The fourth Major of the PGA season is on, but the British Open is in many ways the first and most important golf tournament in the world.
Jorge CandamoUpdate: Jul 18th, 2024 11:51 EDT0
GLYN KIRKAFP
The Open Championship, also known as the Open or the British Open in America, is back in Scotland’s Royal Troon for its 152nd edition. As the fourth and final major of the season, next to the Masters, the US Open and the PGA Championship, we analyze what has made this tournament special for over a hundred and fifty years.
The Oldest major
The first British Open was held in 1860 for the first time, playing three rounds of 12 holes in just one day to crown Willie Park Sr. as the first ever champion in Prestwick, Scotland, where the tournament would be played for the first 12 editions. In the coming years the Open would expand its playing field and allow amateurs to take part in it, with the exception of 1871, when the tournament was canceled. Tom Morris Jr. had won the Open for the past three years, so he was allowed to retain the championship belt. That meant there was no trophy to be awarded next year and the tournament did not reappear until 1872, when the trophy now known as the Claret Jug was introduced. Since then it has only stopped due to both World Wars and COVID in 2020.
The British Open has lived through quite some different eras, as it was won six times by amateurs before 1930. Then came a period of England domination until the tournament got recognition in the States, as Arnold Palmer took part in it in 1960 to try and win the US Open, the Masters and the Open all in the same year. Palmer finished runner-up, but he came back and won it a couple of times, initiating a US era next to Nicklaus and some other players. The British Open officially became part of the PGA tour back in 1994.
What a start.Adam Scott holes out for a birdie on the 1st.https://t.co/ngME6k3h28 pic.twitter.com/3eAdstHIKS
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 18, 2024
Royal Liverpool frustrated players last year
This 151st edition of the Open Championship was held at Royal Liverpool, a links golf course near the home of the Beatles. Rory McIlroy won there in 2014 and Tiger Woods won in 2006. Brian Harman took home the Claret Jug in 2023 and is trying to defend it in Troon.
Prizes, records and statistics
From an initial £10 purse to distribute among the top finishers in the tournament, the Open has grown to a $16.5 million prize pool, the most ever for the major, of which the winner gets $3 million. Winning it allows the champion to enter the Open until age 60, and also grants access to the next five editions of each major.
