Royal Lytham and St Annes Golf Course, Lancashire

Lancashire golf course Royal Lytham and St Annes.

A justly famous links course that was laid out in 1897 and first held the Open in 1926 - the year the course was granted "Royal" status. The Open has been held at Royal Lytham nine times and surprisingly enough there had never been a professional American winner until 1996, when Tom Lehman won the title with a record low score for the course.

The great Bobby Jones won the second of his British Grand Slam titles here in 1926. It was at the 17th that Jones played a miraculous shot from scrub on the right of the fairway to within feet of the pin. The shot destroyed the hopes of Al Watrous who, when he saw it, said, "There goes $100,000".

Bobby Locke of South Africa won here in 1952, Peter Thomson in 1958, Bob Charles from New Zealand in 1963, and Tony Jacklin became the first British player to win for 18 years in 1969. The other winners were Gary Player in 1974 and Severiano Ballesteros in 1979 and 1988.

Royal St George's, England

England golf course Royal St George's, Sandwich, Kent.

The best-known course in the south of England, Royal St George's was once more host to the Open Championship in 1981, when it was won by Bill Rogers. Sandy Lyle won here in 1985.

The Open was also held here in 1993 when Greg Norman won with the lowest score ever recorded in the Open, 267, which gave lie to the claim that St George's was the most difficult of all the Open courses. There has been a slight sense of anti­climax over the Opens held here since the War. It was at Royal St George's that Henry Cotton went round in 65 in the second round of the 1934 Open, which was commemorated by Dunlop with the Dunlop 65 ball. Tony Jacklin also accomplished the first televised hole-in-one at the short 16th.

Harry Bradshaw, leading the field at the Open at Royal St George's in 1949, found his ball lying in a broken beer bottle at the back of the 5th green. He elected to play it and, although he smashed the ball out of the bottle, he took a 6. This misfortune meant that he tied the tournament with Bobby Locke and then lost the play-off.