“What if…” is brought to you by the latest in film editing technologies and the creative minds of golf’s innovative thinkers and authorities. It is one thing to wonder how Jack Nicklaus might have fared against Rory McIlroy or Tiger Woods in the Open Championship and, indeed, many have been the 19th hole discussions on this sort of thing; but now we will have a technological whiz-bang production that will allow both data and fans to, somehow, anoint an overall champion, of a sort.
In a year bereft of the real thing, Open Championship Patrons HSBC and NTT Data have combined footage from the past 50 years to produce simulated head-to-head contests by the great champions. The winner of ‘The Open For The Ages’ will be determined by a data model developed by NTT DATA, that will combine the votes of over 10,000 fans with player career statistics to calculate the victorious golfer.
Now, just who might that be? Care to wager a pint o’ Best? Surely Young Tom was the best Open Champion of all time. If only there was footage of this young man in his prime.
The broadcast, with NBC as one of the partners, was shown Thursday, July 16 to Saturday, July 18, 2020.
Click here to watch the film on YouTube. It is about 3 hours, 15 minutes in length.
By the way, The Open website has lots of great history to enjoy, including footage of past champions and historic rounds. So, while you are visiting, have a look round. You’ll find some pleasant browsing in store for you.
