The Senior Open Presented by Rolex comes to The Home of Golf as the Old Course at St Andrews hosts the Championship for the first time in its 32-year history, from Thursday until Sunday.
Golf’s golden era, encompassing the evergreen Tom Watson, Sir Nick Faldo, Fred Couples, José María Olazábal, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Woosnam and defending champion Bernhard Langer, to name but a few, are included in perhaps the strongest field in three decades of The Senior Open.
The 144-strong field includes 38 Ryder Cup players, 10 Ryder Cup Captains, 20 Major Champions and 23 Senior Major winners – including 27 golfers who successfully qualified from 591 competitors who teed it up on Monday.
Tom Watson, a three-time winner of The Senior Open, and a five-time winner of The Open, thought he bade farewell to the Old Course for the last time at The 2015 Open, but is delighted to have the opportunity to tee it up in a competitive round at St Andrews once again.
“I can see the excitement level amongst the players,” he said. “It’s palpable; you can feel it. The players are loving being here on the Old Course. We are very grateful that they decided to have the tournament here.
“It’s reflected by the quality of the field and how many people tried to qualify. We have seen a lot more people that want to play on the Old Course at St Andrews.”
Watson heads into the weekend in a vein of form after winning the traditional Tuesday Pro-Am with his playing partner, Rangers Football Club Chairman Dave King.
“I played a very good round on Tuesday and I was very happy with the way I was putting,” said Watson. “Something good might happen here; I won the Pro-Am and I won the Par 3 Contest before the Masters – I’m on a winning streak.”
Montgomerie joined Watson in the chorus of praise, as he goes in search of a maiden Senior Open title – to add to his three Senior Majors.
“When the schedule came out for our Tour and I saw we were coming to St Andrews it was very special,” said Montgomerie. “I didn’t appreciate, having been a senior now for five years, that we had never been here before and that was something that was missing.
“Everybody deserves a lot of credit for this year. It’s not easy in the mid-season to close this course for two weeks to have this tournament here. It’s fantastic.”
Faldo is one of seven winners of the Claret Jug teeing it up on the Old Course this week, joining Mark Calcavecchia, John Daly, Todd Hamilton, Tom Lehman, Sandy Lyle and Watson in the field.
Tickets are availablehere. Under-16s and parking are free.
