The British Open will be played at Muirfield from July 18 until July 21. The course has hosted the tournament 15 times before from 1892 to 2002. Here are some things to know about this championship:
Can Tiger Woods avoid recent mistakes in majors to claim the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield? Photo:
David Cannon / Getty Images
– Muirfield is considered the purest of the links course in the British Open rotation. Blind shots are rare. Nothing is hidden.
– No other course that has hosted the British Open for a century features such a world-class list of champions. Every winner after World War II is in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
– For the first time since 1994, the defending champion is also the last player to win on the golf course.
– A major seems to be the one tournament Tiger Woods can’t win these days.
– Now that Augusta National has added two women members, the debates shift across the Atlantic Ocean. Muirfield is one of three courses on the British Open rotation that are all-male clubs.
– Adam Scott was 32 when he won the Masters for his first major. Justin Rose was 32 when he won the U.S. Open for his first major. That could be good news for Snedeker and Fernandez-Castano.
– The return to Muirfield is sure to bring back memories of Saturday in 2002, when a black cloud from the east brought cold air, 40 mph wind and a driving rain for just over two hours.
– Nick Faldo returns to play his last British Open at Muirfield, where he won two of his three claret jugs.
– The British Open produced popular winners the last two years, but it is the only major that has not produced a winner from the top 10 in the world over the last five years.
– In a year marked by a new rule (anchored strokes) and a broken rule (Tiger Woods’ drop at the Masters), the British Open is held at the home course of the “Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers.” This is believed to be the oldest golf organization, and the one responsible for creating 13 “Rules of Golf” for a competition in 1744. – Associated Press
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