The Old Course at St Andrews is to host The Open Championship for a record-extended 31st time in 2027. Considered by most golf fans and players as the “home of golf”, St Andrews first hosted The Open – which is the world’s oldest golf tournament – back in 1873, and most recently in 2022. The 2027 edition, the 155th, will take place from the 15th to the 18th of July and will feature 156 players battling it out over 72 holes.
It’s too early to suggest who might claim glory at the 2027 Open, but in this article, we’ll take a look back at the most recent editions of this incredible old tournament to have been played at perhaps the most famous course of them all.
Open Winners at St Andrews
Before we look at some of the recent Open highlights at The Old Course, let’s present all the winners of The Open at St Andrews from the first 30 editions of the tournament at the course.
| Year | Winner | Total Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1873 | Tom Kidd | 179 |
| 1876 | Bob Martin | 176 |
| 1879 | Jamie Anderson | 169 |
| 1882 | Bob Ferguson | 171 |
| 1885 | Bob Martin | 171 |
| 1888 | Jack Burns | 171 |
| 1891 | Hugh Kirkaldy | 166 |
| 1895 | J.H. Taylor | 322 |
| 1900 | J.H. Taylor | 309 |
| 1905 | James Braid | 318 |
| 1910 | James Braid | 299 |
| 1921 | Jock Hutchison | 296 |
| 1927 | Bobby Jones | 285 |
| 1933 | Denny Shute | 292 |
| 1939 | Dick Burton | 290 |
| 1946 | Sam Snead | 290 |
| 1955 | Peter Thomson | 281 |
| 1957 | Bobby Locke | 279 |
| 1960 | Kel Nagle | 278 |
| 1964 | Tony Lema | 279 |
| 1970 | Jack Nicklaus | 283 |
| 1978 | Jack Nicklaus | 281 |
| 1984 | Seve Ballesteros | 276 |
| 1990 | Nick Faldo | 270 |
| 1995 | John Daly | 282 |
| 2000 | Tiger Woods | 269 |
| 2005 | Tiger Woods | 274 |
| 2010 | Louis Oosthuizen | 272 |
| 2015 | Zach Johnson | 273 |
| 2022 | Cameron Smith | 268 |
It’s interesting to note that the first seven Open Championships at St Andrews were won by Scotsmen. This will come as no surprise to golf historians as Scottish players won each of the first 29 editions of The Open, before the English and then the Americans spoiled the home party. To be fair, very few non-Scots entered in the early years, with Americans only coming in any real number much, much later on.
Of the multiple Open winners, many have tasted success at St Andrews. Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus each won two of their three Open Championships here. Five-time Open champions James Braid and J. H. Taylor also each won two at the Old Course. Bob Martin is the only other player (so far) to have won two Opens at St Andrews (Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros only managed one apiece at the home of golf). Record-holding six-time winner Harry Vardon never tasted Open success on the course, and neither did five-timer Tom Watson.
Now let’s take a look back at each of the Open Championships to have taken place at St Andrews in the 21st century, starting at the turn of the century when a certain Tiger Woods conquered the Old Course.
2000 – Tiger Woods Claim Fourth (of Many!) Majors
Tiger Woods already had three majors in the bag when he turned up at St Andrews and took The Open by storm. With rounds of 67, 66, 67 and 69, Woods finished a full eight shots clear of Ernie Els and Thomas Bjorn, with Tom Lehman and David Toms a shot further back.
Woods got a cool £500,000 for the victory, which isn’t as good as more recent prizes, but it’s a whole lot better than the relatively meagre sum of £11 awarded to Tom Kidd back in 1873!
2005 – Woods Back for More
By the time The Open returned to St Andrews in 2005, Woods had added a further five majors to his collection… but not another Open. Once again, Woods was too hot to handle for the other players at St Andrews though, and his opening round of 66 put him at the top of the leaderboard, where he stayed for the rest of the tournament.
It wasn’t quite as big a margin of victory this time around, with Tiger finishing only five shots clear of second-placed Colin Montgomerie, with Fred Couples and José María Olazábal one shot further adrift. This time the winner’s cheque was an even more respectable £720,000.
2010 – Oosthuizen Oozes Class to Win First and Only Major
Louis Oosthuizen landed the 2010 Open Championship in some style, becoming the first South African to win the tournament at the Old Course since Bobby Locke in 1957. To date, this is the only major win for Oosthuizen, who has the somewhat unwanted honour of having finished second in all four majors.
In 2010, however, Oosthuizen wasn’t going to settle for second place. His opening round of 65 was outstanding – but it was still only good enough for second spot going into the clubhouse as Rory McIlroy shot an even better 63. McIlroy had an absolute nightmare of a second round, though, with a wind-affected 80, leaving Oosthuizen to take advantage. The South African scored a solid 67 to put himself at the top of the leaderboard at the halfway stage, five shots clear of the chasing pack.
Another fine round of 69 saw Oosthuizen maintain top spot after the third round, though his lead was cut to four strokes from Paul Casey. But in a final round that saw few low scores, Oosthuizen’s 71 was enough to clinch the championship by an impressive margin of seven shots, and the man from Mossel Bay (nice wine!) pocketed £850,000 for his troubles.
2015 – Zach Johnson Clinches Open in Three-Way Playoff
After three very clearcut victories in The Open at St Andrews in the 21st century, the 2015 edition was a whole lot closer. Although Dustin Johnson made the early running and was leading at the end of the first and second rounds, the 2010 winner Oosthuizen put himself in the mix as did Marc Leishman and Zach Johnson, who both shot impressive final rounds of 66 to set up a three-way playoff with South African Oosthuizen after the trio ended on -15 overall.
The four-hole playoff saw Johnson and Oosthuizen bridie hole 1, with Leishman effectively ending his chances with a bogey. Johnson then birdied the second too, while the other two only managed par. The third hole of the playoff (the 17th) saw all three players bogey, and then all three parred the final (18th) hole to leave Johnson with his second major victory after the 2007 Masters.
2022 – Cameron Smith Becomes Third Aussie to Win Open at St Andrews
Australia’s Cameron Smith won his first major when he edged victory in the 2022 Open at St Andrews. He became the third Australian to achieve the feat at the Old Course after Peter Thomson in 1955 and Kel Nagle in 1960. But it was a close-run thing.
After a solid 67 in the opening round, Smith put himself in the lead with a fantastic 64 in the second round. Perhaps the pressure got to him but he could manage only a 73 in the third round, meaning he was four shots behind the joint leaders, Viktor Hovland and Rory McIlroy.
Smith didn’t panic, however, he simply repeated his brilliance of the second round by shooting another 64 and thus clinched the championship by a single shot ahead of namesake Cameron Young, with McIlroy a further shot back after his final round score of 70.