The Open Championship will be replaced by a virtual tournament that will see players from different era’s competing against each other, the R&A has said.
“The Open for The Ages” will see current players such as Rory McIlroy go up against legends Jack Nicklaus’ after this year’s Open Championship was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The virtual tournament will be played through a combination of seamlessly edited archive footage, modern graphics and commentary, with the winner decided through a data model based on career statistics and voting by fans.
The event will run from 16-19 July – the original date for this year’s Open – and will be broadcast globally through The Open’s social media channels.
Martin Slumbers, chief executive of R&A, said in a statement: “Golf is one of the very few sports where this concept can be created and brought to life.
“The way in which the sport is filmed allows us a truly unique opportunity to re-imagine history and bring together the greatest players from many different eras on a scale which has not been done before, either in golf or in other sports.”
– TEAMtalk media
