2013 Open Championship to take place at Muirfield
It was announced that the 2013 Open Championship will be played at Muirfield. Muirfield has the honour of holding the first ever Open Championship that was played on a four rounds format, back in 1892.
Last time, it was in 2002, when Ernie Els emerged victorious, that the Open Championship was held at Muirfield. Muirfield is a private golf course, owned by The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers.
The golf course was designed by Old Tom Morris, who himself was a professional golfer and a three-time winner of the Open Championship. However, back then the tournaments were not a four-round event.
Muirfield has so far hosted fifteen Open Championships and it is one of the toughest courses around the world. Just like all other Open Championship golf courses, this one is a links course too.
Links are the oldest type of golf courses and they are generally located near to the coast. Links courses are very distinct from other courses.
Firstly, they are the toughest because of the different directions of the wind and secondly, there are bunkers all around, which make it harder to place the ball correctly.
This golf course has defined champions, legends have come here and won. The likes of Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, Gary Player and James Braid, all have been victorious at this historical place.
Jack Nicklaus absolutely loved to play here, he said, “What you see is what you get”.
The course’s length is 7,034 yards with 71 par score. It is a general consensus that Muirfield is the toughest of the all Open courses.
The course is designed in a way that almost after every three holes, the direction of the wind changes. It is very difficult to cope with changes at this place, as the wind speed and bunkers affect the game tremendously.
Probably the best performance given at this course was by Nick Faldo back in 1987. The Englishman shot par on all the holes in terrible conditions. The conditions were such that golf was almost impossible to play, there were extremely high speed winds blowing
from every direction.
Apart from the Open Championship, this course has also hosted the Amateur Championship and the Senior British Open.
The course at Muirfield is a true test for a golfer.
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