The Open Championship is an annual golf competition held in the United Kingdom that was established in 1860. 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. In addition, this championship is conducted by

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world. It is a private members-only club based in St Andrews in Scotland. It was previously known colloquially as "The R&A", but in 2004, a new organisation kn ...

(R&A). The championship was not held in 1871 due to a disagreement over a new trophy, from 1915 to 1919 and from 1940 to 1945 due to the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

World Wars respectively, and in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The reigning champion of the competition is automatically invited to play in the other three majors ( Masters, the U.S. Open, and the PGA Championship) for the next five years. The prize of the tournament is the Golf Champion Trophy, commonly known as the Claret Jug, and the champion personally keeps the trophy until the next competition the following year. The champion also receives a gold medal, which they are allowed to keep permanently. Until 1870 the champion received the Challenge Belt, however when Tom Morris Jr. (more commonly known as

Young Tom Morris Thomas Morris (20 April 1851 – 25 December 1875), known as Tom Morris Junior, Young Tom Morris and also Tommy Morris, was a Scottish professional golfer. He is considered one of the pioneers of professional golf, and was the first young prodig ...

) won the Open Championship three times in a row he won the belt outright, necessitating the need for a new trophy. Harry Vardon holds the record for the most Open Championship victories, winning six times during his career. The oldest winner of the Open Championship is Tom Morris Sr. (or

Old Tom Morris Thomas Mitchell Morris (16 June 1821 – 24 May 1908), otherwise known as Old Tom Morris, and The Grand Old Man of Golf, was a Scottish golfer. He was born in St Andrews, Fife, the "home of golf" and location of the St Andrews Links, and died t ...

) who was old when he won in

1867 Events January–March * January 1 – The Covington–Cincinnati Suspension Bridge opens between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky, in the United States, becoming the longest single-span bridge in the world. It was renamed a ...

. His son, Tom Morris Jr., is the youngest winner of the championship, he was old when he won the

1868 Open Championship The 1868 Open Championship was the ninth Open Championship and was held on 23 September at Prestwick Golf Club. Tom Morris, Jr. won the championship for the first time, by three shots from his father Tom Morris, Sr. Tom Morris, Jr. was just 17 y ...

. He also won the most consecutive times with four victories (1868–1872).

Henrik Stenson Henrik Olof Stenson (; born 5 April 1976) is a Swedish professional golfer. He is the first male Swedish and first male Nordic major champion, having won the 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon with a major championship record score of 264. ...

and Cameron Smith hold the distinction of being both the most strokes under par for 72 holes (−20), which they achieved in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

respectively. Stenson also recorded the lowest total score (264) when he won in 2016. Brian Harman is the current champion, winning the 2023 Open.

Champions

By year

Multiple champions

By nationality

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

The Open Championship official siteR&A website
{{featured list *List Open Champ *