A brief history of Opens at St Andrews

Low scoring 

St Andrews is a fascinating venue that provides both the possibility of shooting a low score and the genuine threat of a painful score, with much depending on Mother Nature.

Rory McIlroy’s 63 in the first round in 2010, followed by his second-round 80, is a prime example of such variation, and is the largest difference between two successive rounds in the history of The Open at St Andrews.

On the whole, scores have generally got lower over time at The Old Course, as they have in golf more generally. In 2015, for instance, there were more final rounds in the 60s than in the entirety of any of the first five St Andrews Opens following the Second World War.

However, nobody had ever broken 65 around The Old Course in an Open until Paul Broadhurst accomplished the feat in 1990, shooting a brilliant 63 in the third round.

Since then, only two other players have gone round in fewer than 65 strokes, the aforementioned McIlroy, in 2010, and Marc Leishman, who shot a third-round 64 in 2015.