page_title: The Open Championship
section_title: American success with Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones, and the last Open at Prestwick (1920–1939)
hierarchical_section_title: The Open Championship / History / American success with Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones, and the last Open at Prestwick (1920–1939)
caption_attribution_description: Ben Hogan seated on back of car in homecoming parade on Broadway / photo by Dick DeMarsico.
context_page_description: The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club, Scotland, before evolving to being rotated between a select group of coastal links golf courses in the United Kingdom, under the authority of The R&A.
  The Open is one of the four major golf tournaments, the others being the Masters Tournament, the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open. Since the PGA Championship moved to May in 2019, the Open has been chronologically the fourth and final major tournament of the year. The tournament traditionally takes place over four days in summer, starting the day before the third Friday in July.
  It is called the Open, because it is in theory "open" to all, i.e. professional and amateur golfers. In practice, the current event is a professional tournament in which a small number of the world's leading amateurs also play, by invitation or qualification. The success of the tournament has led to many other open golf tournaments to be introduced around the world.
context_section_description: In 1920 the Open returned, and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club became the sole organiser of the Open Championship. In 1926 they standardised the format of the tournament to spread over three days (18 holes on day 1 and 2, and 36 on day 3), and include both qualifying and a cut.
  In 1921 eleven U.S.-based players travelled to Scotland financed by a popular subscription called the "British Open Championship Fund", after a campaign by the American magazine Golf Illustrated. Five of these players were actually British born, and had emigrated to America to take advantage of the high demand for club professionals as the popularity of golf grew. A match was played between the Americans and a team of British professionals, which is seen as a forerunner of the Ryder Cup. When the Open was held two weeks later, one of these visitors, Jock Hutchison, a naturalised American citizen, won in St Andrews, the town of his birth.
  In 1922 Walter Hagen won the first of his four Opens, and become the first American-born winner. The period between 1923 and 1933 saw an American-based player win every year (two were British-born), and included three wins by amateur Bobby Jones, and one by Gene Sarazen, who had already won top tournaments in the United States. English players won every year between 1934 and 1939, including two wins by Henry Cotton (he would go on to win a third in 1948).
  After overcrowding issues at the 1925 Open at Prestwick, it was decided it was no longer suitable for the growing size of the event, being too short, having too many blind shots, and it could not cope with the volume of spectators. The Open's original venue was replaced on the rota with Carnoustie, which hosted for the first time in 1931. Troon hosted for the first time in 1923, and Royal Lytham & St Annes was also added, hosting for the first time in 1926. Prince's hosted its one and only Open in 1932.
caption: Ben Hogan gets a ticker-tape parade on his return to New York City, after winning the 1953 Open Championship
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