The last major of the season, the oldest, the only one in Europe, this year is held in Portrush, Northern Ireland. Who will the title of best golfist of the year go?
Theopen is wind and rain, it is the wait for a ray of sunshine, it is fog and cold. Theopen is a link, those strips of land next to the North Sea, barred prairies where it was impossible to sow anything, where goats and sheep could eat some hard and salty grass without ruining anything, no man’s land. Theopen is Scotland and England and Northern Ireland, it is the nature that draws the most beautiful fields in the world. Theopen is the memory of shepherds, but also of kings and queens, who had fun since the Middle Ages with the game of the clubs and balls to send to a hole of the ground, it is said that Maria Stuarda also before losing her head in 1587 by order of her cousin Elisabetta was a great passionate. Theopen, written in this way all attached, is the British Open or Open Championship, everyone calls it a bit what they want, so much everyone understands. It is the oldest major in the world, the only one who is playing outside North America, is history and poetry, is drama and legend, Theopen is golf.
the beginnings
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The first time was in 1860 in Prestwick, Scotland. The idea was of Count Eglington and Colonel James Fairlie: the year before Allan Robertson had died, the type that built the sticks for the members of St.Andrews and that everyone recognized as the strongest player of that time. Eglington and Fairlie wondered: And now who is the best? The appointment to resolve the question was set for Wednesday 17 October. The clubs and golf clubs of all of Scotland and England invited their champions, essentially caddie they played, to compete for the red leather belt with silver panels purchased in Edinburgh for 25 pounds. Eight professionals participated in the tournament. Tom Morris, Prestwick’s Greenkeetper, was the local favorite, but it was Musselburgh’s Willie Park who brought the belt home. In the following years two Tom Morris took revenge, indeed many revenge. Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris, father and son, who won for a total of eight times. The Claret Juug, which is still assigned to the winner, made its appearance about ten years later because the red belt had been definitively given to Tom Morris Senior who had already conquered it 3 times. A new trophy was then ordered to a silver and he prepared the Claret Juug, in fact, the brocca for the Chiaretto, a rosé wine that then depopulated in Great Britain.
The playing fields
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This year at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland is the 153 edition of the Open Championship. There are 14 fields that hosted it, but four are no longer used: Prestwick and Musselburgh in Scotland, five ports and Prince’s in England. Now the fields that alternate are ten, their list is known as Rota (from Rotation, rotation): St.Andrews, Carnoustie, Muirfield, Troon and Turnberry in Scotland. Lytham & St.Annes, Birkdale, Oylake and St.George in England, Portrush in Northern Ireland. All mythical fields. Witnesses of Bobby Jones and Harry Vardon, Gene Sarazen and Harry Cotton, Gary Player and Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, Severiano Ballesteros and Tiger Woods. And the list could lie down to the infinite, the reading of the Open Golden Register is equivalent to a history lesson. On the British links only the best win because every hole changes aspect continuously for the bizarre of the wind and the water that descends from the sky or that climbs from the sea together with the breeze. Each shot is different, you need fantasy and courage, it is a battle where the enemy suddenly appears. The dunes hide the green, the bunkers are deep and traitors, one day the quiet deludes the mediocre to be champions, the day after the storm it restores the merits and calls the best to the test. You do not win by chance on the Links of the Open. Ask Francesco Molinari. In the history of the 4 majors there is only one Italian name and it is that of Chicco in Carnoustie in 2018. Costantino Rocca had gone close to St.Andrews, beaten only at the playoff by John Daly. Instead Molinari in the field perhaps the most difficult of all has expanded the boundaries of the blue golf: three disadvantage on an Americans of Americans at the dawn of the last day, Tiger Woods as Sunday playmate, nothing was hoping for the company. But Francesco with a final lap in 69 shots has all put behind him. The closest to him were Justin Rose, Rory Mcilroy, Kevin Kisner and Xander Schauffele two shots further back.
curtain
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Theopen is a show that has been repeated every year for more than a century and a half, for some time – that is, since the PGA Championship has been moved in the spring – it is the last major of the season. The curtain on the four large tournaments, those who really make the difference in the life of a champion. When Theopen closes the lights, you have to wait until April for the after one and it is clear that for this reason the appointment is also overflowing with tensions and expectations. Those who win are called the Champion Golfer of the Year, that is, the best of the year, nobody even in America dreams of challenging this title, also because for some years they have been winning almost only Americans. The reigning champion is Xander Schauffele, the last European to kiss the Claret Juug was Shane Lowry, Irish. It was 2019, it was played in Portrush, just like today. And this is also the year of Ryder Cup, having one of us like Champion Golfer of the Year could put a little fear of the Americans. Let’s hope so…
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