The Open Championship

About The Open Championship

The Open Championship, or simply The Open (sometimes referred to as the British Open outside the UK), 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., Canada and Mexico. 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 event takes place every year on one of nine historic links courses in the United Kingdom. In 2007, The Open had a prize fund of £4.2 million (at the time, approximately €6.197 million or $8.638 million). Historically, The Open's prize money was consistently the least of the four majors; since 2002 it has been the highest. Uniquely among the four Major championships, the Open features a four hole playoff for all golfers tied at the end of regulation, with the playoff continuing into sudden death holes if players remain tied after four holes.

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.

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 cheque had increased one hundred and twenty thousandfold to £720,000, or perhaps two thousandfold 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.