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Royal St George’s Golf Club
Royal St George’s Golf Club The R&A hope to stage the 149th Open Championship in Sandwich in July as planned
by kent gray
oyal St George’s Golf Club holds a special place in Open Championship folklore as the first club outside Scotland to host the game’s oldest major. JH Taylor became the first English professional to win what was then the 35th Open in Sandwich in 1894, spearheading a decorated list of claret jug winners at the fabled Kent linksland including Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen, Henry Cotton, Bobby Locke, Sandy Lyle, Greg Norman and, most recently, Darren Clark in 2011. Royal St George’s is scheduled to host its 15th Open from July 16-19. In the uncertain times created by the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains to be seen if the pictured par-3 6th hole, ‘The Maiden’, is an ever popular viewing spot or if the towering dunes remain fan free. The R&A were at least forging ahead with plans to stage the 149th Open as R
we went to press despite the postponement of the 2020 Masters and U.S. PGA Championship.
“Looking to our professional events this summer, we are undertaking a comprehensive evaluation of our plans to stage The 149th Open at Royal St George’s and the AIG Women’s British Open at Royal Troon, which are four and five months away respectively,” the R&A said in a statement last month. “This includes examining a range of scenarios for staging the championships, with our focus on proceeding as planned, as well as considering other contingency options available to us.”
Added Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of the R&A: “These are difficult times but we are bearing in mind our responsibility for what’s right for golf and most importantly for society.”
