(Wikipedia.org) The Open Championship is the oldest of the four major championships in men's golf. It is the only major held outside the USA and is administered by the R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the U.S. and Mexico. The event takes place every year on one of nine historic links courses in the United Kingdom. In 2006, The Open had a prize fund of £4 million (at the time, approximately €5.86 million or $7.43 million). Historically, The Open's prize money was consistently the least of the four majors; since 2002 it has been the highest. The tournament is often referred to as the British Open outside the United Kingdom. The Open is played on the weekend of the third Friday in July, and is the third major to take place each year following The Masters and the U.S. Open and before the PGA Championship.
The Open Championship was first played on 17 October 1860 at Prestwick Golf Club. The inaugural tournament was restricted to professionals, and attracted a field of eight, who played three rounds of Prestwick's twelve-hole course in a single day. Willie Park Senior 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.
Willie Park, Snr wearing the Championship Belt, the winner's prize at the Open from 1860 to 1870. Originally, the trophy presented to the event's winner was the Champion's 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 (then $50) 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 check had increased one hundred and twenty thousand fold to £720,000, or perhaps two thousand fold after allowing for inflation. The Champions Belt was retired in 1870, when Young Tom Morris was allowed to keep it for winning the tournament three consecutive times. It was then replaced by the present trophy, The Golf Champion Trophy, better known by its popular name of The Claret Jug.
Prestwick Golf Club administered The Open from 1860 to 1870. In 1871, it agreed to organise it jointly with The Royal & 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, that is four rounds of what was by then the standard complement of 18 holes. In the same year the prize fund reached £100. Due to 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 four 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 Fred Daly of Northern Ireland was victorious. While there have been many English and Scottish champions, Daly remains the only winner from either side of the Irish border, and there has never been a Welsh champion. Otherwise 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 nine 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. This tally of three wins is not very remarkable, and indeed he won all of the other three majors more often, but it greatly understates how prominent he was at the tournament throughout the 1960s and 1970s. He finished in the top five 16 times, which is tied most in Open history with John Henry Taylor and easily the most in the postwar era. This included seven second places. Nicklaus 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.
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, SpaniardSeve 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 ItalianCostantino Rocca in that year 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 aging Jack Nicklaus waved farewell to the crowds while the young challenger to his crown as the greatest golfer of all time watched from a nearby tee; Nicklaus afterwards decided to play in the 2005 Open 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.
Winners of The Open Championship
| Year | Venue | Champion | Country | Winning Score | 1st Prize |
| 2010 | St Andrews |
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| 2009 | The Westin Turnberry Resort |
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| 2008 | Royal Birkdale Golf Club |
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| 2007 | Carnoustie Golf Links |
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| 2006 | Royal Liverpool Golf Club | Tiger Woods (3) |  United States | 270 (-18) | £720000 |
| 2005 | St Andrews | Tiger Woods (2) | United States | 274 (-14) | £720000 |
| 2004 | Royal Troon Golf Club | Todd Hamilton | United States | 274 (-10)PO | £720000 |
| 2003 | Royal St George's Golf Club | Ben Curtis | United States | 283 (-1) | £700000 |
| 2002 | Muirfield | Ernie Els |  South Africa | 278 (-6)PO | £700000 |
| 2001 | Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club | David Duval | United States | 274 (-10) | £600000 |
| 2000 | St Andrews | Tiger Woods | United States | 269 (-19) | £500000 |
| 1999 | Carnoustie Golf Links | Paul Lawrie |  Scotland | 290 (+6)PO | £350000 |
| 1998 | Royal Birkdale Golf Club | Mark O'Meara | United States | 280 (E)PO | £300000 |
| 1997 | Royal Troon Golf Club | Justin Leonard | United States | 272 (-12) | £250000 |
| 1996 | Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club | Tom Lehman | United States | 271 (-13) | £200000 |
| 1995 | St Andrews | John Daly | United States | 282 (-6)PO | £125000 |
| 1994 | Turnberry | Nick Price |  Zimbabwe | 268 (-12) | £110000 |
| 1993 | Royal St George's Golf Club | Greg Norman (2) |  Australia | 267 (-13) | £100000 |
| 1992 | Muirfield | Nick Faldo (3) |  England | 272 (-12) | £95000 |
| 1991 | Royal Birkdale Golf Club | Ian Baker-Finch | Australia | 272 (-8) | £90000 |
| 1990 | St Andrews | Nick Faldo (2) | England | 270 (-18) | £85000 |
| 1989 | Royal Troon Golf Club | Mark Calcavecchia | United States | 275 (-13)PO | £80000 |
| 1988 | Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club | Seve Ballesteros (3) |  Spain | 273 (-11) | £80000 |
| 1987 | Muirfield | Nick Faldo | England | 279 (-5) | £75000 |
| 1986 | Turnberry | Greg Norman | Australia | 280 (E) | £70000 |
| 1985 | Royal St George's Golf Club | Sandy Lyle | Scotland | 282 (+2) | £65000 |
| 1984 | St Andrews | Seve Ballesteros (2) | Spain | 276 (-12) | £55000 |
| 1983 | Royal Birkdale Golf Club | Tom Watson (5) | United States | 275 (-9) | £40000 |
| 1982 | Royal Troon Golf Club | Tom Watson (4) | United States | 284 (-4) | £32000 |
| 1981 | Royal St George's Golf Club | Bill Rogers | United States | 276 (-4) | £25000 |
| 1980 | Muirfield | Tom Watson (3) | United States | 271 (-13) | £25000 |
| 1979 | Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club | Seve Ballesteros | Spain | 283 (-1) | £15000 |
| 1978 | St Andrews | Jack Nicklaus (3) | United States | 281 (-7) | £12500 |
| 1977 | Turnberry | Tom Watson (2) | United States | 268 (-12) | £10000 |
| 1976 | Royal Birkdale Golf Club | Johnny Miller | United States | 279 (-9) | £7500 |
| 1975 | Carnoustie Golf Links | Tom Watson | United States | 279 (-5)PO | £7500 |
| 1974 | Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club | Gary Player (3) |  South Africa | 282 (-2) | £5500 |
| 1973 | Royal Troon Golf Club | Tom Weiskopf | United States | 276 (-12) | £5500 |
| 1972 | Muirfield | Lee Trevino (2) | United States | 278 (-6) | £5500 |
| 1971 | Royal Birkdale Golf Club | Lee Trevino | United States | 278 (-10) | £5500 |
| 1970 | St Andrews | Jack Nicklaus (2) | United States | 283 (-5)PO | £5250 |
| 1969 | Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club | Tony Jacklin | England | 280 | £4250 |
| 1968 | Carnoustie Golf Links | Gary Player (2) | South Africa | 289 | £3000 |
| 1967 | Royal Liverpool Golf Club | Roberto DeVicenzo |  Argentina | 278 | £2100 |
| 1966 | Muirfield | Jack Nicklaus | United States | 282 | £2100 |
| 1965 | Royal Birkdale Golf Club | Peter Thomson (5) | Australia | 285 | £1750 |
| 1964 | St Andrews | Tony Lema | United States | 279 | £1500 |
| 1963 | Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club | Bob Charles |  New Zealand | 277PO | £1500 |
| 1962 | Royal Troon Golf Club | Arnold Palmer (2) | United States | 276 | £1400 |
| 1961 | Royal Birkdale Golf Club | Arnold Palmer | United States | 284 | £1400 |
| 1960 | St Andrews | Kel Nagle | Australia | 278 | £1250 |
| 1959 | Muirfield | Gary Player | South Africa | 284 | £1000 |
| 1958 | Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club | Peter Thomson (4) | Australia | 274PO | £1000 |
| 1957 | St Andrews | Bobby Locke (4) | South Africa | 279 | £1000 |
| 1956 | Royal Liverpool Golf Club | Peter Thomson (3) | Australia | 286 | £1000 |
| 1955 | St Andrews | Peter Thomson (2) | Australia | 281 | £1000 |
| 1954 | Royal Birkdale Golf Club | Peter Thomson | Australia | 283 | £750 |
| 1953 | Carnoustie Golf Links | Ben Hogan |  United States | 282 | £500 |
| 1952 | Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club | Bobby Locke (3) | South Africa | 287 | £300 |
| 1951 | Royal Portrush Golf Club | Max Faulkner | England | 285 | £300 |
| 1950 | Royal Troon Golf Club | Bobby Locke (2) | South Africa | 279 | £300 |
| 1949 | Royal St George's Golf Club | Bobby Locke | South Africa | 283 | £300 |
| 1948 | Muirfield | Henry Cotton (3) | England | 284 | £150 |
| 1947 | Royal Liverpool Golf Club | Fred Daly |  Northern Ireland | 293 | £150 |
| 1946 | St Andrews | Sam Snead | United States | 290 | £150 |
| 1940-1945: No Championships due to World War II |
| 1939 | St Andrews | Richard Burton | England | 290 | £100 |
| 1938 | Royal St George's Golf Club | Reg Whitcombe | England | 295 | £100 |
| 1937 | Carnoustie Golf Links | Henry Cotton (2) | England | 290 | £100 |
| 1936 | Royal Liverpool Golf Club | Alf Padgham | England | 287 | £100 |
| 1935 | Muirfield | Alf Perry | England | 283 | £100 |
| 1934 | Royal St George's Golf Club | Henry Cotton | England | 283 | £100 |
| 1933 | St Andrews | Denny Shute | United States | 292PO | £100 |
| 1932 | Prince's Golf Club | Gene Sarazen | United States | 283 | £100 |
| 1931 | Carnoustie Golf Links | Tommy Armour | United States (nat) | 296 | £100 |
| 1930 | Royal Liverpool Golf Club | Bobby Jones (Am) (3) | United States | 291 | Am - £100 |
| 1929 | Muirfield | Walter Hagen (4) | United States | 292 | £100 |
| 1928 | Royal St George's Golf Club | Walter Hagen (3) | United States | 292 | £100 |
| 1927 | St Andrews | Bobby Jones (Am) (2) | United States | 285 | Am - £100 |
| 1926 | Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club | Bobby Jones (Am) | United States | 291 | Am - £75 |
| 1925 | Prestwick Golf Club | Jim Barnes | United States (nat) | 300 | £75 |
| 1924 | Royal Liverpool Golf Club | Walter Hagen (2) | United States | 301 | £75 |
| 1923 | Royal Troon Golf Club | Arthur Havers | England | 295 | £75 |
| 1922 | Royal St George's Golf Club | Walter Hagen | United States | 300 | £75 |
| 1921 | St Andrews | Jock Hutchison | United States (nat) | 296PO | £75 |
| 1920 | Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club | George Duncan | Scotland | 303 | £75 |
| 1915-1919: No Championships due to World War I |
| 1914 | Prestwick Golf Club | Harry Vardon (6) | England | 306 | £50 |
| 1913 | Royal Liverpool Golf Club | John Henry Taylor (5) | England | 304 | £50 |
| 1912 | Muirfield | Edward Ray | England | 295 | £50 |
| 1911 | Royal St George's Golf Club | Harry Vardon (5) | England | 303PO | £50 |
| 1910 | St Andrews | James Braid (5) | Scotland | 299 | £50 |
| 1909 | Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club | John Henry Taylor (4) | England | 291 | £30 |
| 1908 | Prestwick Golf Club | James Braid (4) | Scotland | 291 | £30 |
| 1907 | Royal Liverpool Golf Club | Arnaud Massy |  France | 312 | £30 |
| 1906 | Muirfield | James Braid (3) | Scotland | 300 | £30 |
| 1905 | St Andrews | James Braid (2) | Scotland | 318 | £30 |
| 1904 | Royal St George's Golf Club | Jack White | Scotland | 296 | £30 |
| 1903 | Prestwick Golf Club | Harry Vardon (4) | England | 300 | £30 |
| 1902 | Royal Liverpool Golf Club | Sandy Herd | Scotland | 307 | £30 |
| 1901 | Muirfield | James Braid | Scotland | 309 | £30 |
| 1900 | St. Andrews | John Henry Taylor (3) | England | 309 | £30 |
| 1899 | Royal St George's Golf Club | Harry Vardon (3) | England | 310 | £30 |
| 1898 | Prestwick Golf Club | Harry Vardon (2) | England | 307 | £30 |
| 1897 | Royal Liverpool Golf Club | Harold Hilton (Am) (2) | England | 314 | Am - £30 |
| 1896 | Muirfield | Harry Vardon | England | 316 | £30 |
| 1895 | St Andrews | John Henry Taylor (2) | England | 332 | £30 |
| 1894 | Royal St George's Golf Club | John Henry Taylor | England | 326 | £30 |
| 1893 | Prestwick Golf Club | William Auchterlonie | Scotland | 322 | £30 |
| 1892 | Muirfield | Harold Hilton (Am) | England | 305 | (Am) |
| 1891 | St Andrews | Hugh Kirkaldy | Scotland | 166 | £10 |
| 1890 | Prestwick Golf Club | John Ball (Am) | England | 164 | Am - £8 |
| 1889 | Musselburgh Links | Willie Park, Jnr (2) | Scotland | 155PO | £8 |
| 1888 | St Andrews | Jack Burns | Scotland | 171 | £10 |
| 1887 | Prestwick Golf Club | Willie Park, Jnr | Scotland | 161 | £10 |
| 1886 | Musselburgh Links | David Brown | Scotland | 157 | £10 |
| 1885 | St Andrews | Bob Martin (2) | Scotland | 171 | £10 |
| 1884 | Prestwick Golf Club | Jack Simpson | Scotland | 160 | £10 |
| 1883 | Musselburgh Links | Willie Fernie | Scotland | 159PO | £10 |
| 1882 | St Andrews | Bob Ferguson (3) | Scotland | 171 | £10 |
| 1881 | Prestwick Golf Club | Bob Ferguson (2) | Scotland | 170 | £10 |
| 1880 | Musselburgh Links | Bob Ferguson | Scotland | 162 | £10 |
| 1879 | St Andrews | Jamie Anderson (3) | Scotland | 169 | £10 |
| 1878 | Prestwick Golf Club | Jamie Anderson (2) | Scotland | 157 | £10 |
| 1877 | Musselburgh Links | Jamie Anderson | Scotland | 160 | £10 |
| 1876 | St Andrews | Bob Martin | Scotland | 176 | £10 |
| 1875 | Prestwick Golf Club | Willie Park, Snr (4) | Scotland | 166 | £6 |
| 1874 | Musselburgh Links | Mungo Park | Scotland | 159 | £6 |
| 1873 | St Andrews | Tom Kidd | Scotland | 179 | £6 |
| 1872 | Prestwick Golf Club | Tom Morris, Jnr (4) | Scotland | 166 | £6 |
| 1871 | No Championship |
| 1870 | Prestwick Golf Club | Tom Morris, Jnr (3) | Scotland | 149 | £6 |
| 1869 | Prestwick Golf Club | Tom Morris, Jnr (2) | Scotland | 154 | £6 |
| 1868 | Prestwick Golf Club | Tom Morris, Jnr | Scotland | 157 | £6 |
| 1867 | Prestwick Golf Club | Tom Morris, Snr (4) | Scotland | 170 | £6 |
| 1866 | Prestwick Golf Club | Willie Park, Snr (3) | Scotland | 169 | £6 |
| 1865 | Prestwick Golf Club | Andrew Strath | Scotland | 162 | £6 |
| 1864 | Prestwick Golf Club | Tom Morris, Snr (3) | Scotland | 167 | £6 |
| 1863 | Prestwick Golf Club | Willie Park, Snr (2) | Scotland | 168 | - |
| 1862 | Prestwick Golf Club | Tom Morris, Snr (2) | Scotland | 163 | - |
| 1861 | Prestwick Golf Club | Tom Morris, Snr | Scotland | 163 | - |
| 1860 | Prestwick Golf Club | Willie Park, Snr | Scotland | 174 | - |
PO = Won in play-off
Am = Amateur
nat = naturalised U.S. citizen. Hutchison, Barnes and Armour were British born and learned their golf in the UK, but they took U.S. citizenship before claiming their Open titles.
National summary
(Wikipedia.org) The Open Championship is the oldest of the four major championships in men's golf. It is the only major held outside the USA and is administered by the R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the U.S. and Mexico. The event takes place every year on one of nine historic links courses in the United Kingdom. In 2006, The Open had a prize fund of £4 million (at the time, approximately €5.86 million or $7.43 million). Historically, The Open's prize money was consistently the least of the four majors; since 2002 it has been the highest. The tournament is often referred to as the British Open outside the United Kingdom. The Open is played on the weekend of the third Friday in July, and is the third major to take place each year following The Masters and the U.S. Open and before the PGA Championship.
United Kingdom
Scotland
United States
England
Australia
South Africa
Spain
France
Northern Ireland
New Zealand
Zimbabwe
Argentina
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