The Open Championship is the oldest golf tournament in the world and in its rich history it has produced some of the greatest champions in sport. Willie Park Senior won the first Open in 1860 and the famous Claret Jug will soon be lifted by another Open victor. Here we look at the five greatest Open champions of the modern era. No elite career is complete without an Open triumph on the golfing CV, and this quintet showed their class at various different links locations this millennium. Do your 5 match ours?
The Open Championship: Tiger Woods
The greatest player of the modern era has won the Open Championship three times, with his first victory coming at St Andrews in 2000. This incredible talent destroyed the field by eight shots at the Home of Golf.
Woods waited five years for his second Open success, which also came at St Andrews in 2005, this time by a five-shot margin. He successfully defended the title at Royal Liverpool 12 months later, one of his 15 Major triumphs.
The Open Championship: Ernie Els
The Big Easy, as Ernie Els is nicknamed, won his first Open Championship in 2002 at Muirfield, emerging triumphant in a four-man play-off against Stuart Appleby, Steve Elkington and Thomas Levet.
Els enjoyed great fortune to win the Open again in 2012, gifted the Claret Jug after Adam Scott imploded over the closing stretch at Royal Lytham. Els won four Major titles in a glorious career, adding a pair of US Opens to those two Open triumphs.
The Open Championship: Padraig Harrington
The man to halt the Open dominance of Tiger Woods in 2007 was Padraig Harrington, who triumphed at Carnoustie, defeating Sergio Garcia in a play-off. Harrington recently entered the World Golf Hall of Fame, largely due to his Open heroics.
Harrington successfully defended his Open title at Royal Birkdale, dominating the event and winning by four shots, leaving Ian Poulter a distant runner-up. Harrington won the US PGA Championship later in 2008 to become a three-time Major victor.
The Open Championship: Phil Mickelson
The main rival for Tiger Woods when he was in his pomp was Phil Mickelson, but the left-hander took time to become a force in the Open Championship. Phil The Thrill finally got his hands on the Claret Jug at Muirfield in 2013.
Mickelson triumphed by three shots, leaving Henrik Stenson in his wake. Lefty is a six-time Major champion, having won the Masters three times and the US PGA Championship twice. The US Open is the only Major title missing from his CV.
The Open Championship: Rory McIlroy
The 2014 Open at Royal Liverpool provided the scene for Rory McIlroy’s first Open success. He fended off the challenges of Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia to win by two shots.
McIlroy won a fourth Major title later that year – the US PGA – and further Major glory seemed almost inevitable. The Northern Irishman has endured a Major-winning drought of almost ten years, though, and he squandered a golden opportunity in the US Open last month. Perhaps redemption will come at Royal Troon.
By Adam Scriven
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