The British Open: the Championship of a Golfer's Lifetime

The Open Championship which is commonly called as the "British Open" is the oldest among the four major championships in men's golf the other three being, the Master's tournament, the PGA tour and the U.S Open. The tournament is done annually and is usually the third tournament among the four major tournaments that takes place each year. It is hosted by prestigious golf clubs in the United Kingdom, and administered by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R & A) which is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world. Tournament starts on the weekend of the third Friday of every July. The British open has reputedly the largest prize fund among the four major tournaments. The latest prize fund was $ 7.43 million (U.S) (2006).

The first Open Championship was made on October 17 of the year 1860 at Prestwick golf club. There were eight professional players who competed for a single day played the twelve hole course. The following year the tournament opened to amateurs. Prestwick golf club administered the tournament until 1871 when Prestwik golf club jointly organized the competition together with The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, the oldest golf club in the world. In 1892, the competition was played on 72 holes instead of 32. It was only in 1920 that The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews took full administrative control of the tournament. In those old days most of the winners were Scottish professional. Professional players also dominated the game and so far there are only six victories that went to the amateurs which occurred during 1890 to 1930. One of the most famous amateur to lay claim to this title was the famous Bobby Jones, founder of the Master's tournament and one of the most famous amateur players of all time. Famous American professional golfers also competed in the British Open such as Sam Snead, Bob Hogan, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. Other famous players who competed in the British Open were Garry Player and Bobby Locke of South Africa, Seve Ballesteros of Spain and Australian golfer Peter Thompson. Sandy Lyle became the first Scottish winner after half a century when the game was used to be dominated by the Scottish.

The British Open became part of the PGA Tour's official schedule in 1995. New players in the British Open started to dominate the game such as golf's modern day icon, Tiger Woods from the U.S.A.

Among the nations that competed in the British Open, the United Kingdom (Which includes the entire commonwealth) tops the list. Since 1860, United Kingdom golfers had 70 wins coming from 37 golfers. Coming in second is the United States of America having 41 wins which was delivered by 26 golfers. Spain came in third with 3 wins done by a single golfer. All the rest have won only once those are the countries of France, and Zimbabwe. Within the British commonwealth, Most of the wins was delivered by Scotland followed by England, Australia, South America, Northern Ireland and lastly New Zealand.