Thousands of fans flocked to the 18th hole of the Old Course at St. Andrews during the second round of the 2022 Open Championship to catch a last glimpse of Tiger Woods on the legendary links.
But turns out Woods’ presence will endure in the town where he won two of his three Open titles.
The Fife Council has granted Woods and partner Justin Timberlake planning permissions to convert St. Andrews New Picture House Cinema into the second location of the pair’s T-Squared Social sports bar.
The first location from Woods and Timberlake opened in Midtown Manhattan last September. (The bar’s name pays homage to the initial of Woods’ first name and Timberlake’s last.)
The bar’s setting will be on North St., in the heart of St. Andrews, less than 200 yards from the first tee of the Old Course. To house T-Squared, the 90-year-old triplex theater will undergo extensive renovations, including the refurbishment of one of the theater’s full-sized screens for movie nights and live-sports programming. These updates will see the theater continue to exist as a public good for the community of St. Andrews during and after the period when it is transformed into a more modern space for T-Squared Social.
According to the BBC, the Fife Council said the application from real-estate company Nexus Luxury Collection — in which Timberlake and Woods are investors along with 8AM Golf (GOLF.com’s parent company) — would “protect and enhance the character and appearance of the conservation area.”
“The planned T-Squared Social investment will enable the local community, students and visitors, the opportunity to experience a broader range of cinema, dining and entertainment at the popular venue,” David Morris, the cinema’s managing director, said in a press release from the initial announcement in October. “The New Picture House will continue to operate as usual until further notice. The Directors look forward to supporting T-Squared Social with their development plans and to welcoming new and existing customers into the New Picture House on completion of the re-development works.”
The New Picture House Cinema originally opened in 1930 and seats 910 people, but the BBC reported the cinema’s owners said it operates at just 10 percent capacity and is “no longer a viable stand-alone cinema operation.”
According to the BBC, terms of approval for the project require work to begin for the conversion of the cinema within the next three years.
Woods has played in five Opens at the Old Course; Timberlake also is familiar with the course as a regular participant in the DP World Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
A golf diehard, Timberlake has become one of the game’s biggest celebrity investors, working closely with his strategic partners at 8AM Golf across the company’s golf-focused assets.
