What Makes The Open Golf's Greatest Major Championship

There is much debate within our sport about which is the best of the four men's majors. I know that many people opt for The Masters simply because of the majestic beauty of Augusta National, while others enjoy the sadistic nature of the US Open.

But for me it can only be The Open. With all its history, it is a tournament that holds a special place in my heart.

I will never forget the joy I felt watching Tony Jacklin win at Lytham in 1969. I was glued to the TV as he ripped his final drive down the middle of the final fairway. "What a corker," said Henry Longhurst.

I have attended on many occasions. My first was at St Andrews way back in 1970. And what a week that was.

It started with Jacklin ripping the front nine to shreds on the opening day before torrential rain stopped him in his tracks. And it ended with Doug Sanders missing a tiddler on the 72nd green and ending up in an 18-hole playoff with Jack Nicklaus the following day. I still vividly remember that playoff. My father and I stood feet away from Nicklaus on the 18th tee when he removed his jumper and smashed his drive 380-plus yards through the back of the green. With a wooden driver and a balata golf ball. It was the most incredible single shot I had witnessed at that point in my life.

And it was at the Old Course at St Andrews, with all its history.

Nicklaus was involved again seven years later at Turnberry, this time coming out on the losing side in the Duel in the Sun, when he and Tom Watson went at it hammer and tongs for four days. And once again Nicklaus produced a shot for the ages. It came at the final hole once more. He had hit his drive into a horrible place. In truth, it seemed that he had no shot, but he somehow muscled a mid-iron to the front of the green and, inevitably, holed the putt for the most unlikely birdie I ever saw. However, Watson, who was one ahead, had hit his approach to two feet and tapped it in to win. What a week, what a tournament, what a champion.

I watched Seve Ballesteros playing miraculous shots from car parks and I celebrated wildly when the charismatic Spaniard holed that putt on the final green at the Old Course.

I shed tears when Sandy Lyle won for Scotland at Royal St George’s after believing he had thrown it all away.

I watched Nick Faldo grind out 18 pars on the final day. I also listened to him panning the British media in what was not his finest hour.

The Old Course took centre stage once again in 1995. That was the year that John Daly won his second major but the real heart-stopping drama came earlier and was provided by Italy’s Costantino Rocca. Needing a birdie at the 72nd hole to force a playoff, he hit a good drive up the left side and then utterly duffed his chip. He then took out his putter and set off the ball - on and on it went, seemingly forever and then the unthinkable happened. The ball dropped into the hole. Rocca fell to the floor and pounded the ground. It was utterly joyous. Sadly, he was spent and Daly cruised to victory in the playoff.

While everybody around him was flailing away with drivers, Tiger Woods won at Hoylake in 2006 while using the big stick just once on 72 holes. He had worked out that the key was to find fairways and he did so time and time again on a fast-running course. He made the rest of the field look like amateurs. And how did he win at St Andrews without finding a single bunker in four days?

I watched Adam Scott hand the Claret Jug to Ernie Els at Royal Lytham and shed more tears when Darren Clarke’s Open dream finally came true in the most unlikely of circumstances.

Do you remember Stewart Cink? He will go down in history as the most unpopular Open champion. It was 2009 and the tournament was staged at Turnberry, 32 years after the Duel in the Sun. And there was 59-year-old Tom Watson at the top of the leaderboard. He came to the final hole still leading by one, trying to become golf’s oldest major champion. He struck a wonderful approach to the final hole but it ran through the back, he took three more to get down and lost to fellow American Cink in a playoff. I was heartbroken - along with every other person at Turnberry other than Cink and his family. This was pure theatre. If you had written it nobody would have believed you.

Or what about Ian Woosnam discovering that his caddie had forgotten to remove an additional club from the bag in 2001? In the final round of The Open for goodness sake. David Duval would go on to win, but all I remember is Woosie telling his caddie that he had just cost him The Open.

It’s not just the great champions and the final-round collapses that make The Open so special. It is the unpredictability of the British weather. The Masters, US Open and US PGA are generally played in glorious weather, with no wind and the sun beating down.

The British Isles are a little different. We get the sort of glorious weather that allowed Watson and Nicklaus to put on a show of brilliance and shotmaking at Turnberry and Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson to repeat the feat at Royal Troon. 

But then we get the wind and rain that reduces the likes of Tiger Woods at Muirfield in 2002. Looking like he would rather be anywhere else in the world, he took 81 blows on a rain-lashed Saturday. In slightly kinder conditions, Ernie Els produced a wonderful round of 72 and would go on to win a four-man playoff.

Do you remember Carnoustie in 1999? I was there. And what a week that was. The course was brutal. But Frenchman Jean Van de Velde mastered it until he came to the final hole. Needing a six to win, he took a seven that involved him clambering into the Barry Burn to consider playing his ball. While everybody else was coming to grief, Scotland’s Paul Lawrie finished with a 67 and went on to defeat Van de Velde and Justin Leonard in a playoff.

This year the tournament returns to Royal Portrush. When it was last played there in 2019, Rory McIlroy began the week as a warm favourite. He knew the course like the back of his hand and had set the course record while still a teenager. He began his challenge with an EIGHT and failed to make the cut. But there wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Shane Lowry gave the crowd the home winner they craved so much.

There is no other tournament quite like The Open and I cannot wait for this one to start.

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