The Open Championship and St Andrews

The home of golf has hosted the Open Championship a record 29 times, with the first tournament being held in 1873 and last held in St Andrews in 2015. There is no doubt that there is a very special bond between The Open Championship and St Andrews.

With the championships returning to St Andrews and the tournament fast approaching we thought we would take a look at the history of the Open at St Andrews.

St Andrews has hosted The Open Championships more than any other course. It is 5 clear of Prestwick who has hosted the event on 24 different occasions.

From 1990 the event was hosted every 5 years at the Old Course but was changed to host the 2021 Open Championship to celebrate the 150^th championships. Covid-19 changed those plans and after the cancellation of the 2020 tournament, the decision to push The Open coming to St Andrews to 2022 was made. The delay means it will be 7 years since The Open Championship was held at the home of golf.

The championships takes place on the Old Course at St Andrews and over all the years the course has hosted the tournament it has remained relatively unchanged. The yardage of the course has got longer over the years, but the course only stands 350 yards longer than over a century ago.

The most famous hole in golf is the 17^th hole called the Road Hole. The par 4 is renowned for being one of the hardest holes in the sport.

The championships at St Andrews continue to be incredibly popular with the fans. The highest ever attended Open Championship came at the Old Course in 2000 when 239,000 attended over the course of the week, breaking the record that was also set at St Andrews 10 years prior.

The list of champions of The Open Championship at St Andrews reads like a who’s who of golf. Greats like Seve Ballesteros won it in 1984, Sir Nick Faldo won the event in 1990 and Peter Thomson won the championships in 1955.

Only two men have won the championships twice at St Andrews and they are Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Nicklaus won at St Andrews in 1970 and 1978 and Woods won the championships in 2000 and 2005.

Home favourite Colin Montgomerie would give the fans reasons to dream in 2005 by being in contention to win the Claret Jug but Tiger Woods proved too good on the day and ‘Monty’ had to settle for 2^nd place, his best Open finish.

American Zach Johnson won the event in 2015 when it was last held in St Andrews by winning a thrilling 4 hole playoff to secure his first Open Championship.

If you are one of the lucky ones to have a ticket for the 150^th Open Championship at St Andrews, then why not ditch the car and make your way there by bus? You can plan your journey using our journey planner and find the best tickets for you.