I think you will agree that The Open golf tournament this year (2008) was an exciting event – even without Tiger Woods. The way that Padraig Harrington took his game to a higher level, especially on the back nine on Sunday, was brilliant. His approach shots were gutsy, and on the par-5 17^th, nothing short of spectacular – congratulations to Padraig.

It was good to see Greg Norman at the top of the leaderboard and in contention to win. In the last round though, he made some poor shots and poor club selections. I thought that Englishman, Ian Poulter, had a chance with the great golf he produced at the end, but I guess he wasn't counting on Harrington's extra effort to eventually runaway from the field.

Out of all the golf majors, The Open golf tournament is the most prestigious, historical, and famous. The other three majors, The Masters, The US Open, and The PGA, are all held in the USA. In my opinion, considering the international nature of golf, I think it is ridiculous that three out of four golf majors are held in the USA. I would like to see one less US major, preferably The PGA, and add a new one to the calendar - The European Open.

The Open golf tournament is the World's oldest golf championship. It has definitely changed over the years when you consider that the first Open had only eight players challenging for the title over three rounds of a 12-hole course. That historic first Open was held at Prestwick on the west coast of Scotland in 1860 and Scotlan's Willie Park Sr. was the first Open Champion with a score of 174 over the 36 holes.

The Open was held at Prestwick for the first 12 years, from 1860 to 1872. The Championship was won in those 12 years by just 3 men (apart from Andrew Strath in 1865.) The three main contenders who each won 4 times were Willie Park (his fourth win was in 1875), Tom Morris, Snr., and Tom Morris, Jnr.In fact, in thosegood old days, Scotland dominated the event from 1860 to 1889. From 1890 to 1920, the event was won by Scots and English, with a lone Frenchman winning in 1907.

The Open Championship was not played in 1871 because the tournament stayed without a trophy. The original trophy was a Challenge Belt made of morocco leather and embellished with a silver buckle and emblems. The original rules of the competition stated that the “trophy” became the property of the winner by being won three years in succession. In 1870, Tommy Morris (Tom Morris, Jnr.) won the Belt for the third year in a row and took possession of it.

In 1871, The Prestwick Golf Club invited The Royal and Ancient Golf Club and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers to share in the running of The Open. An agreement to host The Open jointly was signed on 11th September 1872, and each club agreed to pay 10 pounds towards the cost of a new trophy.

After the 1872 agreement, The Open was held at St. Andrews, Musselburgh (Edinburgh) and Prestwick between 1873 and 1891. Musselburgh (Old Course) is actually the oldest golf course in the World. The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers established the first formal course here but it is believed that golf has been played in the same location since 1567 or earlier.

In 1892, a new venue was added because The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers built a new golf course at Muirfield on the east coast of Scotland and established themselves there instead of Musselburgh. The Open at Muirfield in 1892 was the first to be played over 72 holes in two days.

St George's Golf Club at Sandwich in England was formed in 1887, and it soon came to the attention of the R & A. After they inspected the new golf course they decided that The Open would be played there one day. The first Open to be held in England was the 1894 Open at Sandwich which saw a record number of players taking part - 94.

Since that day, The Open golf tournament has been held between Scotland and England alternately, with only a few exceptions in the late 1890's and early 1900's when two consecutive Opens were held in Scotland. The only time The Open has ever been held outside of Scotland or England was The 1951 Open Championship that was played at Portrush in Northern Ireland.

The Open Championship Committee made a declarationin 1922: "The Open shall henceforth be played only on links courses, to provide a true test for the skilled players." Up until that date, The Open had been played exclusively on links courses any way, but the expansion of inland courses at the time prompted the statement.

The courses most used over the years have been; St Andrews - 27 (east coast of Scotland), Prestwick - 24 (west coast of Scotland), Muirfield - 15 (east coast of Scotland), Sandwich - 13 (England), Hoylake - 11 (England), Royal Lytham - 10 (England), Royal Birkdale - 8 (England), Royal Troon - 8 (west coast of Scotland), Musselburgh - 6 (east coast of Scotland), Carnoustie - 7 (east coast of Scotland), Turnberry - 3 (west coast of Scotland).

• Oldest winner: Old Tom Morris - Scotland (46 years, 99 days), 1867.
• Youngest winner: Young Tom Morris - Scotland (17 years, 181 days), 1868.
• Most victories: 6 wins: Harry Vardon - England. 5 wins: James Braid - Scotland; John Henry Taylor - England; Peter Thomson - Australia; Tom Watson - USA. 4 wins: Walter Hagen - USA; Bobby Locke - South Africa; Tom Morris, Snr - Scotland; Tom Morris, Jnr - Scotland; Willie Park, Snr - Scotland. 3 wins: Jamie Anderson - Scotland; Seve Ballesteros - Spain; Henry Cotton - England; Nick Faldo - England; Bob Ferguson - Scotland; Bobby Jones - USA; Jack Nicklaus - USA; Gary Player - South Africa; Tiger Woods - USA. 2 wins: Pádraig Harrington - Ireland; Harold Hilton - England; Bob Martin - Scotland; Greg Norman - Australia; Arnold Palmer - USA; Willie Park, Jnr - Scotland; Lee Trevino - USA.
• Back-to-back winners: Tom Morris, Snr - Scotland (1861,1862); Tom Morris, Jnr - Scotland (1868,1869,1870); Jamie Anderson - Scotland (1877,1878, 1879); Bob Ferguson - Scotland (1880,1881,1882); John Henry Taylor - England (1894,1895); Harry Vardon - England (1898,1899); James Braid - Scotland (1905,1906); Bobby Jones - USA (1926,1927); Walter Hagen - USA (1928,1929); Bobby Locke - South Africa (1949,1950); Peter Thomson - Australia (1954,1955,1956); Arnold Palmer - USA (1961,1962); Lee Trevino - USA (1971,1972); Tom Watson - USA (1982,1983); Tiger Woods - USA (2005,2006); Pádraig Harrington - Ireland (2007,2008).

• Lowest 72-hole score: 267, Greg Norman - Australia (66-68-69-64), 1993.
• Lowest 72-hole score to par: -19, Tiger Woods - USA (67-66-67-69, 269), 2000 (a record for all major championships).
• Greatest margin of victory : 13 strokes, Old Tom Morris - Scotland, 1862. This remained a record for all majors until 2000, when Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open by 15 strokes at Pebble Beach. However, Old Tom's 13-stroke margin was achieved over just 36 holes.
• Lowest 18-hole score: 63 – Mark Hayes, 2nd round, 1977; Isao Aoki, 3rd round, 1980; Greg Norman, 2nd round, 1986; Paul Broadhurst, 3rd round, 1990; Jodie Mudd, 4th round, 1991; Nick Faldo, 2nd round, 1993; Payne Stewart, 4th round, 1993.

Rank Nation Wins Winners

• 1 Scotland 42 22

• 2 United States 41 26

• 3 England 27 14

• 4 Australia 9 4

• 5 South Africa 8 3

• 6 Spain 3 1

• 7 Ireland 2 1

• T8 Argentina 1 1

• T8 France 1 1

• T8 New Zealand 1 1

• T8 Northern Ireland 1 1

• T8 Zimbabwe 1 1

The US Open golf tournament is the second oldest of the modern golf majors. The first US Open was played in 1895, 35 years after the first British Open. The golf majors originally consisted of The Open, The Amateur Championship, The US Open, and The US Amateur Championship. Although The PGA started in 1916 and The Masters in 1934, it wasn't until about 1960 that the modern-day golf majors were considered as The Masters, The US Open, The Open, and The PGA.

The first US Open was played at the same course and on the same week as The US Amateur Championship. The place where this historic event took place was at the 9-hole Newport Golf and Country Club, Rhode Island. As was normal in the late 1800's, the event was played over 4 rounds each of 9-holes all on the same day. The field that day consisted of only 10 professionals and one amateur and the event was won by an Englishman, Horace Rawlins, who took home a prize of $150.

From the original 36 holes in one day, the configuration of The US Open golf tournament has changed several times over the years. The Championship was extended to 72-holes in 1898 by the USGA; 36-holes played over each of two days. The configuration was changed in 1926 to 18-holes played over each of two days, finishing with 36 holes on the third day. The present day format was established in 1965 - 18-holes played over each of 4 days.

The US Open golf courses are chosen, or rebuilt, to make them exceedingly challenging and long. An emphasis is placed on accuracy, with narrow fairways, longer than normal rough and sloping greens. The scoring at The US Open golf courses are seldom very low; it is normal that the winning total score is just under par or even a few shots above par. The only time that a course has been beaten by a player was in the 2000 event held at Pebble Beach when Tiger Woods finished on 12 under par.

The popularity of The US Open golf tournament coincided with the remarkable career of Georgia amateur, Bobby Jones, who won the event 1923, 1926, 1929, and 1930. Another contributing factor was that spectator tickets were sold to the public for the first time in 1922. The next big surge in popularity happened in 1954 because the event was televised on national television for the first time. All 18 holes from the final two days had live coverage in 1977 and, believe it or not, it wasn't until 1982 that there were live broadcasts of the first two days as well.

The US Open golf tournament was dominated by British players since its early period up to 1910 (in fact, it was Scotsmen who took most of the titles - 12 of the first 15 events.) The top Scotsman back then was Willie Anderson who won the event four times between 1901 and 1905.

Believe it or not, there have only been three other golfers to win four US Opens - Bobby Jones from 1923 to 1930, the year he won the Grand Slam; Ben Hogan from 1948 to 1953; and Jack Nicklaus from 1962 to 1980. With Tiger Woods third victory at the 2008 US Open, it can only be a matter of time before he joins the illustrious golfers with four wins, and maybe he will go into the golfing history books with 5 wins or more.

So far, apart from Woods, only one other golfer has won 3 times - Hale Irwin in 1974, 1979, 1990. As Irwin is now 63 years old, it seams highly unlikely that he will win another US Open. So it looks likely that there will only be 5 golfers to win 4 US Opens (if Tiger Woods manages one more win.)

Amazingly, only 5 players have managed to win The US Open as well as The Masters, The Open, and The PGA. None of them have won all 4 majors in one single year though - Bobby Jones did his Grand Slam with The Open, The Amateur Championship, The US Open, and The US Amateur. The five players to win the four golf majors were Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods.

Americans have dominated the event since 1911 having won a total of 79 times. Since the end of the British dominance, South Africa has the second best record with 5 wins. The only other nations that have won the event is Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Argentina, and England.

Lately, for the first time since 1910, there has been a run of four consecutive non-American winners. This happened from 2004 to 2007 and the four players were South African Retief Goosen (2004), New Zealander Michael Campbell (2005), Australian Geoff Ogilvy (2006) and Argentinian Ángel Cabrera (2007). All these players are from the Southern Hemisphere - a European has not won the event since 1970, when Englishman Tony Jacklin won. Another Englishman, Lee Westwood, had a chance in the 2008 US Open but missed a 15 foot birdie putt on the last hole for a chance in the play-off.

It is sad that Scotland, being the home of golf, have not produced many great golfers since 1910. Willie MacFarlane in 1925, was the last Scotsman to win the US Open golf tournament and the last Scotsman to win a golf major on American soil was Sandy Lyle at The Masters in 1988. Although, thanks to their great start in the early years, Scotland are in second place overall with 13 wins followed by England with 7, South Africa with 5, and Australia with 2.

• Oldest champion: Hale Irwin - USA, in 1990 at 45 years, 15 days.
• Youngest champion: John McDermott - USA, in 1911 at 19 years, 315 days.
• Most consecutive victories: 3 by Willie Anderson - Scotland, 1903-1905.
• Most consecutive opens started: 44 by Jack Nicklaus - USA, from 1957 to 2000.
• Largest margin of victory: 15 strokes by Tiger Woods - USA, 2000. This is the all-time record for all majors.
• Lowest score for 72 holes: 272 – Jack Nicklaus - USA (63-71-70-68), 1980; Lee Janzen - USA (67-67-69-69), in 1993; Tiger Woods - USA (65-69-71-67), 2000; Jim Furyk - USA (67-66-67-72), 2003.
• Most strokes under par for 72 holes: 12 under (272) by Tiger Woods - USA, 2000.
• Lowest score for 18 holes: 63 – Johnny Miller - USA, 4th round, 1973; Jack Nicklaus - USA, 1st round, 1980; Tom Weiskopf - USA, 1st round, 1980; Vijay Singh - Fiji, 2nd round, 2003.