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List of The Open Championship venues

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The current Open Championship rota venues.
The next Open Championship in 2025 (Royal
Portrush) is shown in green.

The Open Championship is an annual golf competition established in 1860, and is organised by The R&A.[1] It is played on the weekend of the third Friday in July, and is the last of the four major championships to be played each year.[2] The championship is currently held on a different course each year. Of the 14 that have been used, 10 are currently used in the rota.[3][4] All the courses on the rota are links courses.[5]

The Swilcan Bridge in the foreground on the Old Course at St Andrews, which has hosted The Open Championship a record 30 times.

Prestwick Golf Club hosted the first championship in 1860 and remained the sole venue until 1873, when the Old Course at St Andrews hosted the event. Prestwick hosted a further 12 championships, the last in 1925.[6] Musselburgh Links became the third course to host the championship in 1874. The three courses rotated the hosting of the championship until 1892 when Muirfield hosted the event. The Honourable Company of Edinburgh golfers built their own course at Muirfield and Musselburgh was removed from the rota as a result.[7] Royal St George's Golf Club became the first course outside Scotland to host the championship in 1894.[8]

Royal Liverpool Golf Club hosted the event for the first time in 1897. Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club became the next course to host the event in 1909. The course hosted a further championship in 1920, but further attempts to host the Championship in 1938 and 1949 were thwarted by bad weather and the course was dropped from the rota.[9] Royal Troon, Royal Lytham & St Annes and Carnoustie held the Open Championship for the first time in 1923, 1926 and 1931 respectively. The following year Prince's Golf Club hosted the event for the only time. The course was requisitioned by the military during the Second World War and was extensively damaged.[10] Royal Birkdale was chosen as the host course in 1940, however, due to the Second World War the event did not go ahead.[11] It was not until 1954 that Royal Birkdale hosted the Open.[12]

The Old Course at St Andrews has hosted the most championships with 30 in total, most recently with the 2022 Open Championship. The championship has been held outside Scotland and England twice, in 1951 and 2019; Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland was the venue for both tournaments.[13] Turnberry became the most recent course to have hosted the Championship for the first time, when it held the 1977 Open Championship.[14] However, Martin Slumbers, the Chief Executive of The R&A said in 2021, "We had no plans to stage any of our championships at Turnberry and will not do so in the foreseeable future. We will not return until we are convinced that the focus will be on the championship, the players and the course itself and we do not believe that is achievable in the current circumstances."[15]

With Scotland, England and Northern Ireland hosting The Open, Wales is now the only country yet to join The Open rota within the United Kingdom.[16] Golfweek said in 2019 that "The R&A should go out of its way to put Royal Porthcawl in its pool of Open Championship courses."[16]

Venues

[edit]
Key
† Courses that are no longer on the Open rota
— Courses in rota with next hosting not yet assigned
The Open Championship venues
Venue Location First Last Next Times Lowest 72-
hole score 		Player (year) Ref
Prestwick Golf Club † Prestwick, Scotland 1860 1925 † 24 291 James Braid (1908) [17]
Old Course at St Andrews St Andrews, Scotland 1873 2022 — 30 268 (−20) Cameron Smith (2022) [18]
Musselburgh Links † Musselburgh, Scotland 1874 1889 † 6 155[A] Willie Park, Jnr (1889) [19]
Muirfield Gullane, Scotland 1892 2013 — 16 271 (−13) Tom Watson (1980) [20]
Royal St George's Golf Club Sandwich, England 1894 2021 — 15 265 (−15) Collin Morikawa (2021) [8]
Royal Liverpool Golf Club Hoylake, England 1897 2023 — 13 270 (−18) Tiger Woods (2006) [21]
Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club † Deal, England 1909 1920 † 2 291 John Henry Taylor (1909) [22]
Royal Troon Golf Club Troon, Scotland 1923 2024 — 10 264 (−20) Henrik Stenson (2016) [23]
Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club Lytham St Annes, England 1926 2012 — 11 271 (−13) Tom Lehman (1996) [24]
Carnoustie Golf Links Carnoustie, Scotland 1931 2018 — 8 276 (−8) Francesco Molinari (2018) [25]
Prince's Golf Club † Sandwich, England 1932 1932 † 1 283 (−13) Gene Sarazen (1932) [26]
Royal Portrush Golf Club Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland 1951 2019 2025 2 269 (−15) Shane Lowry (2019) [27]
Royal Birkdale Golf Club Southport, England 1954 2017 2026 10 268 (−12) Jordan Spieth (2017) [12]
Turnberry † South Ayrshire, Scotland 1977 2009 † 4 268 (−12) Tom Watson (1977)
Nick Price (1994) 		[28]

Notes

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A. ^ From 1860 to 1891 The Open Championship was contested over 36 holes.[29]

Footnotes

[edit]
  1. ^ "The Open". The Open Championship. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  2. ^ Newport 1997, p. 272.
  3. ^ Myers, Alex. "British Open: Get to know your British Open courses". Golf Digest. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  4. ^ "The Open: Press conference confirms Portrush". BBC News. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  5. ^ "Heritage". The Open Championship. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  6. ^ "The Open Championship". Prestwick Golf Club. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  7. ^ "The Musselburgh Opens". Musselburgh Links. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  8. ^ a b "Royal St Georges". The Open Championship. Archived from the original on 21 February 2017. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  9. ^ "Royal Cinque Ports and The Open Rota". Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  10. ^ Easdale, Roderick (12 July 2015). "The forgotten Open venues". Golf Monthly. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  11. ^ "Golf Championships for 1940". The Times. 21 January 1939. p. 4.
  12. ^ a b "Royal Birkdale". The Open Championship. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  13. ^ "British Open set for Royal Portrush return". Reuters. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2015.[dead link‍]
  14. ^ "Turnberry". The Open Championship. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  15. ^ "Turnberry Statement". The R&A. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  16. ^ a b "Will Women's British Open pave way for Wales to join men's Open rota?". Golfweek. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  17. ^ "Prestwick". The Open Championship. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  18. ^ "St Andrews". The Open Championship. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  19. ^ "Musselburgh". The Open Championship. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  20. ^ "Muirfield". The Open Championship. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  21. ^ "Royal Liverpool". The Open Championship. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  22. ^ "Royal Cinque Ports". The Open Championship. Retrieved 19 August 2015.[permanent dead link‍]
  23. ^ "Royal Troon". The Open Championship. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  24. ^ "Royal Lytham & St Annes". The Open Championship. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  25. ^ "Carnoustie". The Open Championship. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  26. ^ "Prince's". The Open Championship. Retrieved 19 August 2015.[permanent dead link‍]
  27. ^ "Royal Portrush return confirmed | the 153rd Open | 2025".
  28. ^ "The R&A - R&A Turnberry Statement".
  29. ^ McAdam 2013, p. 15.

References

[edit]
  • McAdam, Derek (2013). The Nine Holer Guide: Scotland's Nine-Hole Golf Courses. Luath Press. ISBN 978-1-908373-60-1.
  • Newport, Stuart (1997). Guinness Book Of Knowledge. Guinness Publishing. ISBN 0-85112-046-6.
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