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The Open - Royal Troon history
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The Open Championship: Royal Troon History

The 2024 Open Championship will be the 10th held at Royal Troon, the first being in 1923 and the most recent in 2016.

Here we look at what happened on the other nine occasions that the Claret Jug was fought over on the Ayrshire course.

The Open Championship

1923 - Arthur Havers

Arthur Havers from Norwich was the first player to claim the Open at what was then just Troon Golf Club - it gained the Royal title in 1978 - 101 years ago, and the circumstances could hardly have been more dramatic.

Play was conducted over two days, with 36 holes played on both Thursday and Friday, and Havers holed a bunker shot on his 72nd hole to take victory ahead of American Walter Hagen by a single stroke.

Hagen would go on to triumph the following year at Hoylake, but it was Havers who claimed his only Major triumph and took home the first prize of £75.

1950 - Bobby Locke

The 1950 tournament had an international flavour as demon putter Bobby Locke from South Africa claimed the second of his four Claret Jugs, having triumphed at Royal St George's the previous summer.

His four-round tally of 279 beat the previous best for an Open by four shots and Argentina's Roberto Di Vicenzo was his nearest rival two shots behind.

Locke would go on to win further Open titles in 1952 and 1957.

1962 - Arnold Palmer

The great Arnold Palmer was another player to successfully defend his title at Troon in 1962, having triumphed at Royal Birkdale 12 months earlier.

Palmer cruised to a six-shot success over Kel Nagle and it was the sixth of his seven Majors, having claimed his third Green Jacket by winning the Masters the previous April.

The winning total of 276 was also an Open record, and 1962 was also notable for being the first time Jack Nicklaus played in the event, which he would go on to win three times.

1973 - Tom Weiskopf

Tom Weiskopf won his only Major at Troon in 1973 and he equalled Palmer's record 72-hole score in the process.

All eyes had been on Lee Trevino, who had been aiming for his third straight Claret Jug, but it was Weiskopf who came out on top.

The 16-time PGA Tour winner won by three shots ahead of Neil Coles and Johnny Miller.

1982 - Tom Watson

Tom Watson headed to what was now Royal Troon in 1982 hotly-fancied having won the US Open at Pebble Beach the previous month and he did not disappoint as he took the fourth of his five Open Championship titles.

Watson's triumph was the seventh of his eight Majors - he would go on to successfully defend his crown at Royal Birkdale - seeing off the challenge of Peter Oosterhuis and Nick Price by one shot.

1989 - Mark Calcavecchia

Mark Calcavecchia's triumph in 1989 will go down in the Open history books as the first to come in a four-hole aggregate playoff - previously, those tied at the top of the leaderboard on Sunday had to come back the following day to decide the tournament over 18 extra holes.

Tied on -13 alongside the Australian duo of Greg Norman and Wayne Grady, it was 'Calc' who came out on top over extra holes.

Norman was hot favourite as the tournament was extended having come from seven shots behind to get into the playoff by firing a course-record 64, although Calcavecchia had also had plenty to find from three shots back.

However, it was the American who came out on top despite birdies for Norman on the opening two extra holes, as Calcavecchia ground himself to glory with the Great White Shark going out of bounds on the final hole.

1997 - Justin Leonard

Justin Leonard's only Major success was the fifth straight Troon triumph for an American player and came thanks to a blistering Sunday effort.

He was five shots behind Jesper Parnevik at the start of the final round, but he birdied six of the first nine holes in his final round and added two more on the back nine to claim a three-shot win over the Swede and Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke, a future champion at Royal St George's in 2011.

2004 - Todd Hamilton

Todd Hamilton's win in 2004 was one of the biggest shocks in golfing history as the man from Illinois triumphed at a whopping 750/1.

He had won the Honda Classic the previous March for his first PGA Tour triumph and the biggest tournament of his career was one of only two occasions in 38 Majors that he posted a top-20 finish.

Masterfully wielding his rescue club to get him out of several sticky situations, Hamilton beat Ernie Els by one shot in a four-hole playoff to take home the first prize of £720,000.

2016 - Henrik Stenson

The 2016 tournament became an absorbing two-way battle between Henrik Stenson and 2013 winner Phil Mickelson and it was the Swede who went on to become the first Scandinavian Major champion by claiming a three-shot victory.

Stenson plotted his way around the course superbly, utilising his three-wood off the tee to great effect, as a closing 63 proved enough for a triumph.

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