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The 1931 Open Championship was the first to be held at Carnoustie.
Tommy Armour (nicknamed The Silver Scot) beat José Jurado by a single stroke to win his only Open Championship title. He was a legend in his time, the winner of three of golf’s Major championships: 1927 U.S. Open, 1930 PGA, and 1931 Open Championship and later, elected to the USA Golf Hall of Fame. Tommy Armour was born and grew up in Scotland and later emigrated to the USA. He lost an eye in the 1st World War.
After he retired from competitive golf, he became one of the most successful coaches and club designers in the world and the author of the best-selling book, ‘How to Play Your Best Golf All the Time’. He also coined the term ‘the yips’, the colloquial term for a sudden and unexplained physical disorder in putting.
Prior to the 1937 Open Championship, the golfing press considered that Cotton was far from top form and had little chance of winning. However, he won by 2 strokes with Reg Whitcombe (England) the runner-up. Cotton was 3 shots behind Whitcombe at the start of the final round, but the weather conditions were atrocious.
The Glasgow Herald reported ‘Daylight broke over the links to introduce a day of raw and surly mood. Heavy overnight rain had accompanied intermittent thunder which was, in turn, replaced by violent winds. A number of the big marquees were blown down and the scene was one of desolation’.
Cotton, who coped better with the terrible conditions, went round with a five-stroke swing, earning his second Open Championship crown.
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American Ben Hogan is one of the greatest players in the history of the game and 1953 was to become the best year in his career; he won the US Open and the Masters and for the first time, crossed the Atlantic to play in The Open Championship at Carnoustie.
He had been persuaded that he could not be considered a true great of the game unless he won the Claret Jug. So, Hogan arrived in Scotland two weeks before The Open in the hope of getting used to Links golf and playing the smaller British ball.
On the final day, Hogan was floored with exhaustion and a bout of influenza but went on to set a new course record of 68 and win by 4 strokes.
During the Claret Jug presentation Hogan said: ‘This is one of the toughest courses I have ever played.’
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South African Gary Player was a previous winner of The Open and was in good form leading up to the 1968 tournament.
Player hit one of the greatest shots of his golfing career when, on the final round, at the par 5 14th hole – the spectacles – he hit a 3-wood so well that it finished two feet from the hole. The two shots gained by that eagle gave him his winning margin over former Champions Jack Nicklaus and Bob Charles.
This was the second time he had won The Open and he’d go on to win it once more in 1974 to become the first player to win the Open in 3 different decades.
He said many years later, ‘Playing the 14th hole on that last day, I hit the best shot of my life and the best shot I’ve ever seen in my life.You’ve got to play shots in The Open that you’d never play in any of the other Majors.’
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Harrington arrived at Carnoustie having won the European Order of Merit in 2006.
On the final day, Sergio Garcia was three strokes ahead of the field and Harrington was six shots behind. At the last hole he had recovered to be one shot in the lead, but things started to go awry. At the previous Open Championship in Carnoustie, Jean Van De Velde had a dramatic collapse on the 18th and it began to look like history was going to repeat itself!
Harrington’s drive found the Barry Burn. His next shot landed in the burn too! Eventually, Garcia, who needing to hole a 10-footer for victory, missed the putt and set up a play-off. This was the third successive play-off at The Open in Carnoustie. After sinking his winning putt, Harrington said “If I’d lost after what happened on 18, I don’t know what I would have thought about playing golf again”.
Harrington was the first ever Republic of Ireland golfer to lift the Claret Jug.
Local man Paul Lawrie, affectionately known as Chippy because of his fantastic short game arrived at Carnoustie in 1999 not knowing the battle he was about to fight. His drive and determination led to him obliterating the field on the final day with a score of 66, overcoming a 10-hole deficit to complete the biggest final round comeback in Major Golf history.
Lawrie won the subsequent 3-way play-off by 3 strokes. Amazingly, at no time during the regulation 72 holes was Lawrie ever in the lead. This outstanding comeback story highlights how Carnoustie can ultimately reward those golfers who play their very best game with accuracy and precision.
Lawrie’s win was the 41st time a Scotsman had won the Open Championship. He later forged a very close connection with Carnoustie Golf Links and became an ambassador and advocate of the game, particularly in Scotland.
Harrington arrived at Carnoustie having won the European Order of Merit in 2006.
On the final day, Sergio Garcia was three strokes ahead of the field and Harrington was six shots behind. At the last hole he had recovered to be one shot in the lead, but things started to go awry. At the previous Open Championship in Carnoustie, Jean Van De Velde had a dramatic collapse on the 18th and it began to look like history was going to repeat itself!
Harrington’s drive found the Barry Burn. His next shot landed in the burn too! Eventually, Garcia, who needing to hole a 10-footer for victory, missed the putt and set up a play-off. This was the third successive play-off at The Open in Carnoustie. After sinking his winning putt, Harrington said “If I’d lost after what happened on 18, I don’t know what I would have thought about playing golf again”.
Harrington was the first ever Republic of Ireland golfer to lift the Claret Jug.