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Open to return to St Andrews in 2005

BRITISH OPEN: The British Open is to return to the Old Course at St Andrews in 2005

By Dermot Gilleece
Tue Jan 15 2002 - 00:00

BRITISH OPEN: The British Open is to return to the Old Course at St Andrews in 2005. Yesterday's announcement confirmed the expectation of most observers after Tiger Woods had won the Millennium staging there, 18 months ago.

By 2005, almost 132 years will have elapsed since the Open was first played at the Home of Golf - on October 4th 1873. That was when 13 pairings played for prize money of £25 and for the recently purchased "cup". Given that all but two of the competitors hailed from St Andrews, it was hardly surprising that one of them, Tom Kidd, emerged victorious with a 36-hole score of 179, the highest ever recorded.

Since then, the Open has been played at St Andrews on a further 25 occasions, delivering a distinguished spread of winners from across the globe, especially in the years following World War II. That was when the title went to South African Bobby Locke, Australia's Peter Thomson and Kel Nagle, Spain's Seve Ballesteros, England's Nick Faldo and America's Sam Snead, Tony Lema, Jack Nicklaus, John Daly and, of course, Woods.

Meanwhile, Muirfield's 13th, which was described by Tom Watson, as "my favourite short hole in the whole world", has been lengthened for this year's Open on July 18th to 21st. Gary Player birdied both it and the short 16th en route to a championship winning last round of 68, in 1959. It will now measure 191 yards compared with 159 yards for the 1992 Open when Faldo emerged victorious for a third time.

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Watson's affection for the hole is shared by his great rival, Jack Nicklaus. As it happens, both of these golfing giants captured an Open at Muirfield, Nicklaus in 1966 and Watson in 1980. "It's one of the truly great par threes - and you just have to stay out of those bunkers," said the Bear.

The short fourth has also been extended, from 180 to 213 yards. Here, it is said that Walter Hagen preferred to play into one of the bunkers short of the green and be left with an uphill recovery from sand, rather than face a long, slipperly putt from the back of the green.

All of which means that the championship course at Muirfield is now a par 71 of 7,034 yards.