All eyes are trained on Scotland for the next fortnight as the famous links courses of Royal Troon and Carnoustie host The Open Championship and Senior Open Championship Presented by Rolex in consecutive weeks.
Of the 144-man field teeing off at Carnoustie on July 21, eight will also be hoping this week to overcome the test of Royal Troon, which hosts its first Open Championship in 12 years.
It was back in 2004 when Todd Hamilton produced one of the biggest upsets in golfing history on the Ayrshire links, beating Ernie Els in a four-hole play-off to win The Open in just his fourth appearance in the prestigious Major Championship.
After turning 50 in October last year, Hamilton, now a regular on the US PGA TOUR Champions circuit, will be making his first appearance at the Senior Open Championship next week.
Hamilton is one of four American winners of the Claret Jug who will be playing in both tournaments.
Mark Calcavecchia, John Daly and Mark O’Meara, winners in 1989, 1995 and 1998 respectively, will be teeing it up in Major Championships in successive weeks.
After winning last year’s Senior Open, American Marco Dawson will make his debut in The Open Championship this week.
Home favourite Colin Montgomerie, who made a return to the European Tour at last week’s Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, will strike the first shot at The Open Championship on Thursday after being drawn in the first group. The Scotsman will be joined by Luke Donald and Marc Leishman on the first tee at 6.35am on Thursday morning.
When he arrives at Carnoustie next week, Montgomerie will have the Senior Open title in his sights after finishing third and second in 2015 and 2014.
He will be joined by compatriot and two-time Major winner Sandy Lyle at both Royal Troon and Carnoustie.
Lyle won The 114th Open Championship in 1985, and then followed up with victory at the Masters three years later.
Crowd favourite Miguel Angel Jiménez will be making his third Senior Open Championship appearance a week after taking part in his 24th Open Championship.
The Spaniard’s best finish in The Open came in 2001, when he finished third, while his best Senior Open performance came last year, when he finished fourth behind Dawson, Bernhard Langer and Montgomerie.
Select groups for the first round of The Open Championship
0635 -Montgomerie, Leishman, Donald
0708 –Lyle, Gregory, Duval
1209 – Curtis, Mazzoli,Daly
1231 –Hamilton, Leonard,Calcavecchia
1426 – Wood, Miyazato,O’Meara
1437 –Jiménez, Dufner, Warren
1521 –Dawson, Southgate, Tsukada
