The Open Championship
| File:The Open Championship.svg | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Location | United Kingdom |
| Established | 1860, 164 years ago |
| Course(s) | 2014: Royal Liverpool Golf Club Merseyside, England |
| Par | 72 in 2014 |
| Length | 7,218 yd (6,600 m) in 2014 |
| Organized by | The R&A |
| Tour(s) | European Tour PGA Tour Japan Golf Tour |
| Format | Stroke play |
| Prize fund | £5.4 million €6.5 million (est.) $8.9 million (est.) |
| Month played | July |
| Tournament record score | |
| Aggregate | 267 Greg Norman (1993) |
| To par | −19 Tiger Woods (2000) |
| Current champion | |
 Rory McIlroy | |
 2014 Open Championship | |
The Open Championship, or simply The Open (often referred to as the British Open), is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only major held outside the United States and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the U.S. and Mexico. The current champion is Rory McIlroy, who won in 2014.
Since 1979, The Open has been played on the weekend of the third Friday in July. It is the third major of the calendar year, following The Masters and the U.S. Open, and preceding the PGA Championship. The Open moved to a Sunday finish in 1980; it had a scheduled Saturday finish from 1966 until 1979, with the first round on Wednesday. Prior to 1966, the final two rounds were scheduled for Friday. Before 1926, the four rounds were played in two days.
The event takes place annually on one of nine links courses in Scotland or England. It was held once in Northern Ireland, at Royal Portrush in 1951, and will return there, possibly in 2019.
In 2012, The Open had a first prize of £900,000 (about $1.4 million) and a total prize fund of about £5 million (about $7.8 million). The 2013 Open will see a 5% increase in prize money, with a total fund of £5.25 million and a first prize of £945,000.[1] The other three Major Championships in 2012 had first prizes of about $1.44 million and prize money of about $8 million, so that all four majors had almost identical prize money. Prize money is given to all professionals who make the cut and, since the number of professionals making the cut changes from year to year, the total prize money varies somewhat from the advertised number (currently £5.25 million).
The Open has had 143 champions, the most recent being Rory McIlroy in 2014. The tournament has been won wire-to-wire after 72 holes (with no ties after rounds) by seven champions, who are the following: Ted Ray in 1912, Bobby Jones in 1927, Gene Sarazen in 1932, Henry Cotton in 1934, Tom Weiskopf in 1973, Tiger Woods in 2005, and Rory McIlroy in 2014.[2]
The Open is a 72-hole stroke play tournament with a cut after 36 holes, limited to the top 70 players and ties. Unique among the four major championships, The Open features a four-hole playoff at the end of regulation, and continues into sudden-death if tied after four holes. Introduced in 1986, this format was first used in 1989; earlier playoffs were 36 holes until 1964, then 18 holes until 1986. The PGA Championship adopted a three-hole playoff, first used in 2000, after using sudden-death since 1977. (The Masters changed to sudden-death in 1976 and the U.S. Open retains an 18-hole playoff.)
History
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2011) |
The Open Championship was first played on 17 October 1860 at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. The inaugural tournament was restricted to professionals and attracted a field of eight golfers who played three rounds of Prestwick's twelve-hole course in a single day. Willie Park, Sr. won with a score of 174, beating the favourite Old Tom Morris, by two strokes. The following year the tournament was opened to amateurs; eight of them joined ten professionals in the field.
Originally, the trophy presented to the event's winner was the Challenge Belt, a red leather belt with a silver buckle. There was no prize money in the first three Opens. In 1863, a prize fund of £10 was introduced, which was shared between the second- third- and fourth-placed professionals, with the Champion still just getting to keep the belt for a year. In 1864 Old Tom Morris won the first Champion's cash prize of £6. By 2004, the winner's cheque had increased one hundred and twenty thousandfold to £720,000, or perhaps two thousandfold after allowing for inflation. The Challenge Belt was retired in 1870, when Young Tom Morris was allowed to keep it for winning the tournament three consecutive times. Because no prize was available, the tournament was cancelled in 1871. In 1872, after Young Tom Morris won again for a still-unmatched fourth time in a row, he was awarded a medal. The present trophy, The Golf Champion Trophy, better known by its popular name of the Claret Jug, was then created.
Prestwick administered The Open from 1860 to 1870. In 1871, it agreed to organise it jointly with The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. In 1892 the event was doubled in length from 36 to 72 holes, four rounds of what was by then the standard complement of 18 holes. In the same year the prize fund reached £100. The 1894 Open was the first one held outside Scotland, at the Royal St George's Golf Club in England. Because of an increasing number of entrants, a cut was introduced after two rounds in 1898. In 1920 full responsibility for The Open Championship was handed over to The Royal & Ancient Golf Club.
The early winners were all Scottish professionals, who in those days worked as greenkeepers, clubmakers, and caddies to supplement their modest winnings from championships and challenge matches. The Open has always been dominated by professionals, with only six victories by amateurs, all of which occurred between 1890 and 1930. The last of these was Bobby Jones's third Open and part of his celebrated Grand Slam. Jones was one of six Americans who won The Open between the First and Second World Wars, the first of whom had been Walter Hagen in 1922. These Americans and the French winner of the 1907 Open, Arnaud Massy, were the only winners from outside Scotland and England up to 1939.
The first post-World War II winner was the American Sam Snead, in 1946. In 1947, Northern Ireland's Fred Daly was victorious. While there have been many English and Scottish champions, Daly was the only winner from Ireland until the 2007 victory by Pádraig Harrington. There has never been a Welsh champion. In the early postwar years The Open was dominated by golfers from the Commonwealth, with South African Bobby Locke and Australian Peter Thomson winning the Claret Jug in eight of the 11 championships from 1948 and 1958 between them. During this period, The Open often had a schedule conflict with the match-play PGA Championship, which meant that Ben Hogan, the best American golfer at this time, competed in The Open just once, in 1953 at Carnoustie, a tournament he won.
Another South African, Gary Player was Champion in 1959. This was at the beginning of the "Big Three" era in professional golf, the three players in question being Player, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. Palmer first competed in 1960, when he came second to the little-known Australian Kel Nagle, but he won the two following years. While he was far from being the first American to become Open Champion, he was the first that many Americans saw win the tournament on television, and his charismatic success is often credited with persuading leading American golfers to make The Open an integral part of their schedule, rather than an optional extra. The improvement of trans-Atlantic travel also increased American participation.
Nicklaus' victories came in 1966, 1970 and 1978. Although his tally of three wins is not very remarkable, and indeed he won all of the other three majors more often, it greatly understates how prominent Nicklaus was at the tournament throughout the 1960s and 1970s. He finished runner-up seven times, which is the record. He had a total of sixteen top-5 finishes, which is tied most in Open history with John Henry Taylor and easily the most in the postwar era. Nicklaus also holds the records for most rounds under par (61) and most aggregates under par (14). At Turnberry in 1977 he was involved in one of the most celebrated contests in golf history, when his duel with Tom Watson went to the final shot before Watson emerged as the champion for the second time with a record score of 268 (12 under par).
Watson won five Opens, more than anyone else has since the 1950s, but his final win in 1983 brought down the curtain on an era of U.S. domination. In the next 11 years there was only one American winner, with the others coming from Europe and the Commonwealth. The European winners of this era, Spaniard Seve Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle, who was the first Scottish winner in over half a century, and the Englishman Nick Faldo, were also leading lights among the group of players who began to get the better of the Americans in the Ryder Cup during this period.
In 1995, The Open became part of the PGA Tour's official schedule. John Daly's playoff win over Italian Costantino Rocca began another era of American domination. Tiger Woods has won three Championships to date, two at St Andrews in 2000 and 2005, and one at Hoylake in 2006. There was a dramatic moment at St Andrews in 2000, as the ageing Jack Nicklaus waved farewell to the crowds, while the young challenger to his crown watched from a nearby tee. Nicklaus later decided to play in The Open for one final time in 2005, when the R&A announced St Andrews as the venue, giving his final farewell to the fans at the Home of Golf.
In 2002, all Open wins before 1995 were retroactively classified as PGA Tour wins. Recent years have been notable for the number of wins by previously obscure golfers, including Paul Lawrie's playoff win after the epic 72nd-hole collapse of Jean van de Velde in 1999, Ben Curtis in 2003 and Todd Hamilton in 2004. All three missed the cut when defending the title the following year, as did Mark Calcavecchia in 1990 and Mark O'Meara in 1999.
In 2007, the Europeans finally broke an eight-year drought in the majors when Pádraig Harrington of Ireland defeated Sergio García by one stroke in a four-hole playoff at Carnoustie. In 2008 at Royal Birkdale, Harrington retained the Claret Jug with a final round of 69 to win the tournament by four shots from Ian Poulter, with a total of 283 (+3) after 72 holes.
In 2009, 59-year-old Tom Watson turned in one of the most remarkable performances ever seen at The Open. Leading the tournament through 71 holes and needing just a par on the last hole to become the oldest ever winner of a major championship, Watson bogeyed, setting up a four-hole playoff, which he would lose to Stewart Cink. In 2010, Rory McIlroy set a new record for the best opening round of an Open Championship, shooting a 9-under-par 63 at St Andrews, tying the lowest individual round at the tournament. To date, eight different players hold the record for shooting a 63 at The Open, including Greg Norman at Turnberry in 1986 and Nick Faldo at Royal St George's in 1993.[3]
Trophies
There are several medals and trophies that are, or have been, given out for various achievements during The Open Championship.[4]
- Challenge Belt – awarded to the winner from 1860 until 1870 when Young Tom Morris won the belt outright.
- The Golf Champion Trophy (commonly known as the Claret Jug) – replaced the Challenge Belt and has been awarded to the winner since 1873.
- Gold medal – awarded to the winner. First given out in 1872 when the Claret Jug was not yet ready, but since awarded to all champions.
- Silver medal – awarded since 1949 to the highest finishing amateur.
- Bronze medal – awarded since 1972 to all other amateurs playing in the final round.
The Professional Golfers' Association of Great Britain and Ireland also mark the achievements of their own members in the Open.
- Ryle Memorial Medal – awarded since 1901 to the winner if he is a PGA member.[5]
- Braid Taylor Memorial Medal – awarded since 1966 to the highest finishing PGA member.[6]
- Tooting Bec Cup – awarded since 1924 to the PGA member who records the lowest single round during the championship.[7]
The Braid Taylor Memorial Medal and the Tooting Bec Cup are restricted to members born in, or with a parent or parents born in, the UK or Republic of Ireland.
Tour status
It has been an official event on the PGA Tour since 1995, which means that the prize money won in The Open by PGA Tour members is included on the official money list. In addition, all Open Championships before 1995 have been retroactively classified as PGA Tour wins, and the list of leading winners on the PGA Tour has been adjusted to reflect this. The European Tour has recognised The Open as an official event since its first official season in 1972 and it is also an official money event on the Japan Golf Tour.
Host courses
From 1860 to 1870 the Open Championship was organised by and played at Prestwick Golf Club. From its revival in 1872 until 1891 it was played on three courses in rotation: Prestwick, The Old Course at St Andrews, and Musselburgh Links. In 1892 the newly built Muirfield replaced Musselburgh in the rotation. In 1893 two English courses, Royal St George's and Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, were invited to join the rotation. Since then a handful of further courses have been added, and a few have been dropped.
The common factor in the venues for The Open is that they have always been links courses. The rotation has often followed the pattern of being played in Scotland and England alternately, being in Scotland somewhat more often than in England. Between 1894 (when it was first played in England) and 2012, it has been played 59 times in Scotland, 48 times in England and once in Northern Ireland. It was not until 2011 and 2012 that England hosted consecutive Opens. There is, however, no strict rule and the host is appointed by the R&A roughly five years in advance. There is a map showing the locations of the venues here.[8] The Open has always been played in Scotland, North West England, or Kent in South East England except for a single occasion in Northern Ireland.
There are nine courses in the current rota, five in Scotland and four in England. In recent times the Old Course has hosted the Open every five years. The remaining eight courses host the Open roughly every 10 years but the gaps between hosting Opens may be longer or shorter than this. In 2014, it was announced by The R&A that Royal Portrush would be returning to the active rotation, possibly in 2019.[9]
Future venues
| Year | Edition | Course | Town | County | Country | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 144th | Old Course at St Andrews | St Andrews | Fife |  Scotland |
16–19 July |
| 2016 | 145th | Royal Troon Golf Club | Troon | Ayrshire | Scotland |
14–17 July |
| 2017 | 146th | Royal Birkdale Golf Club | Southport | Merseyside |  England |
20–23 July |
| 2018 | 147th | Carnoustie Golf Links | Carnoustie | Angus | Scotland |
19–22 July |
Source:[10]
Royal Portrush Golf Club has been confirmed as a possible future venue, although the earliest it could be held there is 2019.[9]
Exemptions and qualifying events
The field for the Open is 156, and golfers may gain a place in a number of ways.[11] Most of the field is made up of leading players who are given exemptions.[12] Further places are given to players who are successful in "Local Qualifying" and those who come through "International Final Qualifying".[13] Any remaining places (known as alternates) are made available to the highest ranked players in the Official World Golf Ranking two weeks before The Open.
There are currently 32 exemption categories.[14] Among the more significant are:
- The top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking. This category means that no member of the current elite of world golf will be excluded.
- The top 30 in the previous season's European Tour Race to Dubai and the PGA Tour FedEx Cup. Most of these players will also be in the World top 50.
- All previous Open Champions who will be age 60 or under on the final day of the tournament. Each year a number of past champions choose not to compete.
- All players who have won one of the other three majors in the previous five years.
- The top 10 from the previous year's Open Championship.
- Any past Open champions who have finished in the top 10 in the previous five years.
- The winners of The Amateur Championship and the U.S. Amateur
Further exemptions are given to winners and other leading finishers in a number of important tournaments around the world, to leading money winners in the major tours and to recent Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup players. The latest winners of a few major amateur events are also given exemptions. They must remain amateurs to take advantage of this exemption.
Local Qualifying is the traditional way for non-exempt players to win a place at The Open. In 2012 it comprised fourteen 18-hole "Regional Qualifying" competitions around Britain and Ireland on 25 June with successful competitors moving on to the four 36-hole "Local Final Qualifying" tournaments on 3 July. There are currently 12 places available through Local Qualifying, though there used to be far more.
International Final Qualifying comprises five 36-hole qualifying events, one each in Africa, Australasia, Asia, America and Europe. Only players who have a rating in the Official World Golf Ranking may enter, which is a more stringent standard than for Local Qualifying. 28 places were available through International Final Qualifying in 2012. The R&A introduced International Final Qualifying in 2004 in order to make it easier for professionals from outside Britain and Ireland to compete for a place.
In 2012, 115 of the field qualified through the exemption categories, 12 through Local Qualifying, 28 through International Final Qualifying and 1 as an alternate. A further 14 players qualified through the exemption categories but did not compete in the event. This was because the players chose not to enter, dropped out for personal reason, were injured or who had qualified as amateurs but had turned professional.
For 2014, qualifying was dramatically changed. Ten events from the various tours (PGA, Sunshine, European, Japan, Asian, Australasian) known as the Open Qualifying Series replace International Final Qualifying.
Tournament name
In Britain the tournament is best known by its official title, The Open Championship. The tournament's website uses only this name, while British media generally refer to it as the Open (with "the" in lower case).[15][16][17]
Outside the UK, the tournament is generally called the British Open, in part to distinguish the tournament from another of the four majors that has an 'open' format, the U.S. Open, but mainly because other nations with similar 'open' format golf events refer to their own nation's open event as "the Open". Until 2014, the PGA Tour referred to the tournament as the British Open,[18] and many American media outlets continue to do so.[19][20] However, in 2014, with the new Open Qualifying Series that selects players for the Open through finishes earned in various PGA Tour events, the PGA Tour has taken to referring to the event as The Open Championship for the first time. U.S. television rights-holder ESPN/ABC referred to the event as the British Open until 2004. For the 2005 event at St Andrews, both then-cable rightsholder Turner Sports and ESPN/ABC began referring to the tournament as The Open Championship, and have ever since.
Records
- Oldest winner: Old Tom Morris (46 years, 99 days), 1867.
- Youngest winner: Young Tom Morris (17 years, 156 days), 1868.[21]
- Most victories: 6, Harry Vardon (1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911, 1914).
- Most consecutive victories: 4, Young Tom Morris (1868, 1869, 1870, 1872 – there was no championship in 1871).
- Lowest 36-hole score: 130, Nick Faldo (66-64), 1992; Brandt Snedeker (66-64), 2012.
- Lowest 72-hole score: 267, Greg Norman (66-68-69-64), 1993.
- Lowest 72-hole score in relation to par: −19, Tiger Woods (67-66-67-69, 269), 2000 (a record for all major championships).
- Greatest victory margin: 13 strokes, Old Tom Morris, 1862. This remained a record for all majors until 2000, when Woods won the U.S. Open by 15 strokes at Pebble Beach. Old Tom's 13-stroke margin was achieved over just 36 holes.
- Lowest 18-hole score: 63 – Mark Hayes, 2nd round, 1977; Isao Aoki, 3rd, 1980; Greg Norman, 2nd, 1986; Paul Broadhurst, 3rd, 1990; Jodie Mudd, 4th, 1991; Nick Faldo, 2nd, 1993; Payne Stewart, 4th, 1993; Rory McIlroy, 1st, 2010.
- Lowest 18-hole score in relation to par: −9, Paul Broadhurst, 3rd, 1990; Rory McIlroy, 1st, 2010.
There is an extensive records section on the official site.[22]
Winners
(a) denotes amateur
PO denotes playoff
Silver Medal winners
Since 1949, the Silver Medal is awarded to the leading amateur, provided that the player completes all 72 holes.[23] In the 66 Championships from 1949 to 2014, it has been won by 41 players on 46 occasions. Frank Stranahan won it four times in the first five years (and was also the low amateur in 1947), while Joe Carr and Michael Bonallack each won it twice. The medal has gone unawarded 20 times.
Notes and references
- ^ "More prize money for Muirfield". ESPN. Associated Press. 30 June 2013. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
- ^ "Did you know number 50". The Open Championship. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
- ^ "Facts and Figures - The 141st Open Championship". PGA European Tour. 22 July 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
- ^ "Claret Jug". theopen.com. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
- ^ "Ryle Memorial Medal" (PDF). Professional Golfers' Association. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
- ^ "Braid Taylor Memorial Medal" (PDF). Professional Golfers' Association. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
- ^ "Tooting Bec Cup" (PDF). Professional Golfers' Association. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
- ^ "Open Venues". theopen.com. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
- ^ a b "The Open: Press conference confirms Royal Portrush". BBC News. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
- ^ "Future Venues". theopen.com. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
- ^ "The Open Championship Entry Form". theopen.com. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
- ^ "Exemption Categories". theopen.com. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
- ^ "Qualification". theopen.com. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
- ^ "Exempt players page". Retrieved 11 July 2014.
- ^ "The Open Championship".
- ^ "Birkdale 'will provide Open test'". BBC Sport. 29 April 2008.
- ^ Spiers, Graham (20 July 2007). "The top ten best shots at the Open". The Times. London. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
- ^ "British Open Tournament".
- ^ Malley, Frank (24 July 2006). "Woods gives blueprint for success at British Open". SportsTicker.
- ^ Newberry, Paul (24 July 2006). "Through the tears, Woods hoists the claret jug for the second year in a row". Associated Press.
- ^ See Notes: Young Tom Morris gets 20 days older, pgatour.com, 1 August 2006.
- ^ "Do You Know". theopen.com. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
- ^ "Tom Lewis joins an elite group as Silver Medal winner". theopen.com. 17 July 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2012.