The greatest contest the game had yet seen took place in 1849, 11 years before the launch of the British Open. It was accorded a grand stage, worthy not only of the brilliant exponents involved, but of the side-bet of £400, an enormous sum at that time.

Doing battle were twin brothers Willie and Jamie Dunn of Musselburgh against Allan Robertson and his partner Old Tom Morris. And, as was the custom of the time, the match was settled not by holes won or lost, but by courses. In other words, from three chosen courses, the winners on two of the venues would claim the spoils.

Over their home course of Musselburgh, the Dunns crushed the St Andrews pair by 13 and 12. At St Andrews, however, Robertson and Morris won narrowly. So North Berwick was to be the deciding venue and, as things turned out, the scene of one of the game's great recoveries.

Acknowledged as the longest driver of the day, Willie Dunn inspired the Musselburgh partnership to a lead of four up with eight to play. Dismissed as 20 to 1 outsiders at that stage, the St Andrews duo responded by winning four of the next six holes, even though Robertson was playing some way below his best.

Then, from all square with two to play, Robertson and Morris went ahead at the next, where the Dunns hooked their drive into an unplayable lie behind a huge stone. And they held on for a famous victory at the last.

In September 1858, Robertson became the first player to break 80 around St Andrews, and his splendid 79, which included two threes and two sixes, stood for 30 years until Young Tom Morris shot 77 in competition. Never a long hitter, Robertson was renowned for strict adherence to the first rule of golf: keep the ball in play.

But as we noted in an early instalment, he died of jaundice a year later, in his native place. And his passing posed the question as to who would succeed him as the game's leading player. The answer was to come in 1860, with the launch of the British Open.

The Parks - Willie, Mungo and Willie's son Willie Jnr - became legendary figures of the game because of the countless matches they played for money. Indeed Willie Jnr was regarded as the last of the great money players, and his memorable clash in losing to Harry Vardon in 1899 was considered to have been the greatest match of the period.

Willie Snr, meanwhile, gained a reputation as a flawless putter. So it was hardly surprising that he, too, was a formidable performer with cash on the line. In fact, for 20 years he had a standing challenge in the London periodical Bell's Life whereby he would play anyone anywhere in the world for £100 a side. And he would never duck a return match.

This was the player who captured the inaugural British Open at Prestwick. It was the game's first formal strokeplay event, and from a field of eight competitors Park won the championship belt by a stroke from Old Tom Morris, with a 36hole (three rounds of 12 holes) score of 174. Given the popularity of money-matches at the time, it is ironic that there was no financial award to the winner. In fact, cash didn't enter the Open scene until 1864 when Morris Snr received £6 for his victory at Prestwick.

A year later, the game's elite embraced Andrew Strath, who was born in St Andrews in 1836. Though Andrew captured the Open in 1865, with a record score of 162, his brother David, four years his junior, was considered to be the better of the two.

Both Straths suffered from fragile health, however, and Andrew, who worked for several years as greenkeeper at Prestwick, was only 32 when he died. David, who was greenkeeper at North Berwick, thought a move to Australia might restore his ailing strength. But on the voyage south he caught a cold from which he never rallied and was 38 when he died in 1878.

The most tragic figure among those early professionals, however, was undoubtedly Young Tom Morris, who became the first four-time winner of the Open. When Young Tom gained the distinction of winning the Belt outright in 1870, the championship remained in abeyance for a year. And when it resumed in 1872 with the now famous claret jug as the trophy, he was the first winner.

His father, Old Tom, was born in June 1821, the year Napoleon died, and was probably the first professional golfer as we have come to acknowledge the craft. For a wage of 15 shillings a week he was employed at Prestwick to maintain the links, sell balls and clubs, play with the members and teach beginners. He later became greenkeeper to the Royal and Ancient, a position he held until 1904, and on retiring he was named honorary greenkeeper until his death in May 1908.

In the book Golf, edited by Horace Hutchinson in 1890, Old Tom is quoted from a conversation he had on New Year's Day 1886. He said: ". . . an it had na been for gowff, I'm no sure that at this day, sir, I would be a leevin' man . . . I dinna mind that iver I had an unpleasant war frae ony o' the many gentlemen I've played wi'. I've aye tried as ma business was, sir - to mak masel pleesant to them; an' they've aye been awfi pleesant to me."

Young Tom, who was born in St Andrews in 1852, was golf's first great champion. Indeed he has been likened to a genius, in the same mould as George Best. A wonderful putter, he would play the ball off his right foot, close to his toes, his left foot withdrawn and turned towards the hole. Commenting on his father's frailty over three-footers, he would say: "Gin the hole was aye an yard nearer till him, ma faither wid be a fine putter."

As it happened, father and son went to North Berwick in September 1875 for a match against Willie and Mungo Park. With a side-bet of £25, it was a return for a match which the Parks had won the previous year. On this occasion, victory went to the St Andrews pair, but their elation was short-lived.

On the final green, Young Tom was handed a telegram telling him his heavily-pregnant wife was dangerously ill. A yacht was put at his disposal, but before the party set sail across the Forth for St Andrews, a second telegram brought the crushing news that his wife and newly-born child had died. At 24, Young Tom was devastated by the loss.

Only three months later, on Christmas Day, he died. But though the cause of death is attributed, romantically, to a broken heart, the more likely cause of death was pneumonia. He was buried in St Andrews Cathedral graveyard. Golf clubs from far and wide, including four from England - Westward Ho!, Blackheath, Wimbledon and Liverpool - contributed to a memorial stone on which the inscription read:

"Deeply regretted by numerous friends and all golfers, he thrice in succession won the championship belt, and held it without rivalry, and yet without envy, his many amiable qualities being no less acknowledged than his golfing achievements."

While losing a great champion, golf had gained a folk hero. And age would no longer be a barrier to success.