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The Open For The Ages

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The Open for the Ages
Tournament information
Dates16-19 July 2020
LocationSt Andrews, Fife, Scotland
Course(s)Old Course, St Andrews Links
Statistics
Par72
Length7,305 yards (6,680 m)
Field21 players
Cutnone
Champion
United States Jack Nicklaus
272 (−16)

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]

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

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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

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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  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  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

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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

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  1. ^ The Open For The Ages to recreate drama at St. Andrews PGA Tour
  2. ^ The Open For The Ages: The Commentary Team The Open Championship on YouTube
  3. ^ The Open week marked by special celebration of The Open for The Ages Sky Sports
  4. ^ The Open for the Ages: Crowning the ultimate Open winner at the Old Course The Golf Channel on NBC
  5. ^ "St Andrews – The Old Course". Archived from the original on 21 September 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  6. ^ The Open For The Ages: How The Winner Was Decided The Open Championship
  7. ^ The Open For The Ages: Nicklaus 'very flattered' to triumph The Open Championship
  8. ^ "Leaderboard For The Open For The Ages". The Open Championship. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
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