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2015 British Open

• thebigeasy707 5,885 Posts

  Fri, May 15 2015 9:24 PM

  Just wondering...since the 2015 British Open course is St Andrews, can we expect to see it here on WGT. It's been a while since we had a VBO.

  Maybe others have posted similar queries, I just never trolled the forums.

   

  tbe

• ApexPC 3,164 Posts

  Thu, May 21 2015 9:05 AM

  It is my understanding that for a short time WGT had an agreement with the Royal and Ancient, similar to WGT's agreement with the USGA, to add British Open venues to WGT.

  But that agreement with the R&A ended after WGT had added just 2 British Open venues, the 2010 Open venue - St. Andrews, and the 2011 Open venue - Royal St. George's.

  Had the agreement remained in effect we would today also have Royal Lytham & St. Annes, Muirfield, & Royal Liverpool.

  So no. I don't think we can expect to see a 2015 VBO on WGT.

   

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Thu, May 21 2015 9:12 AM

  That might explain why there are only 2 courses but WGT already has whatever rights they need to use the course that's being used in the BO this year. Witness the Best of courses as an example. 

  The last Open played at SA was a huge success here. It was on the heels of the US Open at BPB and it was a great year for WGT. IIRC, AvatarLee won it and a trip over there for it. Repeating the event in 2015 is a great idea, IMO.  :-)

• oilyrag 875 Posts

  Thu, May 21 2015 9:31 AM

  see virtual tour

  "the st andrews classic" in july - that's as close as your gonna get

• borntobesting 9,625 Posts

  Thu, May 21 2015 9:47 AM

  ApexPC:

  It is my understanding that for a short time WGT had an agreement with the Royal and Ancient, similar to WGT's agreement with the USGA, to add British Open venues to WGT.

  But that agreement with the R&A ended after WGT had added just 2 British Open venues, the 2010 Open venue - St. Andrews, and the 2011 Open venue - Royal St. George's.

  Had the agreement remained in effect we would today also have Royal Lytham & St. Annes, Muirfield, & Royal Liverpool.

  So no. I don't think we can expect to see a 2015 VBO on WGT.

   

  in a MisterWgt chat in 2012 Chad said that they had an agreement with R&A but not with the courses and most of the Open courses thought they were too good to be associated with a computer game. That is why we didn't get Royal Lytham & St.Annes. 

   

• MartyFlanagan 2,488 Posts

  Thu, May 21 2015 11:04 AM

  if they do a big tournament on st andrews i hope they dont call it the british open, there is no such thing as the british open, its the open or the open championship, its easy to remember by their website address theopen.com

  when did people start calling it the British open lol

  hopefully in the next ten years we will get another open venue or European course to play

• ApexPC 3,164 Posts

  Mon, May 25 2015 8:30 AM

  YankeeJim:

  That might explain why there are only 2 courses but WGT already has whatever rights they need to use the course that's being used in the BO this year. Witness the Best of courses as an example. 

  Of course WGT has use license rights to St Andrews and Royal St. Georges, else they would not be part of WGT.

  But those rights probably don't include WGT conducting a Virtual British Open, which is conducted by the R&A.

   

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Mon, May 25 2015 8:33 AM

  ApexPC:

  But those rights probably don't include WGT conducting a Virtual British Open, which is conducted by the R&A.

  Heh, I seriously doubt the R&A has anything to say about what WGT virtually does with a course they have rights to use. Besides, the R&A doesn't run VUSOs, they have enough to do with their own Open.

• DAZZA501 5,972 Posts

  Mon, May 25 2015 8:45 AM

  Wgt could do a virtual Open Championship, they just wouldn't have a prize of a trip to the following years Open.

  So how about it Wgt? Do a VO in the same format as we do the VUSO with qualifying and a 4 round championship but just for a shed load of credits.

• SweetiePie 4,925 Posts

  Mon, May 25 2015 3:15 PM

  MartyFlanagan:

  when did people start calling it the British open lol

  My Pop, who is 67, says he can't remember when it wasn't called "The British Open", here in America. He said it has only been perhaps over the last 15-20 years that the big push, new training and forced feeding of Americana to calling it "the Open" has been taking place. Most here still prefer calling it the "British Open", same as with the "Canadian Open", the "Irish Open", the "Australian Open", and so forth. Here, and most other places the "US Open" is considered top banana, or perhaps toe to toe with the "Masters". While the "British Open" is the oldest, to deem it "The Open" seems pompous and not valid. Like it or not, Bobby Jones and American TV is what gave it it's current status. Fact of life. ~SP~