The Open Championship returns to Muirfield

Golf's oldest major championship will return to the East Lothian coast for the 16th time in July and it promises to be a fitting celebration of the game in one of its finest theatres.

Muirfield is widely regarded as one of the greatest tests of links golf in the world. Jack Nicklaus, the 1966 Open Champion at Muirfield, once famously said of the course: “What you see is what you get.” While Muirfield is every bit as challenging and intimidating as the other venues on The Open rota it is perhaps the fairest challenge of them all with no hidden hazards or surprises. The front nine runs clockwise around the inner loop of the homeward nine which runs broadly in the opposite direction forcing players to face winds from all directions. Muirfield is undoubtedly a shot-maker’s course. Over the years some of the greatest players in the game have lifted the Claret Jug at Muirfield including Harry Vardon, James Braid, Walter Hagen, Henry Cotton, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Sir Nick Faldo and, of course, Ernie Els.