard as it's going on. So while Tiger's playing his first round at Bethpage, you can be playing your first round as well.

"And you'll actually get updates as you play, so you'll know when Tiger makes a birdie in real life and it will be up to you to match him."

But Play the Pros isn't the only type of online Live Tournament in the game. EA Sports will also be hosting both daily and weekly tournaments for those looking to match their skills against the best gamers across the world.

In the daily tournaments, gamers play a round and are then asked whether or not they wish to post their scores. If you think you've got a winner, go ahead and post it to the leaderboard, otherwise you can start back at the first hole and try for a lower round. Each of these tournaments will be open for 24 hours and gamers can play using amateur or pro conditions (basically, whether or not you want to use things like the putt preview). Throughout the tournament, you'll be able to see the scorecards of the top five players, and when you complete the course, you'll even be given a projected ranking that helps you determine whether or not you want to try the course one more time before posting your score.

EA will be hosting both weekly and daily tournaments.

"It's quite addicting," says Sailer. "You'll post a score and then you'll see somebody beat it by one, and that competition really makes you better. You learn the tricks of the trade on how to play specific courses because you're trying to cut your score by one or two strokes in order to win the next tournament at that course."

And if you're looking for an even more hardcore experience, then EA Sports is also ready to deliver up to four rounds of virtual golf in weekly tournaments. In these longer contests, gamers can play all rounds in one day or choose to play them one day at a time, but the difference is, you don't get to see the leaderboard until all of your rounds for the tournament are complete, so you have to be a lot more dedicated to making every stroke count, just like real life.

Adds Sailer: "We can set the criteria for all of these tournaments, and we're able to determine how difficult we want specific conditions in a course to be, and that will help make every tournament feel unique."

And with EA Sports also claiming that there will be yet-to-be-determined prizing to go along with these tournaments, the potential of these online competitions could be a game-changer for the "Tiger" series.

Now if only these prizes would involve Tiger's bank account.

Live Tournaments can be played on the 360, PS3, and Wii when "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10" ships to stores June 8.