The year’s final golf major takes place this week with Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland hosting the 2024 Open Championship, also known as the British Open. While it’s the final major tournament of the year, it’s the 152nd Open Championship in history, as it’s the oldest golf tournament in the world, first contested in 1860.
As is the case with every golf major, outside of the Masters, the Open Championship rotates courses. This will be the 10th time that Royal Troon is the host site, as the last was held at the par-71, 7,385-yard venue in 2016.
In that year, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson prevailed with a tournament-record score of 264, finishing 20-under-par. Stenson is one of 19 past British Open champions in the 2024 Open Championship field as any previous Open champion aged 60 or younger automatically qualifies for the event. Some of the other champions set to tee off on Thursday include Collin Morikawa (2021), Jordan Spieth (2017), and Rory McIlroy (2014), while three golfers in the field have won multiple British Opens. Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington each have two victories, while Tiger Woods is a three-time winner.
Woods’ presence doesn’t loom as large as during his heyday, as he’s essentially been a non-factor at this major in recent years, having not made the cut since 2018. In his stead, Scottie Scheffler has become the talk of golf as he’s the No. 1 golfer in Official World Golf Ranking and is on a historic run this year. Scheffler enters the Open Championship 2024 with eight top-two finishes over his last 10 tournaments, and he became the first golfer since Arnold Palmer in 1962 to collect six PGA Tour victories before the month of July. Scheffler is the betting favorite, but he’s yet to win a tournament on foreign soil as all 15 of his professional victories have come in North America.
Scheffler won the Masters earlier this year, with Xander Schauffele then winning the PGA Championship, and Bryson DeChambeau winning the U.S. Open. All three are Americans, making the 2024 British Open one of extreme pride for U.S.-born golfers as they can complete the sweep. Not since 1982 have Americans—or any nationality—swept all four majors in a calendar year.
Speaking of Americans, they’ve won this tournament 46 times, which edges out the Scottish winners (41). The United Kingdom as a whole has 66 British Open victories. However, much of that was in the early days of the major in which Americans weren’t much of a presence as Brits won each of the first 35 Open Championships. Over the past 10 editions of the tournament, half were won by Americans with the other half of winners coming from Australia, the Republic of Ireland, Italy, Sweden, and Northern Ireland.
Irishman McIlroy remains the last Brit to win, courtesy of his 2014 victory, and that was the last major victory for the four-time major champion. He suffered heartbreak at his most recent major as he held a two-stroke lead with four holes to play, only to bogey three of those holes and lose to DeChambeau. Over the past decade, no golfer has more top-10 major finishes than McIlroy, who is seeking to become the eighth golfer ever with a 10-plus-year drought between major wins.
Another former champion in Spieth is also a focal point of the 2024 British Open as the Dallas native has never had a poor showing at this tournament. He’s made the cut in all 10 of his career starts. However, recent form isn’t on his side. He’s finished outside the top 20 in six straight major starts, which is the longest streak of his career, and he’s placed outside the top 25 in each of his past 11 PGA Tour events this season.
The 2024 Open Championship increased its prize pool by $500,000 from last year’s tournament and it now stands at $17 million. The winner’s share of that is 18 percent, or $3.1 million. While both The Open prize pool and winner’s share are the lowest amongst the four majors, the field of 158 golfers isn’t likely to complain about an increased purse. The cut will be determined by the top 70 players, plus ties, after two rounds of play, and whoever finishes in 70th place in the event will walk away with $38,900. Any professional golfers who miss the cut will be awarded at least $8,750.
The 152nd edition of the Open Championship begins Thursday with Round 1 and concludes with Round 4 on Sunday.
