Saturday 16 July 2016 12:02, UK
Bruce Critchley delves into The Open archives to look at the history of golf's oldest major.
The first Open took place in 1860 at Prestwick over three rounds of 12 holes with Willie Park Sr beating Old Tom Morris by two strokes to come out on top. The championship continued to be held at Prestwick with Young Tom Morris winning three years in a row to claim the championship belt outright in 1870.
That left The Open without a trophy and meant there was no championship in 1871. St Andrews and Musselburgh both chipped in along with Prestwick to commission the Claret Jug and in return for their help, the championship rotated between the three clubs.
In 1890, John Ball broke the Scottish dominance and became the first Englishman, and the first amateur, to win the championship but in the years leading up to World War I, it was two other Englishmen and a Scot who assumed control - Harry Vardon, J. H. Taylor and James Braid winning 16 of 21 Opens up to 1914.
1923 saw The Open held at Royal Troon for the first time, with England's Arthur Havers triumphant on that occasion, but from 1921 to 1933 every other winner was from America.
Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen were the pick of the bunch and between 1922 and 1930 they lifted the Claret Jug seven times between them. It is perhaps the final of those years that was most memorable as Jones won The Open on his way to completing the Grand Slam.
Even after Jones' retirement Americans continued to dominate until the great depression meant players from the US stopped coming, leading to English winners six years on the run before the Second World War. After the war, Ben Hogan's victory in 1953 was a standout as he won three of the four majors that year while Bobby Locke and Peter Thompson each claimed four victories during the decade.
Having dominated in the US, Arnold Palmer headed for the UK in 1960 in a bid to prove himself in all forms of the game. He had already won the Masters and the US Open that year and, with the US PGA still to come, had his sights set on a Grand Slam.
However, Palmer was beaten by a shot at St Andrews by Kel Nagle and would never achieve the Grand Slam. He did though, return to win The Open at Royal Birkdale the following year before defending his title in impressive fashion in 1962.
That began an era of US supremacy with Tony Jacklin's win at Lytham in 1969 the first by a Brit in 18 years and it would be another 16 before the next. By this time, Jack Nicklaus had taken over from Palmer and won the Claret Jug in 1966, 1970 and 1978 before the baton was handed to Tom Watson.
With players arriving on the shores from around the globe, one thing which remained the same were the courses on which The Open was played.
Carnoustie is renowned for being the toughest of venues which doesn't require any tweaking of trickery. As Sir Michael Bonallack put it: "When the wind is blowing, it is the toughest golf course in Britain. And when it's not blowing, it's probably still the toughest."
Despite going missing from 1975 until 1999, the links course returned with a vengeance in 2007. The long rough, blustery greens and conditions making it the ultimate test for any golfer.
St Andrews proved the most popular of courses because of its association with the R&A. Tiger Woods avoided the dreaded bunkers and then mastered it in 2000 when he held all four majors at the same time. He employed the same long-iron tactics at Hoylake six years later.
Royal Birkdale, built in the 1930s, is regarded as just about the perfect Open golf course while Greg Norman's victory at Royal St. George's in 1993 was probably among his very best. Links golf remains the backbone of The Open.
