THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP: THE STORY OF GOLF'S OLDEST MAJOR 

 Published: 15/07/2026 | By: Alex Courbat

Every July, one tournament takes golf back to where it began. The Open Championship returns to Royal Birkdale this year for its 154th edition, and while the Claret Jug, the tented village and the familiar sight of R&A blazers have become part of the summer sporting landscape, the story behind the championship reaches back further than any other major in golf. 

The Open’s story begins in 1860 at Prestwick Golf Club on the Ayrshire coast. It emerged during a period of change in the game, shortly after the death of Allan Robertson, who was widely regarded as one of the finest golfers of his generation and one of the first great figures in professional golf. With no clear successor to the unofficial title of the game’s greatest player, Prestwick members including the Earl of Eglinton and Colonel James Fairlie decided that golf needed a way to find its next champion. 

Eight professionals gathered for the first championship, playing three rounds over Prestwick’s 12-hole course on a Wednesday in October. Willie Park Snr emerged victorious, claiming the Challenge Belt – a red Moroccan leather belt with a silver buckle – and becoming the first Champion Golfer. 

That original prize tells the story of the championship’s earliest years. The Challenge Belt was not just a trophy; it represented a new way of deciding greatness. The champion would not be chosen by reputation or social standing, but through competition. 

The belt remained the prize until Young Tom Morris won it outright after three consecutive victories between 1868 and 1870. His achievement was extraordinary, establishing the first great dynasty in Open history and leaving organisers with a problem: there was no longer a trophy to play for. A new prize was eventually created, and the Claret Jug – officially the Golf Champion Trophy – became the symbol of the Champion Golfer of the Year.

But from the beginning, the ambition behind the championship was bigger than a single event at a single course. The name itself carried an important message. The tournament was not designed to be a closed contest between a select group of players. It was intended to be open. 

That principle has remained central to the championship ever since. The first edition was limited to professionals, but amateurs were admitted soon afterwards, expanding the field and reinforcing the idea that The Open was a competition based on qualification and performance rather than invitation. 

More than 160 years later, golfers continue to chase that same opportunity through qualifying events around the world. The championship’s identity has always rested on the belief that a player from anywhere can earn the right to compete for golf’s oldest major. 

As that ambition grew, so did the demands placed on the tournament itself. Prestwick hosted the first 12 editions, and between Willie Park Snr, Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris, they won all but one of them. But the small Ayrshire layout was never designed for the crowds the championship would eventually attract. 

Spectators gathered close to the action, following players around the compact course and creating an atmosphere that was exciting but increasingly difficult to manage. The championship had outgrown its birthplace. That growth changed the shape of The Open forever. 

It was no longer a tournament tied to one club. It became a championship that moved between the great links courses of Britain, with venues such as St Andrews, Royal Birkdale and others helping create the identity that defines The Open today. The rota became part of the championship’s character: a test shaped by different landscapes, unpredictable weather and courses where imagination mattered as much as power. 

But the move from Prestwick to a wider rota was only one part of the story. The Open was expanding in another direction too.

Golf itself was spreading around the world, and the championship that began on the Ayrshire coast was becoming an international event. Players from different countries arrived to compete, qualifying routes expanded, and The Open increasingly became a meeting place for the best golfers from across the globe. That worldwide growth eventually created one of golf’s longest-running naming debates. 

If the tournament had always been open to the world, why do so many people – particularly in America – call it the British Open? 

The answer lies in how golf developed internationally. When the championship began in 1860, there was no need to distinguish it from anything else. There was no US Open, no French Open and no Australian Open. It was simply The Open Championship. 

That changed as golf spread. When other countries created their own national opens, including the US Open in 1895, broadcasters and newspapers needed a way to separate one championship from another. “British Open” became a useful shorthand, particularly for American audiences, and over time the unofficial name became widely accepted. 

But it was never the official title. 

The R&A has always referred to the tournament as The Open or The Open Championship. From its earliest days, the competition’s identity was built around being international – a championship founded on the idea that the opportunity to compete should not be limited by background, nationality or reputation.  

More than 160 years later, that idea remains the foundation of the championship. It has survived wars, global changes and the transformation of golf into a worldwide sport. It has been played on some of Britain’s most demanding stretches of coastline and has produced champions ranging from Old Tom Morris to Tiger Woods. 

Now, as The Open returns to Royal Birkdale with Scottie Scheffler defending the Claret Jug, the championship enters another chapter of the same story. 

The courses have changed. The players have changed. The game itself has changed. But the idea has remained the same. The Open has never been defined only by where it is played or who wins it. It has been defined by who is allowed to try. 

It is not the British Open. It is simply The Open.