The R&A has named Muirfield as the venue for the 2013 Open Championship.
Muirfield last hosted The Open Championship in 2002, when South Africa’s Ernie Els won his third Major after the first and only four man, four-hole playoff in Open Championship history. This will be the sixteenth time that The Open has been staged at the club, which held its first Championship in 1892.
Winners of previous Muirfield Opens include golf’s biggest names, Nick Faldo (1987, 1992), Tom Watson (1980), Lee Trevino (1972), Jack Nicklaus (1966) and Gary Player (1959) have all lifted the Claret Jug there over the last 50 years. Other winners include Harry Vardon (1896), James Braid (1901, 1906), Walter Hagen (1929) and Henry Cotton (1948).
The course has also been used extensively for R&A Championships, staging 10 Amateurs – the last in 1998 when a young Sergio Garcia took the title – and two Walker Cups in 1959 and 1979.
Commenting on the announcement, David Hill, The R&A’s Director of Championships, said, “We are delighted that The Open is returning to Muirfield, an outstanding championship course that consistently produces a very worthy champion.
“For any club to host The Open it requires a great deal of work and The R&A would, therefore, like to thank The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers for its continued cooperation, which has enabled the Championship to come back to this fine venue for a sixteenth time.”
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