The famous Royal Troon will stage the 152nd Open Championship in July on its glorious rolling links fairways, but how low can players go on this Ayrshire masterpiece?
Founded in 1878, Troon became an 18-hole course in 1888 and was re-designed by the legendary James Braid just before it staged The Open for the first time in 1923.
Fast forward just over a century and the 2024 event will be the 10th time Troon has staged The Open, while it’s also played host to the AIG Women’s Open, and scoring has been pretty low overall.
Arnold Palmer and Tom Weiskopf both lifted the Claret Jug by shooting 12 under for the tournament, while Mark Calcavecchia won a playoff after finishing a shot better off after 72 holes.
Six of the nine Opens have been wonder by double digit scores under par, with Henrik Stenson’s brilliant victory over Phil Mickelson on The Open’s last visit in 2016 coming with a then record-equalling Major winning score of 20 under par.
And fittingly both men grabbed a share of the course record at Royal Troon in the process, to mark their epic battle with another piece of history.
That mark was only beaten this year when Xander Schauffele went one better by winning the PGA Championship on 21 under.
And while Schauffele shot his second record-equalling round of 62, Troon has yielded two rounds of 63, the previous best round in a Major until Branden Grace re-wrote the record books with the first ever 62 at Birkdale in 2017.
Just a year earlier, both Stenson and Mickelson shot the magical 63 number in starting and ending their titanic Troon struggle for the Claret Jug.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Mickelson kicked off the tournament with his 63 in the opening round, with an 18-foot putt for a 62 just lipping out, before Stenson emerged from the battle with victory thanks to his mind-boggling 63, which naturally also equalled the course record.
Any round of 63 in a Major is incredible, but to produce one in the final round in a gripping Sunday showdown to actually win the thing makes Stenson’s one of the best rounds ever witnessed.
As well as some British and Scottish women’s amateur events, Troon hosted the AIG Women’s Open in 2020, with Sophia Popov taking the title on seven under after some tough early scoring conditions.
She didn’t take the low round honors though as 2015…
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