What’s your favourite memory from the Open?
We should be either at or watching the action from The Open at Royal St George’s this week. But thanks to the pandemic we’ll have to wait a year.
The R&A have been keeping us entertained with the excellent Open for the Ages, which is bringing 50 years of Champion Golfers of the Year together for the first time. They’ve shared their favourite Open memories, so we thought we’d jot down ours, too…
- Related: Watch Open for the Ages highlights
Hannah: Well I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the Open as my parents actually met at St Andrews in 1990, but I wasn’t there so I’ll go for 2006.
I was just a 10-year-old girl being dragged around Hoylake by her parents when Phil Mickelson gave me his golf ball. I still remember thinking my dad was mates with him because of the way he said ‘Thanks, Phil’. Mickelson instantly became my favourite golfer and it made me want to play golf more.
Steve: I was stood in a straight line behind Michael Greller on the 15th green when Jordan Spieth holed that bomb for eagle and issued his now legendary ‘Go get that’ command.
Find the right angle on the coverage from Birkdale in 2017 and you might see an absolute lunatic jumping up and down in the air as the American’s arm is outstretched. That fool was me. No regrets, though. What a moment.
Dan: Lytham in ’88 was my first ever visit to the Open. My dad took me. We entered the course on the Thursday morning at the far end, with no idea where we were going.
We saw a raised green – it turned out to be the par-4 8th – and decided to head towards it in the hope of getting our bearings. Down on the fairway below, the players were ready to play their approaches. A ball landed on the green, hopped forward and dropped in. Paul Broadhurst had just made an eagle two.
Alex: The 2012 Open was when I got to see Tiger Woods in the flesh for the first time. The player I had idolised for more than a decade was now standing right in front of me striping balls off the delicious Lytham turf. I had goosebumps for about a month.
Watching from the comfort of your living room has its advantages, but nothing beats the feeling of seeing these guys up close and personal.
What’s your favourite memory from The Open? It can be personal, or just a tournament you were glad to have watched. Let us know in the comments below, or you can tweet us.
- More Open memories: Padraig Harrington
- More Open memories: Tommy Fleetwood
- More Open memories: Tom Watson
- More Open memories: Mark Calcavecchia
- More Open memories: Francesco Molinari
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