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St. Andrews history: How many times has Old Course hosted The Open Championship?

By Savannah Leigh

US golfer Jordan Spieth walks the 18th fairway during a practice round for The 150th British Open Golf Championship on The Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland on July 13, 2022. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by Andy Buchanan / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)
US golfer Jordan Spieth walks the 18th fairway during a practice round for The 150th British Open Golf Championship on The Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland on July 13, 2022. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by Andy Buchanan / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images) /
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St. Andrews is the birthplace of golf, and its Old Course has been around for centuries as it hosts the Open Championship again in 2022.

Golf returns to its birthplace for the 150th Open Championship as St. Andrews hosts the event on the Old Course. Links golf is the name of the game, and it’s something that challenges the best golfers.

This year is far from the first time that the Open has played at this venue, so let’s look at the history of St. Andrews and Old Course.

Scotland is where golf began as the Scots invented the game we all love and watch every week. There hasn’t been a venue that has hosted more Open Championships, which is why it’s important to know the history of this special place.

St. Andrews: How many times has the Old Course hosted the Open Championship.

In the 150 Open Championships, St. Andrews and the Old Course have hosted the event 29 times.

This venue is on a rotation where the Open Championship plays at St. Andrews every five years. However, this year marks seven years since the last time St. Andrews hosted, but with a global pandemic canceling the event altogether, it’s one of the reasons it got off its rotation.

St. Andrews is one of nine courses that rotate for the Open Championship, with the other eight spanning across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The first time St. Andrews hosted the event was in 1873, but the Old Course has been around since the 1400s, according to their website.

One of the most incredible things about the Old Course is that it’s still similar to what it was in 1873. Between 1955 and 1995, the nine Opens at St. Andrews. This course was always within 15 yards of 6,936 yards.

The course was precisely 6,933 yards from 1978 to 1995, and it didn’t measure over 7,000 yards until 2000 during the 129th Open. This course is now only 350 yards longer than it was when it all started.

St. Andrews has some of the most challenging golf holes, including the Road Hole, the par-4 17th hole.

Some of the PGA Tour’s biggest names have been winners at St. Andrews, and it’s always a memorable Open Championship when it gets played in Scotland.

Jack Nicklaus won at St. Andrews and said it was the place to win because people would remember it for a lifetime. Since World War II, the winners at St. Andrews have won 67 major titles combined. This venue is where the best want to win to solidify their spot in golf’s history.

Open Championship winners at St. Andrews

The last time St. Andrews hosted was in 2015 when Zach Johnson shot a 66 to get into a playoff with Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen, where he outlasted them to win.

Oosthuizen won it at St. Andrews in 2010 and before that, Tiger Woods won back-to-back Opens at the Old Course. However, with St. Andrews hosting the event 29 times, there have been 25 winners. Woods, Nicklaus, James Braid and J.H. Taylor, are the four repeat victors.

Here is a list of all the St. Andrews Open Champions: 

  • 2015: Zach Johnson
  • 2010: Louis Oosthuizen
  • 2005: Tiger Woods
  • 2000: Tiger Woods
  • 1995: John Daly
  • 1990: Nick Faldo
  • 1984: Seve Ballesteros
  • 1978: Jack Nicklaus
  • 1970: Jack Nicklaus
  • 1964: Tony Lema
  • 1960: Kel Nagle
  • 1957: Bobby Locke
  • 1955: Peter Thomson
  • 1946: Sam Snead
  • 1939: Dick Burton
  • 1933: Denny Shute
  • 1927: Bobby Jones (a)
  • 1921: Jock Hutchison
  • 1910: James Braid
  • 1905: James Braid
  • 1900: J.H. Taylor
  • 1895: J.H. Taylor
  • 1891: Hugh Kirkaldy
  • 1888: Jack Burns
  • 1885: Bob Martin
  • 1882: Bob Ferguson
  • 1879: Jamie Anderson
  • 1876: Bob Martin
  • 1873: Tom Kidd

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