Golf’s Special One
History, characters and the Claret Jug — why the Open really is . . .
WHEN Allan Robertson, a club maker from St Andrews who was undoubtedly the greatest golfer of the age, died in 1859 it led to one of the earliest 19th hole discussions between two members of Prestwick, on the west coast of Scotland.
Who was now the champion golfer?
So it began, the trawl through England and Scotland that now extends to all parts of the world in search of the man acclaimed each third Sunday in July as the champion golfer of the year.
Back in 1860, the invitations to clubs and golf societies for the best professionals to gather at Prestwick yielded a field of just eight participants for an event held over three 12-hole rounds on a chilly day in October.
This year, more than 2,500 dreamers and optimists filed entries in the hope of making it through various qualifying ualifying hurdles, and becoming ming one of 156 golfers who ho will line up next t Thursday on the oldest of Old Courses, where Robertson once swatted away all pretenders just a short walk from where he plied his club-making trade.
Any Open at St Andrews is special,l, of course, but this onee is a landmark occasion by any standard. Only world wars, the pandemic and an inter- club squabble in 1871 have prevented the Open from being staged since its modest beginnings.
Now its appeal is such that 1.3million people applied for the 290,000 tickets for this 150th edition that simply had to be staged at the Home of Golf, a venue truly unique in all of sport.
Ever thought of walking the dog on the pitch at Wembley or taking the kids on a Sunday stroll across Centre Court at Wimbledon? Of course not. But that’s the privilege afforded citizens and visitors each Sabbath to the old grey town of St Andrews, when all golf comes to a halt and you really can walk in the footsteps of the legends on the 18th hole for free and marvel at the magnificence of a setting that never loses its awe or grandeur. Just don’t let the kids make sand castles in the bunkers, although no one will shout if they do.
Against that, the view from Thursday onwards for anyone walking with Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy will be positively atrocious. This was a course built longg before anyone thought of moundsmoun for spectators and a stadium setting.
WillW anyone care? NotN a jot. They will walkw on through the wind and rain if necessary, or sit in the grandstands and feel lucky to be there. Such is the magic of any Open, nevernev mind the 150th. BackBa in 1860, Old Tom Morris,Morris the greenkeeper at Prestwick, was the favourite but in the final round found too many bunkers that he had built with his own hands, allowing Willie Park to win in style with a 30-foot putt for a two- stroke success. His prize was a Challenge belt made from Moroccan leather purchased by the Prestwick members for £25.
Park and Morris would dominate the early years until Young Tom Morris, the latter’s son, came along and won it three years in a row from 1868. Under the rules of the competition, he was allowed to keep the belt, with its distinctive silver buckle, in perpetuity.
No Open was staged the following year owing to a disagreement over the replacement trophy and the future direction of the event.
Finally, Prestwick agreed to share the staging of the tournament with the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers at Musselburgh.
Young Tom Morris continued his supremacy in 1872 and remains the only golfer ever to win the Open four times in a row. Three years later, he would die on Christmas Day of a pulmonary haemorrhage at the age of 24.
Morris was awarded a gold medal for the last of his wins, before the Claret Jug still played for today was awarded for the first time in 1873. That 13th Open was also the first to be staged at St Andrews and was won by a local caddie, Tom Kidd, who benefitted from local knowledge in hugely challenging conditions.
The 25th Open saw Bob Martin become the first player to win it twice on the Old Course, a feat that only four players have managed since — JH Taylor, James Braid, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
Braid achieved another notable feat at the 50th Open at St Andrews, when he became the first man to win the Claret Jug five times (Harry Vardon from Jersey is the only man to win it on six occasions). The Scot left a singular legacy. Braid was the pro at Walton Heath in Surrey for 45 years and designed around 200 courses in the British Isles, including an Open venue in Carnoustie.
The 101st anniversary of the Open in 1961 at Royal Birkdale was perhaps the most important edition of all. It was won by Arnold Palmer and, thanks to his unmatched charisma, led to the American invasion that continues to this day and transformed the game’s oldest championship into a global spectacle without parallel in the Royal and Ancient game.
Now it’s another historic edition at the greatest place in golf. For the modern generation, if you had to win just one major in your career — or one major for the rest of your career — the 150th Open is surely the one.