Ancient Lands and Early days
At the 2022 event, Cameron Smith successfully held up the trophy and joined in the 150th year celebrations at St. Andrews, Scotland. The ‘Old Course’, as it is known, was the natural choice for this historic event, as most aficionados rightly see the course as the “home of golf”. For most professional golfers, the dream must surely be to stride down the 18th fairway to mighty applause and end the competition on the picturesque Swilkan Bridge to the clicks of the sports press.
Considering that this ancient bridge was built to herd sheep over the waterway at least 700 years ago, it really adds a touch of magic to the Open event. It is in fact so revered that a full size model of the bridge was built in St. Augustine, Florida and is housed in the World Golf Hall of Fame Museum.
The very first Open Championship was held at an iconic course just outside Glasgow, the Prestwick Golf Club in Ayrshire, Scotland, on 17th October 1870. However, tournaments were played there as far back as 1860. In the early days, the great Scot Allan Robertson dominated the professional golf scene, making money from caddying, playing for sports bets and the lucrative business of club making.
As host to the very first Open, the Prestwick Golf Club typifies what makes this competition so very different from the other Majors in the golf world. It is all about the classic links-style courses with their undulating windswept fairways built upon the rolling sandy soil between the coast and the lowlands. The Prestwick club is actually the original sponsor of the Open and promoted the competition to find a successor to Allan Robertson and find a new 'champion golfer'. Back in 1860, the course had just twelve holes, and players would compete over three rounds, allowing 36 holes for the competition. At the first Open, a rather dashing red Morocco Belt prize was awarded to Willie Park Sr. Willie Park Sr., the first winner of this great cup, was a tall, strong hitter of the ball. He was famed for a rather aggressive style and was not afraid of self-publicity. This golf legend won the Open Championship four times but will be best remembered for winning the inaugural event of 1860.
During the early days of the championship, Willie Park Sr., Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris dominated the cup. The 'Grand Old Man of Golf', otherwise known as Old Tom Morris, was actually born in the home of golf, in St. Andrews, Fife. Having come second in the first ever Open Championship. He is still the record holder as the oldest winner of The Open Championship at 46 in 1861.
It was the Young Tom Morris who won consecutive trophies at the Open in 1868, 1869, 1870, and 1872. He, quite rightly, is seen as one of the pioneers of the professional game and was entitled under the conditions of the game to keep the 'red belt' prize. Hence the reason why there was no prize and sadly no Open Championship in 1871!
The Claret Jug and The Rotation of Courses
During the period of 1872 to 1889, three golfing institutions, including; The Royal and Ancient Golf Club, the Prestwick and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers agreed to, pardon the pun, chip in and each contribute towards the cost of a new trophy, which was a silver claret jug. This vital sponsorship meant the Open then rotated between the three clubs. This period in gold history was largely dominated by Scottish professionals and played over 36 holes in a single day until 1889. The great Jack Nicklaus won three Open Championships, the first at Muirfield in 1966, which completed the first of his three grand slams.
The 1890s were a period when the English began to make their mark on the Open. It is interesting to note that two of them were amateurs. The pre-war period is best known for the Great Triumvirate of Harry Vardon, John Henry Taylor and James Braid. This trio would go on to win the Open Championship a staggering 16 times out of 21 tournaments from 1890-1914. The First World War prevented play and it was not until 1920 that the competition would resume.
The Open and The Beginning of the Modern Era
After the war, The Open returned to St Andrew's in 1920, with a victory for the American Sam Snead. The great Bobby Locke became the first South African winner, winning three times in four years between the years 1949 and 1952, and later winning a fourth title in 1957. It was an extraordinary time, when following the First World War, eleven American players travelled to Scotland funded by Golf Illustrated magazine. Out of the eleven, five were in fact British born who had taken up professional golf posts in America. The great divide between the British and Americans lead to a match that would be the genesis for none other than the Ryder Cup.
Ben Hogan, Bobby Locke and Peter Thomson dominated the period between 1946 and 1958. This period saw fewer American entrants to the British Open as the PGA Tour had grown to be very lucrative. The PGA Championship in America was often played at the same or similar time, paying triple the prize money! A larger sized golf ball was also used in America, which meant they had to adjust their play for The Open.
The golfing greats just became better and better. A few years later, it was Gary Player in 1959 who scooped the prize and won one of three titles. In 1960, Arnold Palmer travelled to Scotland after winning the Masters and The U.S. Open and went on to emulate Hogan's 1953 feat of winning all three tournaments in a single year. Although not successful at three majors in a row he went on to win in 1961 and 1962. Jack Nicklaus was the other great of this period and won three times, in 1966, 1970 and 1978. 'The Golden Bear' otherwise known as Jack Nicklaus would go on to re-define golf course design and even put his name to a golf computer game!
The 1970s and the Majors
By 1975 it was clear that The Open needed to be scheduled in to what was a very serious summer of golf Majors. Since 1969, The PGA Championship had been taking place in August and therefore, no longer clashed with the Open. Some changes took place: play was spread over four days from 1966 onwards and the playing days were Wednesday to Saturday until 1980. From 1974 onwards, all players used the 'bigger ball'. This was a competition containing all the world's best players. Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo Faldo, and Greg Norman were to take the front of stage during this period.
From Tiger Woods to a Pandemic!
It is an amazing fact that every year between 1994 and 2004 the The Open had a first-time winner. In 1999, the 241st ranked Scotsman Paul Lawrie ended up winning in a playoff. He was a massive 10 strokes behind the leader going into the final round, a record for all majors. He was not the only first time champion during this span, as 396th-ranked Ben Curtis and 56th-ranked Todd Hamilton won in 2003 and 2004, respectively.
It is not possible to talk of the modern era without mentioning the contribution made by Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods, in 2000, having just won the U.S. Open, became champion by a post-war record 8 strokes and in doing so became the youngest player to win the career Grand Slam at the age of 24. After winning both the 2002 Masters and U.S. Open, he became the most recent American to equal Ben Hogan and win the Open in the same calendar year. His challenge for victory came to a halt with the worst round of his career up to that time during what was awful weather. He went on to win back-to-back in 2005 and 2006 to bring his total to three wins. Other multiple winners in this era are Irishman Pádraig Harrington in 2007 and 2008. Also the great South African golfer Ernie Els in 2002 and 2012.
In 2020, the Open Championship, for the first time since World War II, was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thankfully, this was a minor hiccup in what has been a truly inspiring championship. It went back on course in 2021 for the American Collin Morikawa to win by 2 strokes and finally, in 2022, for the first time since 1991, New Zealander Cameron Smith pocketed an eye-watering prize of $2.5 million!
Now you have a full understanding of the tournament’s history, you can turn your thoughts to the Open Championship 2023 and which golfers you would like to bet on.