The Open For The Ages
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.[1]
 | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 16-19 July 2020 |
| Location | St Andrews, Fife, Scotland |
| Course(s) | Old Course, St Andrews Links |
| Statistics | |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 7,305 yards (6,680 m) |
| Field | 21 players |
| Cut | none |
| Champion | |
 Jack Nicklaus | |
| 272 (−16) | |
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.[2][3][4]
Course
| Hole | Name | Yards | Par | Hole | Name | Yards | Par | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burn | 376 | 4 | 10 | Bobby Jones | 386 | 4 | |
| 2 | Dyke | 453 | 4 | 11 | High (In) | 174 | 3 | |
| 3 | Cartgate (Out) | 397 | 4 | 12 | Heathery (In) | 348 | 4 | |
| 4 | Ginger Beer | 480 | 4 | 13 | Hole O'Cross (In) | 465 | 4 | |
| 5 | Hole O'Cross (Out) | 568 | 5 | 14 | Long | 618 | 5 | |
| 6 | Heathery (Out) | 412 | 4 | 15 | Cartgate (In) | 455 | 4 | |
| 7 | High (Out) | 371 | 4 | 16 | Corner of the Dyke | 423 | 4 | |
| 8 | Short | 175 | 3 | 17 | Road | 495 | 4 | |
| 9 | End | 352 | 4 | 18 | Tom Morris | 357 | 4 | |
| Out | 3,584 | 36 | In | 3,721 | 36 | |||
| Source:[5] | Total | 7,305 | 72 | |||||
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
| Player | Country | Best Open Finish (Venues/Years) | Total Majors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Thomson | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Australia | 5 wins (Royal Birkdale 1954, St Andrews 1955, Royal Liverpool 1956, Royal Lytham & St Annes 1958, Royal Birkdale 1965) | 5 |
| Gary Player |  South Africa | 3 wins (Muirfield 1959, Carnoustie 1968, Royal Lytham & St Annes 1974) | 9 |
| Arnold Palmer | United States | 2 wins (Royal Birkdale 1961, Royal Troon 1962) | 7 |
| Jack Nicklaus | United States | 3 wins (Muirfield 1966, St Andrews 1970, St Andrews 1978) | 18 |
| Lee Trevino | United States | 2 wins (Royal Birkdale 1971, Muirfield 1972) | 6 |
| Tom Watson | United States | 5 wins (Carnoustie 1975, Turnberry 1977, Muirfield 1980, Royal Troon 1982, Royal Birkdale 1983) | 8 |
| Seve Ballesteros |  Spain | 3 wins (Royal Lytham & St Annes 1979, St Andrews 1984, Royal Lytham & St Annes 1988) | 5 |
| Greg Norman | Australia | 2 wins (Turnberry 1986, Royal St George's 1993) | 2 |
| Nick Faldo |  England | 3 wins (Muirfield 1987, St Andrews 1990, Muirfield 1992) | 6 |
| Fred Couples | United States | 2 3rd places (Royal Birkdale 1991, St Andrews 2005) | 1 |
| José María Olazábal | Spain | 2 3rd places (Muirfield 1992, St Andrews 2005) | 2 |
| Nick Price |  Zimbabwe | 1 win (Turnberry 1994) | 3 |
| John Daly | United States | 1 win (St Andrews 1995) | 2 |
| Tiger Woods | United States | 3 wins (St Andrews 2000, St Andrews 2005, Royal Liverpool 2006) | 15 |
| Ernie Els | South Africa | 2 wins (Muirfield 2002, Royal Lytham & St Annes 2012) | 4 |
| Pádraig Harrington |  Ireland | 2 wins (Carnoustie 2007, Royal Birkdale 2008) | 3 |
| Louis Oosthuizen | South Africa | 1 win (St Andrews 2010) | 1 |
| Rory McIlroy | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Northern Ireland | 1 win (Royal Liverpool 2014) | 4 |
| Zach Johnson | United States | 1 win (St Andrews 2015) | 2 |
| Henrik Stenson |  Sweden | 1 win (Royal Troon 2016) | 1 |
| Jordan Spieth | United States | 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.[6]
Jack Nicklaus, who was judged the Champion Golfer over runner-up Tiger Woods by a single shot, said,[7]
"Well, it's very nice. I'm very flattered that enough people thought that I played decent golf, that they voted for me."
Asked about how such a clash of eras might be in real life with each player at his best, he said,
"I think it would have been fun. I think we all would like to do it. I'd like to see how Bobby Jones played and I'm sure Bobby Jones would have liked to see how we played. But I think Champions in all eras would be Champions in other eras. If you're a good player, you're a good player. The equipment's different, the game's different, but I think they would adjust to it."
The final leaderboard ran thus:[8]
| Place | Player | Country | Final Round | Total Score | Total To Par |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jack Nicklaus | United States | 68 | 272 | -16 |
| 2 | Tiger Woods | United States | 69 | 273 | -15 |
| 3 | Seve Ballesteros | Spain | 69 | 274 | -14 |
| T4 | Tom Watson | United States | 70 | 275 | -13 |
| Nick Faldo | England | 70 | 275 | -13 | |
| T6 | Rory McIlroy | Northern Ireland | 63 | 276 | -12 |
| Louis Oosthuizen | South Africa | 70 | 276 | -12 | |
| 8 | Jordan Spieth | United States | 71 | 277 | -11 |
| 9 | John Daly | United States | 72 | 278 | -10 |
| T10 | Ernie Els | South Africa | 66 | 279 | -9 |
| Zach Johnson | United States | 66 | 279 | -9 | |
| 12 | Greg Norman | Australia | 67 | 281 | -7 |
| 13 | Henrik Stenson | Sweden | 69 | 282 | -6 |
| T14 | Lee Trevino | United States | 69 | 283 | -5 |
| Pádraig Harrington | Ireland | 70 | 283 | -5 | |
| T16 | Nick Price | Zimbabwe | 71 | 284 | -4 |
| José María Olazábal | Spain | 69 | 284 | -4 | |
| T18 | Peter Thomson | Australia | 71 | 285 | -3 |
| Fred Couples | United States | 70 | 285 | -3 | |
| Gary Player | South Africa | 71 | 285 | -3 | |
| 21 | Arnold Palmer | United States | 71 | 286 | -2 |
References
- The Open For The Ages to recreate drama at St. Andrews PGA Tour
- The Open For The Ages: The Commentary Team The Open Championship on YouTube
- The Open week marked by special celebration of The Open for The Ages Sky Sports
- The Open for the Ages: Crowning the ultimate Open winner at the Old Course The Golf Channel on NBC
- "St Andrews – The Old Course". Archived from the original on 21 September 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
- The Open For The Ages: How The Winner Was Decided The Open Championship
- The Open For The Ages: Nicklaus 'very flattered' to triumph The Open Championship
- "Leaderboard For The Open For The Ages". The Open Championship. Retrieved 31 July 2020.