The Open Championship sprang into life in October 1860, when seven Scots and one Englishman did battle over three loops of Prestwick's original 12-hole course, with Willie Park Senior emerging the inaugural Open champion.
Much has changed and much has stayed the same on today’s 18-hole links at Prestwick, with the gloriously rumpled and, at times, quirky terrain providing a tangible link with the challenges faced by Old Tom Morris et al 165 years ago. This is especially so on the par-3 5th, which plays blind over a sand hill from 200 yards, and in the cavernous bunkers such as the sleeper-faced Cardinal on the 3rd.
