​Back in the COVID-summer of 2020, we recruited R&A senior curator Laurie Rae to help tackle the monumental task of ranking the top 15 British Open Championships of all time. This effort followed soon after our similarly ambitious lists of the 15 best PGA Championships and the 15 best U.S. Opens. It offered a small measure of solace during a season when the Open had been canceled, and now, thankfully, we’re back on track for the 154th Open at Royal Birkdale, just around the corner. (And yes, knock on wood—if another global pandemic strikes in the meantime, you can blame us for the jinx.)
Today we’re taking a rigorous look at the original five-year-old work, updating it where necessary to reflect a remarkably good and dramatic Open that has occurred since. We didn’t consult Mr. Rae for this revision, but a great deal of the underlying thinking remains rooted in his wisdom, and any errors or omissions are ours alone. Let’s do this properly.
Honorable Mention: 1954, Peter Thomson, Royal Birkdale. If two historic golfers deserve more attention than they receive, it’s Peter Thomson and Bobby Locke. Rae was reluctant to use the word “forgotten,” but I will. In the United States, Thomson and Locke don’t get the credit they deserve—perhaps because neither claimed an American major and perhaps because they missed the early era of televised golf. Yet in the 1950s they dominated the Open, winning eight of ten claret jugs between 1949 and 1958. The 1954 Open saw Thomson claim the first of his five championships and become the first Australian winner of the title. He and Locke were among those who battled it out in the final round at Royal Birkdale. While I couldn’t locate footage of Thomson’s sand recovery on the 16th, I did find a charming newsreel capturing the drama of the closing holes.
15. 1937, Henry Cotton, Carnoustie. Cotton’s 1934 victory had snapped an eight-year run of American triumphs, but his 1937 win was even more consequential, as he defeated the entire U.S. Ryder Cup team, who had lingered at Carnoustie after their 8–4 victory in late June. Cotton’s brilliant final round of 71 came in torrential weather, and he later said it was among the finest rounds of his career. By erasing a three-shot, 54-hole deficit, he beat, among others, Byron Nelson. Rae notes that the Englishman’s win “maintained British interest in the championship itself.”
14. 1992, Nick Faldo, Muirfield. Rae observes that Faldo was in the prime of his prime, chasing a fifth major in six years. Having just won the Irish Open, he arrived at this Open seemingly unstoppable. He set a 36-hole record, surpassed his own 54-hole mark, and entered the final round with a four-shot lead. It looked like a coronation, but it wasn’t—Faldo stumbled from holes 11 to 14, dropping three shots, and the dream unraveled.