Royal St George ’ s
THE HISTORY OF THE OPEN IN KENT
Darren Clarke , Ben Curtis , Greg Norman , Sandy Lyle … the list of champions to have lifted the Claret Jug on Kent ’ s coast is a lengthy one ( running to 17 names to be exact ). With anticipation building over who this year ’ s champion will be , we ’ re taking a step back and looking at our glorious county ’ s long history in hosting The Open Championship .
With 14 Open Championships to its name , Royal St George ’ s has hosted the famous tournament more times than any other course outside of Scotland . But how did it all begin ? In 1887 Scottish founder Dr William Laidlaw Purves ’ dream of creating a rival course to the iconic St Andrews was finally realised . It ’ s said that Purves first spotted the land that was to become Royal St George ’ s from St Clement ’ s Church tower in Sandwich and , just a few years later , that very land staged the first Open Championship to be held outside of Scotland .
With reduced rail fairs negotiated to encourage Scottish pros to make the trip south , it ’ s safe to say there was a little uncertainty over the turnout for England ’ s inaugural staging , but with 94 starters , the event saw record numbers since the Championship began . But that wasn ’ t the only record of the week . After a close first couple of rounds between Douglas Rolland , Andrew Kirkaldy and John Henry Taylor , Taylor took the victory with a total tally of 326 shots , the highest to ever win The Open !
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