Test your knowledge with these 10 true-or-false knee-knockers about the Open Championship
Questions
1. Nobody has won more Open Championships than Australia’s five-time champion Peter Thomson.
2. The “British” Open was referred to as such because it started in Britain.
3. The Open didn’t change host venues in its first 12 years of existence.
4. Phil Mickelson won the 2021 PGA Championship at 50, becoming the oldest Major champion of all time. He is also the oldest Champion Golfer of the Year with his 2013 triumph at Muirfield.
5. One of the most popular stopovers on the PGA Tour – Muirfield Village Golf Club – is named after the famous Open Championship venue.
6. New Zealand legend Sir Bob Charles was the first left-hander to win a Major after claiming the 1963 Open.
7. South Africa’s Gary Player was the only golfer to win The Open in three different decades of the 20th century.
8. After breaking through for his first Major at the 1986 Open, Greg Norman [pictured] had a full-size replica of the claret jug made for safe keeping.
9. The Champion Golfer of the Year has always received the claret jug for finishing in first place.
10.The claret jug trophy actually draws on a French inspiration with its design.
Answers
1. FALSE. Harry Vardon, famously known as the inventor of the Vardon or overlapping grip – the most commonly used in golf today – holds the record for most Open wins with six (1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911, 1914).
2. FALSE. Despite the “British” prefix now affiliated with it, The Open was not held outside Scotland until 1894 – more than 30 years after the inaugural Open. J.H. Taylor would win that year at Royal St George’s, and was awarded £30 for his accomplishment.
3. TRUE. The first 12 “British” Opens were played at Prestwick Golf Club in Ayrshire, Scotland. Prestwick remained in The Open’s rotation until 1925 when it was deemed unable to accommodate the growing galleries. Hosting the championship a total of 24 times, Prestwick is second only to the Old Course at St Andrews.
4. FALSE. The oldest winner of The Open is Old Tom Morris, who was 46 when he won in 1867. The youngest was his son, Young Tom Morris [pictured], who was 17 when he won the next year.
5. TRUE. Jack Nicklaus named his course in Ohio, Muirfield, after the course where he won his first Open in 1966.
6. TRUE: When Charles won the 1963 Open, he also became the first New Zealander to win one of golf’s professional Majors.
7. TRUE: Player won the Open in 1959, ’68, and ’74. Harry Vardon and J.H. Taylor both did it in the 1890s-1910s. Player also holds the record for most Open appearances with 46 from 1956 to 2001.
8. TRUE: Back then, winners were allowed to have a replica claret jug made but to only one-third of the size. Norman gave that one to his parents. The Shark then came to an agreement with a London jeweller to imitate the real thing, minus the names of all the champions. “I might have been the first person to have a full-size replica; I’m not too sure,” Norman says. “The R&A found out afterwards and I think that’s when they realised, ‘Hey, no harm, no foul.’ I paid for it. It cost a lot of money to get it done.”
9. FALSE. The winner of the first dozen Opens at Prestwick was presented with a red Morocco belt with silver clasps. Dubbed the “Challenge Belt”, it was purchased by the members at a cost of £25. Young Tom Morris captured four consecutive Opens held there from 1868-1872 (still an unprecedented feat). Under the original rules of competition, if a player won three times in a row, he was entitled to keep the prize – meaning there was nothing to play for in 1871 and, therefore, no Open was held that year.
10.TRUE. The trophy now awarded to the winner of The Open is officially named the Championship Cup, though it is widely referred to as the “claret jug”. Claret is a dry red wine produced in the famous French winemaking region of Bordeaux. The Open trophy was designed to look like the silver jugs used to serve claret at 19th century gatherings, thus the name.
GETTY IMAGES:James Hardie; R&A Championships
