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Four days of links golf at the Open, with hosting, dining, and reserved seating
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Twelve months, twelve anchor picks. A planner's guide to stacking corporate days out.
The Open Championship is the oldest of golf's four majors and the only one held outside the United States. First contested in 1860 at Prestwick Golf Club with just eight professionals playing 36 holes in a single day, it has grown into a global sporting institution that rotates around the great links courses of Scotland and England. The Claret Jug, golf's most coveted prize, has been lifted by every generation's finest player, from Old Tom Morris to Tiger Woods.
If a man comes home from The Open Championship and all he can talk about is the score he made, he has missed the point.
Eight men, one day, one red leather belt. Championship golf had simpler beginnings than most imagine.
On 17 October 1860, eight professional golfers teed off at Prestwick Golf Club in Ayrshire to compete for a red leather Challenge Belt. Willie Park Sr. shot 174 over three rounds of Prestwick's 12-hole course to claim the first Open Championship, beating Old Tom Morris by two strokes. The entire occasion lasted a single day.
Four consecutive titles, and the reward was a trophy still lifted on the 18th green today.
After Young Tom Morris won the Challenge Belt outright with three consecutive victories (1868-1870), no championship was held in 1871. The following year, Prestwick, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers agreed to share hosting duties and commissioned a new trophy: the Golf Champion Trophy, better known as the Claret Jug. Young Tom Morris won again, making it four in a row.
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Getting around
Public transport runs to the venue on the day. Your event manager sends the route and nearest station with the booking confirmation.
Black cabs and ride-share apps are available across the local area. Drop-offs on the day depend on road closures; the booking confirmation flags the nearest set-down point.
Chauffeured cars or coaches for larger parties can be arranged through your event manager. Pricing is case-by-case and varies with party size.
The Open is the tournament I would choose to win over any other. It's the one that means the most to me.
Sixteen Opens between three men. Taylor, Vardon, and Braid did not share an era so much as own one.
Royal St George's in Sandwich, Kent, became the first English venue to host The Open. J.H. Taylor won, heralding the era of the Great Triumvirate: Taylor, Harry Vardon, and James Braid, who between them won 16 Open Championships between 1894 and 1914. Their dominance elevated the tournament's prestige and drew larger crowds than ever before.
Hagen four, Jones three; America did not merely visit The Open, it conquered it.
Bobby Jones won the first of his three Open titles at Royal Liverpool in 1926, and Walter Hagen claimed four between 1922 and 1929. American players had arrived, and they brought with them a transatlantic rivalry that would define the championship for decades. Jones's 1930 Grand Slam, which included The Open at Hoylake, remains one of sport's most remarkable achievements.
Palmer crossed the Atlantic and reminded America that the Claret Jug was worth the journey.
By the 1950s, many top Americans had stopped making the trip. Arnold Palmer changed that. His centenary Open appearance at St Andrews in 1960, followed by victories at Royal Birkdale in 1961 and Royal Troon in 1962, made The Open essential again. Palmer's charisma and competitive fire convinced his compatriots that the Claret Jug mattered. Jack Nicklaus and the rest followed.
Ten strokes clear of the field, yet only one shot between them.
Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus produced what many consider the greatest final round in Open history. Playing together on the final day at Turnberry, they pulled ten strokes clear of the field. Watson's closing 65 to Nicklaus's 66 settled it by a single shot. The Duel in the Sun became the benchmark against which all future Open finishes would be measured.
That fist-pump on the 18th green did not merely win a championship; it announced European golf to the world.
Severiano Ballesteros won his second Open title at St Andrews with a final-round display of controlled brilliance. His famous fist-pump on the 18th green became one of golf's most iconic images. Ballesteros, along with Nick Faldo and Greg Norman, defined The Open through the 1980s and early 1990s, a period when European golf found its voice on the world stage.
Nineteen under par, zero bunkers; Woods did not so much play St Andrews as solve it.
Tiger Woods completed the career Grand Slam at St Andrews with an eight-stroke victory, finishing at 19 under par without finding a single bunker all week. It was a masterclass in links golf from a player who had studied the Old Course's every contour. Woods won again at St Andrews in 2005 and at Royal Liverpool in 2006, cementing his place among The Open's all-time greats.
Over 230,000 fans packed St Andrews for a championship now worth more than $10 million in prize money.
Zach Johnson won a three-way playoff at St Andrews, but the bigger story was The Open's continued evolution. Prize money had risen to over $10 million. The R&A had taken over governance from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in 2004, professionalising the championship's administration. Hospitality and spectator facilities had been transformed, with The Open now attracting over 230,000 fans across the week.
Lowry's 2019 triumph on those clifftop Dunluce links left an indelible mark; Portrush has earned its place as the rota's most breathtaking stage.
The Open returns to Royal Portrush on the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland in July 2025. The Dunluce Links hosted a triumphant championship in 2019, when Shane Lowry won in front of rapturous home crowds, and the course's dramatic clifftop setting makes it one of the most visually striking venues on the rota. With prize money now at $17 million, The Open continues to grow while staying true to its links golf roots.
