Shane Lowry will finally defend his Open title at Royal St George’s (Brian Lawless/PA)
It is the only major which was not held in 2020, but if past tournaments at Royal St George’s are anything to go by, the 149th Open Championship should prove worth the wait.
While the Masters, US PGA, and US Open overcame the sizeable difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic by moving from their traditional places in the golfing calendar to November, August and September respectively, the Open was cancelled on April 6 last year.
R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers rightly pointed out that the Open relied on the support of the emergency services and local authorities and that it would be “unreasonable to place any additional demands on them when they have far more urgent priorities to deal with”.