British Open vs. The Open Championship?

[cubdog]

People who call it "The Open" are the same types of douchenozzles that say "The Ohio State University"...

You calling my father a douchenozzle? And it's not the same at all although I agree with your assessment of those OSU what you called them.

cubdog

[colin007]

You calling my father a douchenozzle? And it's not the same at all although I agree with your assessment of those OSU what you called them. cubdog

Hence the smiley face. I am easily irked...

[turtleback]

When it started, it didn't need to differentiate. It was the first and only Open Championship. The USGA, deliberately called theirs the USGA Open Championship, recognising that the R&A; already had the title. To this day the USGA only use the title 'The Open Championship' for the original. Apart from common courtesy, if it's good enough for them .......

The USGA never won a major and Jack Nicklaus and Bobby Jones won lots of them.  So I'll go with what they called it.  As to the Champion Golfer of the Year, that was a complete joke for much of the British Open's history.  You cannot have a Champion Golfer of the Year in any meaningful way when almost all of the top players in the world are not playing.  And it is only in the last 40 years or so that the British Open had a significant percent of the world's best golfers.  Ben Hogan, clearly in the running for GOAT in any system that does not rely on 18>14, played in exactly one British Open.

For most of its history the British Open as not nearly the "Holy Grail" that it has become.

You calling my father a douchenozzle? And it's not the same at all although I agree with your assessment of those OSU what you called them.

cubdog

Someone is not a douchenozzle because they all it The Open.  They become a douchnozzle when they "correct" people for calling it the British Open and insist that other people call it The Open.  Which, after all, is exactly what spawned the re-awakening of this thread.

[ScouseJohnny]

I'm aware there's this perception that if Arnold Palmer hadn't graciously decided to make the trek across the Atlantic in 1960 then golf today might be missing a major - or maybe, perhaps, another US tournament would have been elevated to that status to replace it at some point. Looks like his interest soon caught on, though. I had a look at the field for 1964 - the year Tony Lema won. He beat Nicklaus, Player, Peter Thomson (who'd won the British Open four times before, and would win it again in 1965). OK, it's a field many populated with decent European players (in conjunction with a few American players, some from Commonwealth countries, and a handful of others), but that's fairly understandable - the world was a larger place in the early 1960s. Not sure how easy it was for an American touring pro to get to the UK from the US on a BOAC Comet, but it was probably a longer and more complicated process than would be the case for an American player heading to the British Open today. Winning an Open Championship 50 years ago was clearly a significant sporting achievement, as is the case today.

Worrying about the correct title of the tournament always strikes me as odd. Perhaps it's because I'm a British expat living in the US, but although I wouldn't refer to the U.S. Open as "the Open" I always find myself referring to the Open Championship as the "the British Open." Geographical specificity seems to ease confusion between the two...

[pitchandputter]

Interesting topic, being from the UK I naturally call it "The Open", however totally understand why people from the states would call it the "British" to differentiate from other tournaments and geography.

Was at the Museum of Golf a few years back and learned a bit of history about the worlds oldest continual major tournament (of any sport).....

Basically, Allan Robertson who is recognised as being Golfs 1st pro, was unbeatable. Even the great late Old Tom Morris could not outplay him and Robertson made his money by playing his fellow contemporaries for wagers whilst challenging richer players who played the game of golf as a hobby more than anything else. However, like most pro's at the time he made much of his salary by caddying and golf club making. However, sadly Robertson would pass away at the relatively young age of 44.

The world of golf was shattered. As previously said, he was considered as being the best player to have ever picked up a club. However, fellow pro's such as Tom Morris felt that a fitting tribute would be to find the new "champion" golfer which the phrase still used today comes from. This championship would be "open" to any pro who wished to take part and given that golf was Scotland's national sport it was considered fitting that it would take place at Prestwick Golf Club on Scotlands west coast.

According to Wikipedia:

His epitaph reads: "Allan Robertson - who died 1st Sept. 1859 aged 44 years old. He was greatly esteemed for his personal worth and for many years was esteemed as the champion golfer of Scotland."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Robertson

So that why today its called "The Open"  and why this years winner will be called the "Champion Golfer". A fitting tribute I think to the tournament from which the US Open gets it name....

[pabird]

Out of interest it is THE OPEN not the British open

[Valleygolfer]

Out of interest it is THE OPEN not the British open

We understand that the British Open likes to be called the Open. It's covered in other threads but I hope you feel better.

[pabird]

We understand that the British Open likes to be called the Open. It's covered in other threads but I hope you feel better.

Not a case of they like to be called the open

It has always been The Open

[Mr. Desmond]

Not a case of they like to be called the open

It has always been The Open

how confusing ...

it really needs an identifier...

[Missouri Swede]

Not a case of they like to be called the open

It has always been The Open

There's a separate thread for that discussion: http://thesandtrap.com/t/72535/british-open-vs-the-open-championship

[Valleygolfer]

Not a case of they like to be called the open

It has always been The Open

Well that is nice but this is a website that caters to all countries and just to ensure that "others" who may be new to golf, can differentiate between the many opens outs out there. I know you will lament about the Masters name but the website is based in America. So don't get your feathers all ruffled.

[Mac62]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valleygolfer

We understand that the British Open likes to be called the Open. It's covered in other threads but I hope you feel better.

Not a case of they like to be called the open

It has always been The Open

Then why is it that when I do a Google search for "The Open", the first result is theopen.com, and the meta tags for the site read "The official site of the British Open "?

[Scotsclaff]

Then why is it that when I do a Google search for "The Open", the first result is theopen.com, and the meta tags for the site read "The official site of the British Open"?

Wow ,you really had to do a google search for the answer.

The brits like to call it the open,the Americans call it the British open,no problem.

[pabird]

Going by American answers do we now call THE MASTERS the American Masters as there are :masters: around the golfing world

Not for me, the Masters is like THE Open unique in its history and is rightly THE Masters

[iacas]

Going by American answers do we now call THE MASTERS the American Masters as there are :masters: around the golfing world

Many already do. "The U.S. Masters" it's [url=https://iphone.paddypower.mobi/#!paddypower_publication_event_iphone.t?classId=7&typeId;=6092&eventId;=8670681]often called[/url]. So…

[Valleygolfer]

Going by American answers do we now call THE MASTERS the American Masters as there are :masters: around the golfing world

Not for me, the Masters is like THE Open unique in its history and is rightly THE Masters

I wonder if you got up grumpy the other day and said "lets see who I can fight with today..." It's no big deal. The British Open and US Masters to help differentiate is legitimate.

[turtleback]

Going by American answers do we now call THE MASTERS the American Masters as there are :masters: around the golfing world

Not for me, the Masters is like THE Open unique in its history and is rightly THE Masters

But I bet if you call it the US Masters in passing no Americans will come scold you that it is properly called "The Masters" not the US Masters, the way a certain type of brit (thankfully not that many) will get his panties in a bunch when we all the British Open the same thing that Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, and Jack Nicklaus  did in their writings.

And BTW, that whole "Champion Golfer of the Year" stuff is also incredibly pretentious.  Maybe after 100+ years it is time to wake up and realize that when there is one tournament in the world then naming it, and its winner, one way is fine, but that no longer makes sense when it is just on event out of dozens.

[Fourputt]

I'm aware there's this perception that if Arnold Palmer hadn't graciously decided to make the trek across the Atlantic in 1960 then golf today might be missing a major - or maybe, perhaps, another US tournament would have been elevated to that status to replace it at some point. Looks like his interest soon caught on, though. I had a look at the field for 1964 - the year Tony Lema won. He beat Nicklaus, Player, Peter Thomson (who'd won the British Open four times before, and would win it again in 1965). OK, it's a field many populated with decent European players (in conjunction with a few American players, some from Commonwealth countries, and a handful of others), but that's fairly understandable - the world was a larger place in the early 1960s. Not sure how easy it was for an American touring pro to get to the UK from the US on a BOAC Comet, but it was probably a longer and more complicated process than would be the case for an American player heading to the British Open today. Winning an Open Championship 50 years ago was clearly a significant sporting achievement, as is the case today.

Actually, from 1959 American players had the Boeing 707 to cross the Atlantic on, so the BOAC lost it's brief monopoly on fast transatlantic air travel.  By the early 60's 707's were plying the skies to Europe regularly.  Despite easier access, it still took a few years for the British Open to attract the sort of quality field that it enjoys today.

To those who don't like the appellation of British Open, sorry, but that's what it is.  Just as there is a Canadian Open, an Australian Open, French Open, etc., etc.  It isn't even the only "open" in the UK, to wit the Scottish Open.  The defense rests.