PINEHURST - A virtual version of Pinehurst Resort's No. 2 Course will be used for an online golf championship next year.
A team from the World Golf Tour took more than 100,000 photographs in May to create a virtual version of the course that is hosting the historic back-to-back U.S. Open and U.S. Women's Open in 2014. The results will be used for the WGT's Virtual U.S. Open next year.
The WGT golf game is played online using a computer keyboard and a mouse. Next year, the virtual championship will be available on computer tablets and phones for the first time.
The WGT workers used lasers scanners and GPS technology to make sure the virtual course will be nearly identical to the course in Pinehurst, said Chad Nelson, a WGT co-founder who oversaw the work. He said the crew spent extra time around the greens because they play a large part in the difficulty of the course.
"Whatever the course looked like when we were there, that's what it will look like in the product," he said. "For the most part, what we filmed is what you'll get in the game...