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The Open Championship by the numbers.
AN OPEN FIT FOR A KING Arnold Palmer and caddie Tip Anderson at St Andrews in 1960.
Dear Americans, The Open Is Not ‘The British’ A former chairman of the R&A defends the proper name of golf’s oldest major By Ian Pattinson
A merican Friends – “the winner of the gold medal and the Champion Golfer of the Year is . . . ” These are the words used by the chief executive of the R&A to introduce the new Open Champion each July, just before the claret jug is presented. The winner of “The Open” is so declared! Strange as this may seem, both history and logic explain what many Americans may feel is a quaint, even archaic, idiosyncratic and... er, British ritual. But please don’t call our championship “the British Open” or worse still, “the British” because it’s just plain wrong. Why? Let’s start at the beginning. First, the words engraved on the
outer lip of the claret jug simply read: “The Golf Champion Trophy.” Hence the winner, as the recipient of that trophy, is announced as the “Champion Golfer.” Second, let’s remember that the first playing of the championship in 1860 was 35 years before the first US Open, 56 years before the first PGA Championship and 74 years before the first Masters Tournament. The expression “major” in its current meaning had not been minted, and so in 1860, the competition for the original “challenge belt” was the only championship around and was known simply as “the Championship.” The next year, organisers declared that the event should “be open to the whole
world,” but not until 1872 – when the claret jug replaced the belt given to Young Tom Morris for his three straight wins – did the Royal and Ancient first make a reference to “the Open Championship.” The expression “British Open” is not historically, geographically or politically accurate. You see, “British” just means “relating to Great Britain,” but Great Britain is a grand name we invented for a small island (comprising England, Scotland and Wales) in the north Atlantic ocean, off the northwest coast of mainland Europe. Northern Ireland (which has hosted two great Opens and is due another in 2025) is part of the island of Ireland, and although NI is part of the United Kingdom, it
12 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
JULY/AUGUST 2024
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