British Open history: winners, courses, records and statistics
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.
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.
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.
The golfer with the most ever wins at the Open Championship is Harry Vardon, who totalled 6 championships at the end of the XIX century. Father and son, Tom Morris Sr. and Tom Morris Jr. both won four British Opens each during the first decades of the tournament’s existence. Some of golf’s greatest players have also had a lot of success at the Open, with the top two majors winners, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, both conquering the tournament three teams.
The best aggregate score and to par both come from the same player in the same year, as Henryk Stenson’s historic performance won him the 2016 Open Championship. He finished with a score of 263 and a -20 that players will try to come near to this week in hopes of succeeding Cameron Smith as the next British Open champion.