When we talk about the Open Golf Championship winners, we usually picture a guy in a modern Nike hat hoisting the Claret Jug while thousands of fans scream in the background. Honestly, though? The history of this thing is way weirder than just a list of names. It started in 1860 with eight guys at Prestwick who basically just wanted to see who was the best after the local legend Allan Robertson died. There wasn't even a trophy. The winner got a red leather belt with a silver buckle.
Fast forward to 2025. Scottie Scheffler just tore up Royal Portrush to join the club. Between that first belt and Scottie’s modern dominance, the "Champion Golfer of the Year" title has passed through the hands of legends, fluke winners, and guys who dominated so hard they actually broke the tournament.
The Absolute Giants of the Open
If you're looking for the GOAT of this specific tournament, you have to look at Harry Vardon. Most people forget Vardon. They shouldn't. He won six times between 1896 and 1914. That record has stood for over a century. Think about that. Not Tiger, not Jack, not even Tom Watson could get to six.
Vardon was part of what they called the "Great Triumvirate." It sounds like something out of a history textbook, but it was basically just three guys—Vardon, J.H. Taylor, and James Braid—who decided they weren't going to let anyone else win for about twenty years. Between 1894 and 1914, these three accounted for 16 wins. It was a complete lockout.
Then you have Tom Watson.
Watson is the modern-day king of the links. He won five times. What’s truly insane is that he almost won a sixth at age 59. In 2009 at Turnberry, he was one par away from being the oldest major winner in history. He lost in a playoff to Stewart Cink, and honestly, the air just went out of the whole of Scotland that day.
Recent Open Golf Championship Winners and Shifting Tides
The last few years have been a bit of a whirlwind. We've moved away from the era where one guy like Tiger Woods could just bully the field. Speaking of Tiger, his 2000 win at St Andrews was probably the most perfect golf ever played. He didn't hit a single bunker for 72 holes. At St Andrews! That's like walking through a minefield blindfolded and not getting a scratch.
But look at the more recent list:
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- 2025: Scottie Scheffler. He won at Royal Portrush with a total of 267. He was basically a machine.
- 2024: Xander Schauffele. He finally got the "best player without a major" monkey off his back at Royal Troon.
- 2023: Brian Harman. Nobody saw this coming. He just putted the lights out at Royal Liverpool and left everyone in the dust.
- 2022: Cameron Smith. He shot a 30 on the back nine on Sunday at the Old Course. Absolute nerves of steel.
- 2021: Collin Morikawa. He won on his debut. Most guys take a decade to learn how to play links golf; he figured it out in four days at Royal St George’s.
It's kind of a mix now. You have the superstars like Scheffler and the specialists like Harman. It shows that the Open is the great equalizer. The weather can turn in five minutes. One minute you're playing in sunshine, the next you're in a horizontal rainstorm wondering why you didn't take up bowling instead.
The Father and Son Who Ruined the Prize
Here's a bit of trivia for your next pub quiz: Why do we have a Claret Jug?
Because of Young Tom Morris.
His dad, Old Tom Morris, was the oldest winner ever (46 years old in 1867). Then his son, Young Tom, won three in a row from 1868 to 1870. The rules said if you win three times in a row, you keep the belt. He did. So, in 1871, they literally didn't have a trophy to give out. They had to cancel the tournament because they couldn't agree on a new prize. They eventually settled on the silver Claret Jug, but it wasn't even ready when Young Tom won his fourth title in 1872. He’s the only guy to win four in a row, and he did it before he was 22.
Why the Winning Scores Vary So Much
You'll notice something weird if you look at the scores of Open Golf Championship winners. In 2016, Henrik Stenson shot a 264 (20 under par) in a legendary duel with Phil Mickelson. It was the lowest 72-hole score in the history of the tournament.
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But then you look at 1999 at Carnoustie. Paul Lawrie won that year. His score? 290. That's 6 over par.
Why the massive gap? It’s the "Van de Velde" factor. Jean van de Velde had a three-shot lead going into the last hole and ended up in a literal creek. Carnoustie was set up so difficult that year the grass was basically a jungle. The winning score depends entirely on how much the R&A (the guys who run the show) want to make the players suffer and how hard the wind blows off the sea.
Real Talk on the Records
People get obsessed with the "Under Par" number, but at the Open, the "Total Strokes" often tells a better story because par is sort of arbitrary on a windy links course.
- Lowest Round: Branden Grace shot a 62 in 2017. Before that, everyone thought 63 was a hard ceiling.
- Most Wins: Harry Vardon (6).
- Modern Score Record: Henrik Stenson (264) and Cameron Smith (shared the -20 record).
- The Drought: For a long time, it felt like no British players could win. Then Nick Faldo came along and grabbed three (1987, 1990, 1992).
What This Means for Future Champions
Winning the Open isn't just about hitting the ball 350 yards. If you look at the recent Open Golf Championship winners, the common thread isn't power; it's creativity. You have to be able to hit a "stinger" that stays two feet off the ground for a hundred yards. You have to be okay with a perfect shot hitting a hidden hump and bouncing 40 yards into a pot bunker.
If you're trying to track who might win next, don't just look at the world rankings. Look at who plays well in the wind and who doesn't get frustrated when "rub of the green" goes against them.
The Open is the only major where the course is a living, breathing character that usually wins the fight. The guys who end up with their names on that jug are the ones who learned how to negotiate with the links rather than trying to conquer them.
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To really understand the legacy of the Open, you should start by looking at the specific course rotations. Each venue—from the "Duel in the Sun" at Turnberry to the "Duel in the Dark" at Royal Troon—has its own list of champions that defined an era. Digging into the specific hole-by-hole history of St Andrews or Muirfield will give you a much better idea of why certain players, like Tiger or Nicklaus, thrived there while others completely fell apart.
Actionable Insights for Following The Open:
- Track the "Links Swing": Watch players who perform well at the Scottish Open the week before. Historically, this is the best predictor of who will handle the turf conditions.
- Study the Weather Draw: In the Open, the time of day you tee off can be the difference between a 66 and a 76. Always check the hourly wind speeds for Thursday and Friday rounds.
- Learn the Courses: Familiarize yourself with the "Open Rotation." Currently, courses like Royal Birkdale, St Andrews, and Royal Portrush are the primary hosts. Knowing the layout of these tracks helps you understand why a "boring" par is often a great score.