The Open unlike any other: R&A reveal The Open for the Ages

What do you do when the Open isn’t going ahead? You create your own from past Opens, of course.

That is exactly what the R&A are doing for Open week – or “Open week” as we should probably refer to it – with The Open for the Ages, a celebratory broadcast that will see many of golf’s greatest Champion Golfers of the Year going head to head for the first time over the Old Course at St Andrews.

The Open for the Ages features 50 years of archive footage expertly edited and woven together with modern graphics and new commentary from the likes of Ewen Murray, Nick Dougherty, Butch Harmon and Iona Stephen to imagine a version of golf’s oldest major contested by legends of the sport including Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Seve Ballesteros, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo, and Rory McIlroy.

The winner of The Open for the Ages will be determined NTT Data’s technology, that will utilise each player’s career statistics, along with a fan vote.

“Golf is one of the very few sports where this concept can be created and brought to life,” said Martin Slumbers, the chief executive of the R&A. “The way in which the sport is filmed allows us a truly unique opportunity to reimagine 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.”

The Open for the Ages: Round 1 highlights

The Open for the Ages: Round 2 highlights

The Open for the Ages: Round 3 highlights

The Open for the Ages: Round 4

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Alex Perry

Alex has been the editor of National Club Golfer since 2017. A Devonian who enjoys wittering on about his south west roots, Alex moved north to join NCG after more than a decade in London, the last five of which were with ESPN. Away from golf, Alex follows Torquay United and spends too much time playing his PlayStation or his guitar and not enough time practising his short game.