After crowning Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas then Matt Fitzpatrick in 2022, the major tournaments will give their last verdict this week during the 150th The Open Championship. This 150th edition will be played on a place steeped in history: the Old Course of St Andrews. See you from July 14 to 17!

The Open Championship: Family photo on the Swilcan Bridge - via Twitter @TheOpen

Family photo on the Swilcan Bridge – via Twitter @TheOpen

This week of July has a different flavor every year when you approach the links of British courses. For this historic edition, The Open Championship returns to a magical place in the history of golf: St Andrews. For the 150th edition of the British Open, the best players in the world and many champions will settle in the small town of Saint-Andrews hoping on Sunday evening to lift the Claret Jug.

The Open is a unique tournament, firstly being the only major to be played in Europe, and being a tournament that tests the game of every champion, should weather conditions come into play.

Who says historical edition, says exceptional place. As Rory McIlroy explained at a press conference this week, winning The Open at St Andrews is one of the greatest victories a golfer can hope for: “I think it's the holy grail of our sport. Not many people have the opportunity to accomplish this, but that's why winning The Open at St Andrews is different. It's one of the greatest accomplishments you can have in golf”.

If winning once at St Andrews remains a unique performance, achieving it twice brings a player into a very closed circle. Indeed, two players have managed to win twice on the Old Course, surely the two greatest legends of our sport: Jack Nicklaus (1970, 1978) and Tiger Woods (2000,2005). A South African player came very close to the feat in 2015. Louis Oosthuizen, winner in 2010, failed in the play-off during the last edition of The Open in Saint Andrews leaving the victory to Zach Johnson.

Among the world's top 50, only Daniel Berger will not be present this week. Victor Perez will be the only Frenchman who will tread the fairways of St Andrews this week. Four amateur players will have the chance to evolve during this exceptional week among the greatest champions:

  • Filippo Celli (ITA): European Amateur Championship winner
  • Aldrich Ptogieter (RSA): winner of The Amateur Championship
  • Sam Bairstow (ENG): Finalist The Amateur Championship
  • Aaron Jarvis (CYM): winner of the Latin America Amateur Championship
  • Barclay Brown (ENG): Final Qualifying tournament winner (Hollinwell)
  • Keita Nakajima (JAP): world number 1 amateur

Rumors persist of a potential career stoppage for Tiger Woods on this 150th The Open at St Andrews, a place to which he is particularly attached since two of his three British Open titles have been won at St Andrews. The Tiger has played only two official tournaments since his car accident last year, the Masters and the PGA Championship, two tournaments where we could see Woods weakened by his leg. The world of golf, however, hopes that these rumors will fade during The Open and that the magic will continue to operate, as it could have been the case during the first round of the Masters where Tiger had played under par with a 71 (-1 ).

To find the departures of the first round of The Open 2022: click here.

By Baptiste Laurensou.

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