The time has arrived for Europe’s Senior Major Championship as The Senior Open Presented by Rolex takes place at Sunningdale Golf Club from July 22-25. Here’s everything you need to know…
We are back
The Senior Open takes place for the first time in two years following the Championship’s cancellation in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The 2019 event was a rain-affected affair, with Bernhard Langer battling the conditions at Royal Lytham & St Annes to claim a record fourth Senior Open title. The Championship will always be remembered for Tom Watson’s emotional farewell to links golf, as the eight-time Major winner announced it would be the last time he teed it up in the Senior Open.
Langer finally gets to defend
Bernhard Langer etched his name into the record books in 2019 when he claimed his fourth Senior Open title, one more than Gary Player and Tom Watson, with whom he had previously shared the record for most victories. His triumph two years ago was his 11th Senior Major Championship, the most of anyone in the history of the game, and he also set a new benchmark as the oldest player to win a Senior Major, aged 61.
Sublime Sunningdale
Sunningdale Golf Club will host The Senior Open for the third time this week, having initially been scheduled to host last year’s Championship. Due to the event’s cancellation in 2020, the Berkshire venue will host the world’s best over-50s players on the Old Course this week, which is regularly voted as one of the best courses in the United Kingdom and indeed the world. The Old Course at Sunningdale first hosted The Senior Open in 2009, when America’s Loren Roberts defeated compatriot Fred Funk and Ireland’s Mark McNulty in a play-off. Another American, Marco Dawson, was triumphant when the Senior Major returned in 2015, finishing one stroke ahead of Bernhard Langer.
Stellar field
This week’s field contains a plethora of Ryder Cup Captains, Major Champions and multiple European Tour winners. Thomas Bjørn and Jim Furyk, who led their respective Team Europe and Team USA sides in the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National will both make their Senior Open debuts this week, while fellow Ryder Cup Captains Paul McGinley, Ian Woosnam, Darren Clarke and Tom Lehman will also tee it up at Sunningdale. Woosnam, the 1991 Masters Champion, and 2011 Champion Golfer of the Year Clarke will be joined by other Major winners including 1999 Open Champion Paul Lawrie, 2005 U.S. Open winner Michael Campbell, Ernie Els, who won two Opens and two U.S. Opens, and two-time Masters Champion José María Olazábal.
Looking to complete the double
Several players will have the opportunity to complete a unique double at Sunningdale this week. Gary Player, Bob Charles and Tom Watson are the only players in the history of the game to have won both The Open and The Senior Open, and this week presents a number of players with the chance to join the exclusive club. Clarke, Els, Lehman and Lawrie are the four men who can join the exclusive trio this week.
