With over 150 years of history, there are so many facts and statistics that surround the Open Championship. We dive into some of them before the year’s final men’s golf major tournament, Thursday to Sunday at Royal Troon in Scotland.
Blowing winds, epic bunkers and unforgiving rough – oh, no, the Open Championship is not for the faint of heart.
This week, the par-71, 7,385-yard tract at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland will test the world’s best golfers in the year’s fourth and final major tournament. American Brian Harman is the defending champion.
Following are plenty of Open Championship facts and statistics to know heading toward the Thursday-to-Sunday action:
● This is the 152nd edition of the Open Championship – the oldest of the men’s major tournaments and first played at Prestwick in Scotland 164 years ago in 1860.
● Royal Troon is hosting the the Open for the 10th time. It’s the eighth course to welcome the tournament on 10+ occasions and only the fourth venue in Scotland to play host that many times behind St. Andrews (30), Prestwick (24) and Muirfield (16).
● Royal Troon hosted its first Open Championship in 1923. It has welcomed the tournament in every single decade since the 1950s.
● At the most-recent Open Championship held at Royal Troon in 2016, Henrik Stenson won by three strokes over Phil Mickelson while setting both the lowest final score in a 72-hole Open Championship (264) and the lowest score to par (minus-20). The latter was matched by Cameron Smith in 2022.
● Eight of the last nine Open Championships have produced a winning score of double-digits under par, with the only exception being Francesco Molinari’s victory at Carnoustie in 2018 (-8). A double-digit under-par winning score had only been the case once in the previous seven Opens.
● There’s been only one playoff in the last 13 Open Championships – in 2015, when Zach Johnson beat Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen in a four-hole playoff. There were four playoffs in the eight previous editions.
● After winning at Royal Liverpool last year, Brian Harman is aiming to become the first golfer since Padraig Harrington to capture back-to-back Open Championships (2007 and ‘08).
● The United States featured four consecutive champions from 2003 to ‘06 (Ben Curtis in ‘03, Todd Hamilton ’04, and Tiger Woods ‘05 and ‘06), but hasn’t produced back-to-back winners since then.
● U.S. players have won the last six major tournaments: Brooks Koepka (2023 PGA Championship), Wyndham Clark (2023 U.S. Open), Brian Harman (2023 Open), Scottie Scheffler (2024 Masters), Xander Schauffele (2024 PGA) and Bryson DeChambeau (2024 U.S. Open). It’s the longest U.S. streak of major wins since 1982.
● Bryson DeChambeau is 28-under par across this year’s first three majors (Masters, -2; PGA, -20; and U.S. Open, -6) – better than any other player. He’ll aim to become the first player since Tiger Woods in 2000 to win both the U.S. Open and Open Championship in the same year.
● Bryson DeChambeau and Xander Schauffele are the only golfers to have finished in the top 10 in each of the first three majors this year.
● Since the 2022 PGA Championship, Xander Schauffele has finished within the top 20 of each of the 10 major tournaments.
● Scottie Scheffler’s best finish at the Open Championship was a tie for eighth in 2021. He’ll be aiming to become the ninth player to win both Masters and Open in the same year, and the first since Tiger Woods in 2005.
● Scottie Scheffler has won six of his last 10 tournaments this year (Arnold Palmer Invitational, Players Championship, Masters, Heritage, Memorial and Travelers). They mark the most wins on the PGA Tour in a calendar year since Tiger Woods in 2009.
● Rory McIlroy’s last major victory was the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla. His subsequent 37 major appearances mark his longest career drought, although he’s totaled 21 top-10s in that time, including 11 top-5s.
● Since winning the Open at Royal Liverpool in 2014, Rory McIlroy has had five top-10s in seven Open Championship appearances, including a top-5 in each of his last three Open appearances on Scottish soil. He finished T-5 in his only previous Open appearance at Troon in 2016.
● Four golfers have finished inside the top 10 at each of the last two Open Championships: Brian Harman, Rory McIlroy, Cameron Young and Tommy Fleetwood.
● This past weekend’s Scottish Open champion Robert McIntyre is one of only three multiple winners on the PGA Tour this year (he won the Canadian Open in June) along with Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. He’ll be attempting to become the first Scottish winner of a major since Paul Lawrie in 1999.
● In his three Open Championship appearances, Collin Morikawa has either hoisted the Claret Jug (2021) or missed the cut (2022 and last year). He’s one of two players to win the Open at the first attempt this century, along with Ben Curtis in 2003.
● This week’s Open Championship will mark Adam Scott’s 93rd consecutive major championship appearance – he has not missed one of the four-biggest tournaments over the last 23 years (since the 2001 Open Championship).
● Expected to play this week, Tiger Woods would be making his first appearance at Royal Troon since the 2004 tournament (T-9), after missing the Open in 2016 due to injury. The last time he made a cut at the Open was in 2018 at Carnoustie (T-6).
● Phil Mickelson is the only player with a top-3 in both the last two Open Championships played at Royal Troon, finishing third in 2004 and second in ‘16. In fact, 50% of his career top 10s at the Open have come at Troon (two out of four). However, the 2013 Open champion has missed the cut in each of the last four Open tournaments.
● Harry Vardon holds the record for the most wins at the Open Championship (six, including three in the 19th century and three in the 20th). Since World War II, no golfer has won more Opens than Peter Thomson and Tom Watson (five each).
● Nick Faldo is the most-recent English golfer to win the Open Championship – at Muirfield in 1992. Since the turn of the century, only three Englishmen have won a major: Justin Rose (2013 U.S. Open), Danny Willett (2016 Masters) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (2022 U.S. Open).
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