Ten professionals and eight amateurs contested the event, with Old Tom Morris winning the championship by 4 shots from Willie Park, Sr.[10][3] A prize fund (£10) was introduced in 1863 split between 2nd, 3rd and 4th (the winner only received the Challenge Belt).

[11][12] Before this the only financial incentive was scheduling Prestwick's own domestic tournament the same week, this allowed professionals to earn a few days' work caddying for the wealthier gentlemen.

[16] In 1892 the tournament was played for the first time at the newly built Muirfield, which replaced Musselburgh as the host venue used by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers.

[25] The pre-war period is most famous for the Great Triumvirate of Harry Vardon (Jersey), John Henry Taylor (England), and James Braid (Scotland).

[21] In 1921 eleven U.S.-based players travelled to Scotland financed by a popular subscription called the "British Open Championship Fund", after a campaign by the American magazine Golf Illustrated.

[27] Five of these players were actually British born, and had emigrated to America to take advantage of the high demand for club professionals as the popularity of golf grew.

[29] When the Open was held two weeks later, one of these visitors, Jock Hutchison, a naturalised American citizen, won in St Andrews, the town of his birth.

[3] After overcrowding issues at the 1925 Open at Prestwick, it was decided it was no longer suitable for the growing size of the event, being too short, having too many blind shots, and it could not cope with the volume of spectators.

[52] In 1999, the Open at Carnoustie was famously difficult, and Frenchman Jean van de Velde had a three-shot lead teeing off on the final hole.

In 2000, Tiger Woods, having just won the U.S. Open, became champion by a post-war record 8 strokes[56] to become the youngest player to win the career Grand Slam at age 24.

[62] Shane Lowry won the 2019 Open when the tournament returned to Royal Portrush Golf Club, to become the second champion from the Republic of Ireland.

A golfer playing on a links course will often adapt his game so the flight of the ball is lower and so is less impacted by the wind, but this will make distance control more difficult.

It has become traditional to come down the 18th fairway to huge applause from the amphitheatre crowds, and to pose for final pictures on the Swilken Bridge with the picturesque clubhouse and town in the background.

"[74] The first event was held as an invitational tournament, but the next year Prestwick Golf Club declared that "the belt... on all future occasions, shall be open to all the world".

The Open began in 1860, and for many years it was not the most-followed event in golf, as challenge matches between top golfers were more keenly followed and drew larger crowds.

[87] After World War II, although the profile of the tournament remained high in the UK and Commonwealth countries, the low prize money compared to the US events and the cost of travel meant fewer Americans participated.

High-profile visits and wins by Ben Hogan and Arnold Palmer, the growth of cheaper and faster transatlantic flights, and the introduction of television coverage recovered its prestige.

[91] In addition all previous PGA Tour seasons have been retroactively adjusted to include the Open in official money and win statistics.

Currently the Open, along with the other three majors and The Players Championship, are the top-tier tournaments in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup, offering more points than any other non-playoff event.

[101] Up until 2016, the purse was always stated, and paid, in pounds sterling (£), but was changed in 2017 to US dollars ($) in recognition of the fact that it is the most widely adopted currency for prize money in golf.

[144][145][146][147][148] Royal Troon Golf Club (1878):[149] first used in 1923 instead of Muirfield when "some doubts exists as to the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers being desirous of their course being used for the event".

The course underwent significant changes before the 2019 Open, including replacing the 17th and 18th holes, which also provided the space for spectators and corporate hospitality that a modern major requires.

[125] Royal Birkdale Golf Club (1894): extensively redesigned by Fred Hawtree and JH Taylor to create the current layout in 1922, it is known for its sand dunes towering the fairways.

[158] On 11 January 2021, in the aftermath of the 2021 United States Capitol attack the week prior, the R&A announced that it will not stage a championship at Turnberry "in the foreseeable future".

Source: The 148th Open 2019 Media Guide[169] Since 1949, the silver medal is awarded to the leading amateur, provided that the player completes all 72 holes.

[186] In the pre-digital age the coverage had to be converted from the U.K.'s PAL colour encoding system, to the U.S.'s NTSC, which meant picture quality could be impacted, especially in the early years.

The Open became the first golf major to be covered exclusively on pay television in America, as ESPN left only highlights for its partner broadcast network.

[186] NBC also had a track record of broadcasting European sporting events successfully in the morning U.S. time with the Premier League, Formula One, and "Breakfast at Wimbledon", and was able to place early round coverage on its subsidiary Golf Channel.

[170] The other large golf markets in a similar time zone as the U.K. are the rest of Europe (where Sky, the U.K. broadcast company often has a presence), and South Africa where it is covered by SuperSport.

[193] Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and increasingly China are markets with high media interest in golf and the Open, but the time zone means the prime coverage is shown in the early hours of the morning.