In place of what would’ve been Open Championship Sunday, the R&A has erected a new kind of golf experiment. The Open organizers spent months orienting a first-of-its-kind golf experience, using 50 years of archival footage to edit together a realistic Open Championship experience.
The Open for the Ages, as its called, is using the archival footage to pit 20 of golf’s greatest players against one another in a faux tournament at the Old Course at St. Andrews.
Producers utilized a statistical regression of players’ Old Course stats alongside a fan vote to determine the winner and leaderboard for the event. Then, they edited together the archival footage to resemble a real-life final round broadcast, digitally altering grandstands, players and even the pigment of the St. Andrews grass to provide a realistic feel for viewers.
After more than 1,000 hours of editing between the R&A and IMG Productions, the final product is available to fans on the R&A’s YouTube page starting at 6:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, July 19 (you can watch the entire, three-hour final round at the link here).
James Colgan is a news and features editor at GOLF, writing stories for the website and magazine. He manages the Hot Mic, GOLF’s media vertical, and utilizes his on-camera experience across the brand’s platforms. Prior to joining GOLF, James graduated from Syracuse University, during which time he was a caddie scholarship recipient (and astute looper) on Long Island, where he is from. He can be reached at james.colgan@golf.com.