The Open For The Ages is a special made-for-television fictional edition of The Open Championship tournament of golf. Utilizing data analysis, a fan vote and 50 years of Open archive footage, it features 21 famous golfers including previous Open champions from various eras at the peak of their careers competing on the Old Course at St Andrews for the Claret Jug and the title of Champion Golfer. The event aired from 16-19 July 2020 – the same dates that the 2020 Open Championship was supposed to be held at Royal St George's Golf Club before being canceled by the global COVID-19 pandemic, which further led the tournament organizers to create the event.The Open For The Ages to recreate drama at St. Andrews PGA Tour
Nick Dougherty, Ewen Murray and Iona Stephen provided commentary, with highlight videos being released for the first three rounds and the full final round being broadcast on Sunday, including on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and the Golf Channel on NBC in the United States.The Open For The Ages: The Commentary Team The Open Championship on YouTubeThe Open week marked by special celebration of The Open for The Ages Sky SportsThe Open for the Ages: Crowning the ultimate Open winner at the Old Course The Golf Channel on NBC
Course
HoleNameYardsPar HoleNameYardsPar1Burn3764 10Bobby Jones38642Dyke453411High (In)17433Cartgate (Out)397412Heathery (In)34844Ginger Beer480413Hole O'Cross (In)46545Hole O'Cross (Out)568514Long61856Heathery (Out)412415Cartgate (In)45547High (Out)371416Corner of the Dyke42348Short175317Road49549End352418Tom Morris3574Out3,58436In3,72136Source:Total7,30572
Entrants The 21 players chosen were all major champions, with all but two having been named Champion Golfer of the Year at least once. Between them, they had won 107 major championships including 43 Open Championships in seven different decades. They represented nine countries between them and included the major championship victory record holder in Jack Nicklaus (18) and the last man to hold all four major championships at once in Tiger Woods (2000 U.S. Open, 2000 Open Championship, 2000 PGA Championship and 2001 Masters), as well as three career Grand Slam winners in Gary Player, Nicklaus and Woods.
In chronological order of first achieving best Open Championship result PlayerCountryBest Open Finish (Venues/Years)Total Majors Peter Thomson 5 wins (Royal Birkdale 1954, St Andrews 1955, Royal Liverpool 1956, Royal Lytham & St Annes 1958, Royal Birkdale 1965) 5 Gary Player 3 wins (Muirfield 1959, Carnoustie 1968, Royal Lytham & St Annes 1974) 9 Arnold Palmer 2 wins (Royal Birkdale 1961, Royal Troon 1962) 7 Jack Nicklaus 3 wins (Muirfield 1966, St Andrews 1970, St Andrews 1978) 18 Lee Trevino 2 wins (Royal Birkdale 1971, Muirfield 1972) 6 Tom Watson 5 wins (Carnoustie 1975, Turnberry 1977, Muirfield 1980, Royal Troon 1982, Royal Birkdale 1983) 8 Seve Ballesteros 3 wins (Royal Lytham & St Annes 1979, St Andrews 1984, Royal Lytham & St Annes 1988) 5 Greg Norman 2 wins (Turnberry 1986, Royal St George's 1993) 2 Nick Faldo 3 wins (Muirfield 1987, St Andrews 1990, Muirfield 1992) 6 Fred Couples 2 3rd places (Royal Birkdale 1991, St Andrews 2005) 1 José María Olazábal 2 3rd places (Muirfield 1992, St Andrews 2005) 2 Nick Price 1 win (Turnberry 1994) 3 John Daly 1 win (St Andrews 1995) 2 Tiger Woods 3 wins (St Andrews 2000, St Andrews 2005, Royal Liverpool 2006) 15 Ernie Els 2 wins (Muirfield 2002, Royal Lytham & St Annes 2012) 4 Pádraig Harrington 2 wins (Carnoustie 2007, Royal Birkdale 2008) 3 Louis Oosthuizen 1 win (St Andrews 2010) 1 Rory McIlroy 1 win (Royal Liverpool 2014) 4 Zach Johnson 1 win (St Andrews 2015) 2 Henrik Stenson 1 win (Royal Troon 2016) 1 Jordan Spieth 1 win (Royal Birkdale 2017) 3
Final leaderboard The winner was determined by a fan vote registering more than 10,000 responses, and a data model developed in partnership with regular Open Championship sponsor NTT Data utilizing the fan vote along with player career statistics and historical data from The Open to calculate who would win the Claret Jug during this dream event. Added weight was given to performance at St Andrews.The Open For The Ages: How The Winner Was Decided The Open Championship
Jack Nicklaus, who was judged the Champion Golfer over runner-up Tiger Woods by a single shot, said,The Open For The Ages: Nicklaus 'very flattered' to triumph The Open Championship Asked about how such a clash of eras might be in real life with each player at his best, he said,
The final leaderboard ran thus:
PlacePlayerCountryFinal RoundTotal ScoreTotal To Par1 Jack Nicklaus 68 272 -162 Tiger Woods 69 273 -153 Seve Ballesteros 69 274 -14T4 Tom Watson 70 275 -13 Nick Faldo 70 275 -13T6 Rory McIlroy 63 276 -12 Louis Oosthuizen 70 276 -128 Jordan Spieth 71 277 -119 John Daly 72 278 -10T10 Ernie Els 66 279 -9 Zach Johnson 66 279 -912 Greg Norman 67 281 -713 Henrik Stenson 69 282 -6T14 Lee Trevino 69 283 -5 Pádraig Harrington 70 283 -5T16 Nick Price 71 284 -4 José María Olazábal 69 284 -4T18 Peter Thomson 71 285 -3 Fred Couples 70 285 -3 Gary Player 71 285 -321 Arnold Palmer 71 286 -2
References
External links The Open For The Ages (Official site) The Open For The Ages on YouTube Full Final Round Broadcast (YouTube)