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The British Open Championship, referred to simply as the Open Championship or The Open within the United Kingdom, is the oldest of the four Major Championships in professional golf. The inaugural Open Championship was played on October 17, 1860 at Prestwick Golf Club, in Ayrshire, Scotland and allowed only professionals tp play through. The tourney attracted a field of eight Scottish golfers who played three rounds of Prestwick's twelve-hole course in a single day. Willie Park, Sr. won with a score of 174, beating the favorite, Tom Morris, Sr., by two strokes. The following year The Open was opened to amateurs, eight of which joined the ten professionals in the field.

The British Open Championship is the only one of the Majors be held outside the United States and is administered by the R&A, the governing body of golf outside the United States and Mexico, The Open is played on the weekend of the third Friday in July and is the third Major to take place each year, following The Masters and the U.S. Open but taking place before the PGA Championship.

The event takes place each season on one of nine historic links courses in Scotland or England. The event has even been held once in Northern Ireland, but Royal Portrush is no longer in the venue rotation. In 2009 the Open prize fund was £4.2 million, with £750,000 going to the winner. Historically the British Open's prize money was consistently the lowest of the four Majors, but from 2002 to 2008 it was the highest. Unique amongst the four Major Championships, the Open features a four-hole playoff for all golfers tied at the end of regulation, with the playoff moving to sudden death holes if the remaining contestants are still tied after four holes.

In 2009 Stewart Cink made a 12-foot birdie on the final hole of regulation, taking advantage of Tom Watson's missteps and overwhelming him in the four-hole playoff at Turnberry to win his first Major title by six shots. The 59-year-old Watson turned in one of the most remarkable performances ever seen at The Open. Leading the tournament through 71 holes and needing just a par on the last hole to win, Watson bogeyed, setting up a four-hole playoff that he would lose to Stewart Cink.