Each year I make the same mistake. I try to convince myself that The Masters is the one event that I’d want to attend if a genie came out of a bottle and granted me a wish.
The reasons have always been obvious: the history of the tournament, the first Major of the year, the manicured venue, the glass-like greens, the behaviour of the spectators, the drama and the great champions getting the Green Jacket placed over their shoulders. And the name, Augusta.
Then The Masters comes and goes and the whole year stretches out ahead, with three more men’s Majors. I don’t care too much for The PGA Championship and you can even keep the US Open. But The Open Championship really is something different.
It’s so much that The Masters isn’t.
For one, each year it’s at a different venue and I find myself looking on a map of England and Scotland to locate where we will be in that year. This time it’s at Royal Troon, which is in Ayrshire, Scotland, and for those who really struggle with geography it’s 430 miles from Heathrow. The Proclaimers might even suggest that you walk those 500 miles.
The Open is played at a different course on a rotational basis each year, but suddenly, after the visual perfection of The Masters, The Open conjures up different mental images, doesn’t it?
Spectators (and golfers) under umbrellas, wearing jackets to protect against the cold and wet, long wispy grass that acts as the rough, sodden bunkers and flagsticks that are bending in the wind. And that’s on a perfect summer’s day.
However, I have finally come to accept that it deserves to be the most anticipated men’s Major of the year.
This is the 152nd staging of the event and it will be the 10th time the men are contesting The Open at the venue. Royal Troon even admitted female members for the first time in 2016, so they have been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century as well.
Maybe, though, there’s the drama of The Open which makes it so appealing, on top of everything else. I really can’t think – even with the help of Google – the last time The Masters was won by an ‘unknown’ player. I suppose that comes with it being an invite-only Major.
But when you thumb down the list of Open champions there are many fairy-tale stories. Exactly 20 years ago, also at Royal Troon, Todd Hamilton eventually raised the Claret Jug after winning a playoff against Ernie Els. The American was largely unknown and a 500-1 outsider to win that week. despite being ranked 58th in the world.
The year before, Ben Curtis had been an even bigger shock winner, at Sandwich. He arrived at the course ranked 396th in the world and held off Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods and Els. The South African had himself won his first Open the previous year (2002) at Muirfield. Another relative unknown, Ian Baker-Finch, won in 1991. And the list goes on.
Then there’s the drama – Jean van de Velde at Carnoustie in 1999 anyone? Now, my search isn’t scientific, but the world No 1 doesn’t have the easiest time when arriving at The Open. It might well have been Tiger himself, in 2006, who was the last No 1 to win The Open. That’s not good news for Scottie Scheffler.
Next year I mustn’t make the same mistake of thinking I’m looking forward to The Masters more than The Open.
Get the popcorn.
– This column first appeared in the July 2024 issue of Compleat Golfer magazine.
Photos: Andrew Redington/Dan Smith/Getty Images/Gallo Images
