  The Open at Muirfield in July 2013 | |
| Club information | |
|---|---|
  Location in Scotland Show map of Scotland | |
| Location | Gullane,East Lothian,Scotland |
| Established | 1744 (1891) |
| Type | Private |
| Total holes | Golf:18 |
| Events hosted | The Open Championship The Amateur Senior Open Championship |
| Website | http://muirfield.org.uk |
| Designed by | Tom Morris Sr. |
| Par | 71 |
| Length | 7,245 yards (6,625 m) |
| Course rating | 73[1] |
Muirfield is a privately ownedgolf links which is the home ofThe Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. Located inGullane,East Lothian, Scotland, overlooking theFirth of Forth, Muirfield is one of the golf courses used in rotation forThe Open Championship.
Muirfield has hosted The Open Championship sixteen times, most recently in2013 whenPhil Mickelson lifted the trophy. Other past winners at Muirfield includeErnie Els,Nick Faldo (twice),Tom Watson,Lee Trevino,Jack Nicklaus,Gary Player,Henry Cotton,Alf Perry,Walter Hagen,Harry Vardon andHarold Hilton. Muirfield has also hostedThe Amateur Championship (ten times), theRyder Cup in1973, the 1959 and 1979Walker Cup, the 1952 and 1984Curtis Cup, and many other tournaments including theWomen’s British Open.
Muirfield has an unusual layout for alinks course. Most links courses run along the coast and then back again leading to two sets of nine holes, the holes in each set facing roughly in the same direction. Muirfield, however, was among the first courses to depart from this arrangement and is arranged as two loops of nine holes, one clockwise, one anticlockwise.[2] This means that assuming the wind direction remains the same throughout a round, virtually every hole on the course has a different apparent wind direction from the tee. No more than three consecutive holes follow the same direction at any stage. The course borders on Archerfield Wood, which features in "The Pavilion on the Links", the short story byRobert Louis Stevenson.
Jack Nicklaus won three Open Championships, the first at Muirfield in1966, which completed the first of his three careergrand slams. Nicklaus has described Muirfield as "the best golf course in Britain."[3] He later developed a championship golf course and community inDublin, Ohio, a suburb north of his hometown ofColumbus. Opened in 1974, Nicklaus named itMuirfield Village; it has hosted hisMemorial Tournament, a top invitational event on thePGA Tour since1976.
Muirfield has halted two post-war attempts at thegrand slam, denying the third major of the year to winners of the first two, theMasters andU.S. Open. Nicklaus was runner-up by a stroke in1972 to Trevino, andTiger Woods ran intogale-force winds and rain in the third round in2002 and shot an 81; he rebounded with a 65 on Sunday to finish at even-par, six strokes out of the playoff in a tie for 28th place.
The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, now based at Muirfield, holds the claim of being the oldest verifiable organised golf club in the world, although the game of golf is several centuries older. The club's records date continuously back to 1744, when it produced thirteen "Rules of Golf" for its first competition which was played atLeith Links for the "Silver Club".[4] This trophy had been requested by the HCEG from the City of Edinburgh Council, which agreed.[5] The first competition was won byJohn Rattray, who signed the rules and became the first club captain.[6] The club played on the five holes at Leith Links for nearly a century, but overcrowding forced a move in 1836 toMusselburgh Old Course's 9-hole Old Course which, like many prestigious Scottish courses includingSt Andrews, is a public course, and this course also eventually became too crowded for the liking of the HCEG's members.
In 1795 the Club applied to the Edinburgh Council for a Charter. This was granted on 26 March 1800 together with a Seal of Cause under the new title of 'The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers'.[7]
In 1891, the club built a new private 18-hole course at Muirfield, taking theOpen Championship with them. This situation caused some ill feeling at Musselburgh, which lost the right to hold the Open from that point forward.Old Tom Morris designed the new course, which met with wide approval from the start; it has been modified and updated several times since, in significant ways up to the late 1920s, after which it has remained stable.[8] The first Open held on the new course in 1892 was the first tournament anywhere contested over four rounds, or 72 holes.[9]
Until 2017, women were barred from holding membership of the Company, though were permitted to play the course as guests or visitors.[10][11] The exclusion of women from membership was controversial. After a May 2016 vote on the policy reached a majority, but not the two-thirdssupermajority required for change, the R&A removed Muirfield from the rotation of Open venues.[12] Speaking shortly after the announcement, secretary Stuart McEwen said the outcome was 'a blow to the club, the local community and Scotland'.[13]
The public backlash led Muirfield to re-ballot on the issue.[14] In March 2017 the club voted to admit women as members for the first time in its history.[15] In August 2022 Muirfield hosted theWomen's British Open for the first time.[16]
The course has been extended by 211 yards (193 m) since the 2002 Championship to 7,245 yards (6,625 m).[17]
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yards | 450 | 367 | 379 | 229 | 561 | 469 | 187 | 445 | 558 | 3,645 | 472 | 389 | 382 | 193 | 478 | 447 | 188 | 578 | 473 | 3,600 | 7,245 |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 36 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 35 | 71 |
Lengths of the course for Opens since 1950:[18][19]
The Open Championship was first held at Muirfield in 1892 and has hosted 16 times, the last in2013.
| Year | Winner | Score | Winner's share (£) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total | |||
| 1892 |  Harold Hilton (a)1st | 78 | 81 | 72 | 74 | 305 | (am) |
| 1896 |  Harry Vardon1st | 83 | 78 | 78 | 77 | 316PO | 30 |
| 1901 |  James Braid1st | 79 | 76 | 74 | 80 | 309 | 30 |
| 1906 | James Braid3rd | 77 | 76 | 74 | 73 | 300 | 30 |
| 1912 | Ted Ray | 71 | 73 | 76 | 75 | 295 | 50 |
| 1929 |  Walter Hagen4th | 75 | 67 | 75 | 75 | 292 (+12) | 100 |
| 1935 | Alf Perry | 69 | 75 | 67 | 72 | 283 (−5) | 100 |
| 1948 | Henry Cotton3rd | 71 | 66 | 75 | 72 | 284 (E) | 150 |
| 1959 |  Gary Player1st | 75 | 71 | 70 | 68 | 284 (−4) | 1,000 |
| 1966 |  Jack Nicklaus1st | 70 | 67 | 75 | 70 | 282 (−2) | 2,100 |
| 1972 | Lee Trevino2nd | 71 | 70 | 66 | 71 | 278 (−6) | 5,500 |
| 1980 | Tom Watson3rd | 68 | 70 | 64 | 69 | 271 (−13) | 25,000 |
| 1987 | Nick Faldo1st | 68 | 69 | 71 | 71 | 279 (−5) | 75,000 |
| 1992 | Nick Faldo3rd | 66 | 64 | 69 | 73 | 272 (−12) | 95,000 |
| 2002 |  Ernie Els1st | 70 | 66 | 72 | 70 | 278 (−6)PO | 700,000 |
| 2013 | Phil Mickelson | 69 | 74 | 72 | 66 | 281 (−3) | 945,000 |
TheSenior British Open Championship was first held at Muirfield in 2007.
| Year | Winner | Score | Winner's share (£) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total | |||
| 2007 | Tom Watson3rd | 70 | 71 | 70 | 73 | 284 (E) | 157,800 |
Source:[20]
TheWomen's British Open has been held at Muirfield once:
| Year | Winner | Score | Winner's share ($) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total | |||
| 2022 | Ashleigh Buhai | 70 | 65 | 64 | 75 | 274 (−10)PO | 1,095,000 |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
