1867 / Prestwick

Old Tom Morris won a fourth Open in seven years and set a record that remains to this day. At 46 years and 102 days Morris is the oldest Champion ever. Roberto de Vicenzo in 1967 was 44 years and 92 days, the oldest Champion in modern times.

Morris had not won The Open for three years but once more it was a Morris-Park one-two with three-time Champion Willie Park Snr finishing two strokes behind. But the first round was notable for an amateur making an impact in The Open for the first time.

William Doleman scored a 55 on the 12-hole course and led by one from Bob Andrew. Morris and Park were on 58. Doleman could not keep up his challenge and finished with rounds of 66 and 57 to be sixth, eight strokes behind the Champion.

On a windy day, Morris had borrowed a black, flat-faced wooden club called a driver-putter from Colonial Fairlie, one of the men who helped organise the first few Opens and who Old Tom knew from his days as greenskeeper at Prestwick – he had by now returned to St Andrews take up a similar position.

The club helped Morris keep the ball low under the wind and a 54 in the second round put him two ahead of Park. Both the old rivals had 58s in the final round but Park missed a crucial putt at the end and Morris won by two strokes with a total of 170.

It was Old Tom’s last Open victory, although he would keep playing until 1896, but the family continued to dominate The Championship through his son, Young Tom. In his third Open, Tommy finished fourth, five shots behind his father and just behind Andrew Strath in third.