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Event
Information:
The
British Open, referred to in the UK
as The Open Championship, or simply
The Open, is the oldest of the four
major championships in professional
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 USA and
Mexico. The British Open is played
on the weekend of the third Friday
in July. It is the third major to
take place each year, following The
Masters and the U.S. Open, but
preceeding the PGA Championship.
The
Royal St George's Golf Club is one
of the premier golf clubs in the
United Kingdom, and one of the
courses on The Open Championship
rotation. It has hosted 13 Open
championships since 1894, when it
became the first club outside
Scotland to host the championship.
Past champions include Ben Curtis,
Greg Norman, Sandy Lyle, Bill
Rogers, Bobby Locke, Reg Whitcombe,
Henry Cotton, Walter Hagen (on two
different occasions), Harry Vardon
(on two different occasions), Jack
White and John Henry Taylor. It has
also hosted The Amateur Championship
on 13 occasions.
The
club is located in Sandwich, Kent,
England, and was founded in 1887 in
a setting of wild duneland. Many
holes feature blind or partially
blind shots, although the unfairness
element has been reduced somewhat,
after several 20th century
modifications. The club's Challenge
Trophy dates from 1888 and is one of
the oldest trophies in golf; it has
been contested annually except for
war years. The course also possesses
the deepest bunker in championship
golf, located on its fourth hole.
From 1860–70, The British Open
Championship was organised by and
played at Prestwick Golf Club. Since
it was revived in 1872 after a lapse
of one year, it has always been
played at a number of courses in
rotation. Initially there were three
courses in the rotation, namely
Prestwick, St Andrews, and
Musselburgh. In 1893 Royal St
George's and Royal Liverpool Golf
Club, Hoylake were invited to join
the rotation. Since then a handful
of further clubs have been added,
and a few have been dropped. The
common factor in the venues for The
British Open is that they have
always been links courses. In more
recent times the rotation has
generally followed the pattern of
being played in Scotland and England
alternately. The general
interruption to this pattern is the
Old Course at St Andrews, which
hosts the event every five years or
so. There is, however, no strict
rule and the host is appointed by
the R&A around five years in
advance. There is a map showing the
locations of the venues here (there
are thirteen dots for the fourteen
courses; two of the courses are in
the town of Sandwich). The British
Open is usually played in Scotland,
North West England, or Kent in South
East England. It has never been
played in Wales, and it has only
been played in Northern Ireland
once.
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