The 149th Open will be the 15th time for Royal St. George’s to host, and the first since 2011 when Darren Clarke took home the Claret Jug.
The 149th Open championship was to be contested at Royal St. George’s in Kent, England, July 16-19, 2020, but on April 6 the tournament was canceled due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
It’s the first time the Open was not held since 1945 because of World War II.
The decision was also made to slide the 149th Open back to 2021 and keep it at Royal St. George’s. This allows the 150th Open to be still be St. Andrews, but in 2022 instead 2021.
The 149th Open will be the 15th time Royal St. George’s will host the event, and the first since 2011 when Darren Clarke took home the Claret Jug.
Who could forget Guy McQuitty, a professional who qualified at Turnberry in ’86 then shot 95-87, a stout 42-over par for 36 holes?
In a week when we couldn’t make our way down a padlocked Magnolia Lane, homebound golf fans had to settle instead for memory lane.
Our guides were familiar broadcast voices, many of them — Pat Summerall, Ken Venturi — long stilled. Golf Channel re-aired the 1986 Masters, the Rosetta Stone of major championships that revealed the Sunday strengths of Jack Nicklaus and the comparative frailties even among Hall of Famers in the generation that followed him. Jack was winning too over on CBS, which gave us the epic ’75 Masters, in which he helped Tom Weiskopf and Johnny Miller add to what would ultimately be a combined seven silver salvers. More recent Masters tournaments were also dusted off: ’04, when Phil Mickelson broke his duck and Ernie Els’ heart, and ’19, when an approaching storm moved up tee times and saw Tiger Woods secure his fifth green jacket by Sunday lunchtime (his first jacket was pretty much sealed by Sunday lunchtime too, but that’s another story).
The retro weekend broadcasts — in addition to the Masters YouTube channel, which contains every final round dating back to 1968 — were a welcome fix for quarantined golf junkies who are otherwise denied until November by the COVID-19 crisis. But for me, two streams diverged in a locked down New York City apartment, and I took the one less clicked upon, at least in April. I opted for the only major tournament we know for certain won’t be played this year.
The Open Championship website has every official film since 1970 — Jack won that year too, of course — and it’s a delightful reservoir of the quaint and the quirky. In my quarantine viewing I elected to skip more recent Opens that remain reasonably fresh in the mind, despite the ample wine intake necessary to stomach small town British food those weeks. It’s earlier Opens, those from the ’70s and ’80s, that offer beguiling glimpses of a time when even major golf was less corporate, and pleasant reminders of players long forgotten because they’re either dead or just not brand-building on InstaGrift.
Like “Mr. Lu,” who lost by a shot to Lee Trevino at Royal Birkdale in ’71. Lu Liang-Huan is a mere footnote today, but he was good enough to win titles across four decades. Or Brian Barnes. The 1975 Open film opens with the late legend arriving on the beach at Carnoustie via hovercraft that ferried him across the Firth of Tay from St. Andrews (a reminder that the complete absence of hotels in Carnoustie was still preferable to the monstrosity now sitting behind the 18th green). Or Jack Newton.
He was one of two talented 25-year-olds who made an 18-hole playoff that week at Carnoustie. Tom Watson won, the first of eight majors. Newton also finished second to Seve Ballesteros in the 1980 Masters, but he’s little-remembered now, his career having been cut short at age 33 when on a rainy night he walked into a plane propeller on the runway at the Sydney airport.
Ballesteros, who would have turned 63 last week, features in so many of the old Open films, as though they were poignant home movie reminders of his brilliance. The summer of ’76, when at age 19 he chased Miller around Birkdale for four days before finishing second; the ‘car park champion’ at Lytham in ’79; the conquering matador at St. Andrews in ’84; the sublime fifth and final major back at Lytham in ’88.
Seve’s are moments not easily forgotten, but the Open films are rife with many curios that have been. Maurice Flitcroft, the unemployed crane operator who gatecrashed a qualifier in ’76 and shot 121. Guy McQuitty, a professional who qualified at Turnberry in ’86 then shot 95-87, a stout 42-over par for 36 holes. He won honorable mention in the official film for not living up to his name and hailing a cab after day one.
Greg Norman of Australia celebrates after winning the title during the final round of the 1986 British Open Golf Championship held on July 20, 1986 at Turnberry, in Ayrshire, Scotland. (Photo by Simon Bruty/Getty Images)
That same Turnberry Open saw an utterly imperious Greg Norman at the height of his powers, quite unlike the luckless figure we see so often in Masters movies. He shot what might be the finest round ever played on Friday that week, three-putting the last for a 63 in weather so foul one wouldn’t even send Brandel Chamblee outdoors in it. That was back when players routinely hit 2- and 3-irons into 450-yard holes, and fairway woods into the par-5s at Augusta National. A bygone era indeed.
That library of old Opens will get many more visits before we finally enjoy the 149th edition 15 months from now. So too will that Masters channel on YouTube, sustenance for another seven months. Sitting at home over the last week, we didn’t get to see if Tiger could defend, if Rory could complete the career grand slam, if Gary Player would boast about outdriving 80-year-old Nicklaus in the ceremonial tee shot. But we will in November, pandemic-permitting.
Until we see another major, we make do with memories. What should have been Masters week was marked by what golf has lost in 2020. But it was also an apt time to revisit everything, and everyone, that shaped and sustained it in the years thus far.
The coronavirus outbreak has now reached the doors of Royal St. George’s with the R&A announcing on Monday that the 149th Open Championship has been canceled. The British Open was scheduled for July 16-19, which would have been the final major championship of 2020.
Next year’s Open will be played at Royal St. George’s July 11-18, 2021, so the 150th playing in 2022 will still be held at the Old Course, July 10-17.
The R&A has decided to cancel The Open in 2020 due to the current Covid-19 pandemic. The 149th Open will now be played at Royal St George’s from 11-18 July 2021 and The 150th Open at St Andrews from 10-17 July 2022. Full Statement: https://t.co/iZ3HiU7wwVpic.twitter.com/IoqiEfs8Fu
The last time the Open was not contested was from 1940-1945 because of World War II. St. Andrews hosted the 1939 Open and then served as host for the return of competition in 1946. The Open was also not held from 1915-1919 due to World War I.
Last week, the R&A and USGA jointly announced the Curtis Cup, a female amateur biennial team match, was being moved back a year from its originally scheduled dates of June 12-14, 2020.
These moves come on the heels of the cancellation of the most important Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year. In a move that had been signaled strongly over the last week, the All England Club canceled Wimbledon for 2020, citing the “likely trajectory” of the coronavirus outbreak in the United Kingdom and the logistical impossibility of setting up the event at a point later in the summer.
It will be the first time Wimbledon hasn’t crowned a champion since the tournament paused between 1940 and 1945 due to World War II.
USA TODAY Sports’ Dan Wolken contributed to this article.
After reports that the British Open at Royal St. George’s would be canceled, the R&A denied any decision regarding the major has been made.
After reports that the British Open at Royal St. George’s would be canceled, the R&A denied any decision regarding the major championship has been made.
“We are continuing to work through our options for The Open this year, including postponement,” Martin Slumbers, chief executive of the R&A, said in a statement Thursday morning. “Due to a range of external factors, that process is taking some time to resolve. We are well aware of the importance of being able to give clear guidance to fans, players and everyone involved and are working to resolve this as soon as we can.
“We will give a further update as soon as we are in a position to do so and thank everyone for their support and understanding in this challenging situation.”
Slumbers’ statement follows a Golf Digest report that said the R&A was expected to cancel the Open as early as Thursday, according to unnamed people who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The report said the tournament would be canceled rather than postponed due to insurance reasons, citing an unnamed person who indicated to Digest the tournament would need to be canceled by a certain date to collect on the premium.
Earlier this week, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club canceled Wimbledon due to the coronavirus outbreak in the UK and the major logistical hurdles of setting up the Grand Slam later in the summer. Wimbledon, which was scheduled to begin June 29, had previously only been interrupted during times of war. The tournament paused between 1940 and 1945 due to World War II.
The British Open is scheduled for July 16-19 at Royal St. George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent.
Neil Oxman had never seen a replay of Tom Watson’s 72nd-hole approach at the 2009 British Open until Golf Channel re-aired Tom at Turnberry.
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Eleven years. That’s about how long Tiger Woods went between winning majors before claiming the Masters in 2019. It’s also approximately how long Neil Oxman, who has caddied for Tom Watson in 150 events since 1999, had gone without seeing a replay of the 2009 British Open at Turnberry in Scotland.
But that was before the coronavirus shut down the sports world and left Oxman housebound. In trying to fill the gaps in its TV schedule, Golf Channel recently aired a replay of its documentary “Tom at Turnberry,” and Oxman tuned in.
“Someone texted me beforehand and asked me if I was going to watch it. My text back was, ‘Do you think the result will be any different?'” Oxman tells The Forecaddie. “At least 500 people have said to me, ‘Have you seen it?’ and I kept saying, ‘No.’ Nor had I ever looked at a replay of the last shot. Ever.”
That would be Watson’s downwind, 8-iron approach from 189 yards as he chased winning his ninth major and first in 26 years. All he needed was a par to become at age 59 the oldest winner of a major, by more than 11 years.
Neil Oxman caddied for Tom Watson in the Masters 15 times. They said farewell in 2016.
“I couldn’t quite see where the ball landed on the green,” Oxman says of the second shot at the 72nd hole when Watson was nursing a one-stroke lead over Stewart Cink, who was in the clubhouse at 2-under 278. “I’ll have to go in the TV truck and watch it in slow motion and have them blow it up and see where it was.”
Watson flushed his second and it landed on the front-half of the baked green and rolled over, leaving Watson with an option to chip or putt. With the ball against the collar, he chose putter and rapped it 10 feet past. The par putt never had a chance. Playoff. Cink, one of the kindest and nicest men in golf, became the equivalent of a James Bond villain for capturing his lone major and ruining one of the great stories in golf.
In October, spur of the moment, Oxman hopped on a plane and did a 10-day Scottish golf pilgrimage with a stop at what is now known as Trump Turnberry Resort.
“I ended up being the only person on the golf course,” said Oxman, who had returned there once before for the 2012 Senior British Open. “I spent about 15 minutes on the 18th green walking around it. I still think he hit the right shot.”
The Latin America Amateur Championship will be Jan. 16-19 at El Camaleón Golf Club at Rosewood Mayakoba Resort in Playa del Carmen.
The Latin America Amateur Championship – which offers its winner berths in the Masters, the U.S. Amateur, the British Amateur and final-stage qualifying for the British Open – will be held in Mexico for the first time this weekend.
The sixth edition of the LAAC will be Jan. 16-19 at El Camaleón Golf Club at Rosewood Mayakoba Resort in Playa del Carmen. The previous editions of the LAAC were at Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic (twice), Prince of Wales Country Club in Chile, Club de Golf de Panama and Pilar Golf in Argentina.
Alvaro Ortiz of Mexico, who played college golf at Arkansas through the 2018 season, won the LAAC in 2019, then finished T-36 at the 2019 Masters before turning pro. Joaquin Niemann won the 2018 LAAC before turning pro, joining the PGA Tour and winning his first Tour event this season at the Military Tribute at the Greenbrier in September.
The LAAC was created in 2014, a year before the first playing of the event, by the Masters Tournament, the R&A and the U.S. Golf Association to promote the development of golf in South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. It follows a model established by the Masters and the R&A with the creation of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in 2009, which also offers spots in top international events to its winner.
This year’s field of 108, who are invited through their national golf federations based on World Amateur Golf Ranking status, will play the 20th-ranked course in Golfweek’s Best 2020 list of courses for the Caribbean and Mexico. A Greg Norman design, El Camaleón opened in 2006.
This year’s event features players from 29 countries and territories: Argentina, The Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, Uruguay, Venezuela and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
