Sport
July 2014Open Golf Championship
The only major men's golf championship held outside the USA provides a thrilling spectacle over a rota of nine different courses. This year - the 141st Open Championship - takes place at the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club.
The oldest of the world's four major men's championships was first played at Prestwick in Scotland in 1860, between eight players over three rounds of a 12-hole course. The Open is now administered by the R&A (the golf-world rules and development body) and is hosted on nine historic links courses in the United Kingdom. It takes place over four days, and is the third major of the year after The Masters and the US Open and before the PGA Championship.
Most of the 156 places are taken by top players who are exempt from qualifying, usually because they feature in the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings, have won one of the other majors, or are in the top 10 from the previous year's Open. In 2007 the prize money totalled £4.2 million, the highest of any of the majors.
The club was founded in 1886 and the present Course constructed in 1897. The Clubhouse celebrated its Centenary in 1998. It is one of the premier links courses in the world, host to ten previous Open Championships, two Ryder Cups and numerous other major tournaments including the Women's and Senior's Open Championships.
