Nine editions of the Open had been contested at Royal Troon until this week’s, which is the tenth. Well, of the nine different winners who were crowned on the Ayrshire course, six won their first and only Open here and, what’s more curious, their first and only Major. Six out of nine, not bad. A percentage more than enough to consider it a hallmark of the house, of Royal Troon, who knows why strange reason or simple coincidence.
Those nine winners at Royal Troon, who then did not return or have returned (one of them, Stenson, is still active) to win a Major are: Arthur Havers (1923), Tom Weiskopf (1973), Mark Calcavecchia (1989), Justin Leonard (1997), Todd Hamilton (2004) and Henrik Stenson (2016). In fact, the last four winners on this course meet the peculiar requirement. Or is it a curse? It’s hard to call it that when in reality what’s at stake is a triumph in a Major…
The bizarre question is that, once the first 54 holes have been contested, we find among the main candidates for the 2024 victory several players who have never won a Major and who, unless they won a second one, could well enlarge this curious legend. Starting with the solo leader, Billy Horschel; and continuing with four of the six players who are tied for second place, Thriston Lawrence, Sam Burns, Russell Henley and Daniel Brown, undoubtedly the unexpected star of this edition.
Surely any of them would be willing to ‘risk’ falling into the supposed curse, that a Major is a Major and anyone knows when I’m going to have it so close with only 18 holes left. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush…
