In total, 156 players will tee it up in the fourth Major of the year, The Open, with Royal Troon hosting in 2024. Among them are amateurs and professionals from circuits around the world, including LIV Golf.
However, even though we’ll see the likes of Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson compete for the famous Claret Jug, only a select few LIV golfers have won it.
Three of the players have been with LIV Golf since its inception, while another joined shortly after claiming his maiden Open title. Here are the details.
Louis Oosthuizen – 2010
Long before LIV Golf emerged to thoroughly disrupt the men’s elite game, Oosthuizen became the fourth South African to claim the title in the 2010 edition at the Old Course, St Andrews. However, there weren't great expectations he would be anywhere close to the top of the leaderboard before the action began.
That’s because up until that point, he had only made one cut in eight previous Major appearances, a hardly noteworthy T73 at the 2008 PGA Championship.
A seven-under first round of 65 left in just two behind leader Rory McIlroy, though, and by Friday evening he had opened up an incredible five-shot lead over Mark Calcavecchia after handling windy conditions better than most with a 67.
Moving Day then lived up to its name, with Calcavecchia dropping out of contention and the likes of Martin Kaymer coming into it, but not where the leader was concerned after a 69 gave Oosthuizen a four-shot advantage with one round to play.
Despite Oosthuizen’s sequence of rounds two shots worse than the day before continuing with a final effort of 71, he ultimately closed out one of the larger margins of victory in a Major, by seven shots over closest competitor Lee Westwood.
Phil Mickelson – 2013
In June 2013 Mickelson suffered US Open agony yet again after finishing runner-up for the sixth time, but a month later he put that disappointment firmly behind him when he claimed his first Open title at Muirfield.
The signs had been there that this could be the year for his maiden Open title with victory at the Scottish Open a week earlier, and so it proved.
Despite finishing his opening round at the Major with a bogey, Mickelson would have been content with his place on the leaderboard after the first round, in T9 and three short of overnight leader Zach Johnson.
Friday wasn’t quite as solid as Mickelson shot a 74 to leave him four behind leader Miguel Angel Jiminez, and, even though he improved on Saturday with a 72, by the close of play, he was five behind leader Lee Westwood with one round to play.
It all turned around for him on Sunday. After a highly encouraging 34 on the front nine, Mickelson did even better on the back nine with a 32 including birdies on four of his last six holes for a 66 that sent him back to the clubhouse with a three-shot lead. That’s how it ended after one of his greatest ever rounds.
Mickelson had finally got his hands on the Claret Jug. with the man who would beat him three years later in second...
Henrik Stenson – 2016
By the time the 2016 Open at Royal Troon came around, Stenson had been close several times at the championship. A T3 in 2008 was followed by an identical finish in 2010. He got closest of all in 2013, but had to settle for runner-up to Mickelson.
Stenson and Mickelson were the last pair to go out in the final round three years later after the Swede carded rounds of 68, 65 and 68 to hold a one-shot lead over the American. Then, a classic unfolded.
Stenson briefly gave Mickelson a one-shot lead before recovering his advantage at the turn. The pair were tied again after the 11th, before three birdies in a row gave Stenson the breathing space of a two-shot lead. Another birdie on the 18th saw Stenson tie the record for low score at a Major, while Mickelson, who fought hard the whole way with his 65, missed out by three.
Mickelson in 2nd-place incredibly finished 11-strokes ahead of the third-placed JB Holmes.
Cameron Smith – 2022
Smith was already having an excellent season before his maiden Open triumph, including winning The Players Championship and finishing T3 at The Masters, marking him out as one of the hottest properties in the game.
By the time the 150th Open at St Andrews came around, rumors were already circulating that Smith was in LIV Golf’s sights as a potential signing.
If the speculation was getting to the Australian, he didn’t show it as he put in a confident performance in the first round to sit top of the overnight leaderboard with a two-shot advantage over Rory McIlroy.
At the end of Friday, his lead was the same, this time over Cameron Young, as a 64 gave him the lowest 36-hole score in Open history, with 131. Then, he blinked, with a 73 in the third round, which left him four behind McIlroy and Viktor Hovland with one round to play.
With the script seemingly written for McIlroy to claim his fifth Major and first in eight years in the 150th Open at the Home of Golf, Smith rewrote it.
He reeled off five successive birdies on the back nine and showed typically assured putting to win the title, leaving Young a shot behind, McIlroy, who only made two birdies all day, two back, and Hovland six adrift in a tie for fourth with Viktor Hovland.
In his press conference afterwards, Smith took issue with questions on the subject of the LIV Golf speculation. However, just over a month later, the news was confirmed.
