Royal St George's Golf Club

Royal St George's Golf Club
	Clubhouse in 2007
	Map showing the location of Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent, England
	Interactive map of Royal St George's Golf Club
Club information
Location	Sandwich, Kent, England
Established	1887
Type	Private
Total holes	18
Events hosted	The Open Championship (15 times); Dunlop Masters (1967); British PGA Championship (5 times (1975, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1983))
Website	royalstgeorges.com
Designed by	Laidlaw Purves
Par	70
Length	7,204 yards (6,587 m)

The Royal St George's Golf Club is a golf club located in Sandwich, Kent, England. It is one of the courses on The Open Championship rota, and the only one in South East England. The club has hosted 15 Open championships, the first in 1894 when it became the first club outside Scotland to host the championship. Past champions include Collin Morikawa, Darren Clarke, Ben Curtis, Greg Norman, Sandy Lyle, Bill Rogers, Bobby Locke, Reg Whitcombe, Henry Cotton, Walter Hagen (on two occasions), Harry Vardon (on two occasions), Jack White and John Henry Taylor. In 2021, Royal St. George's saw Collin Morikawa win The Open Championship. It has also hosted The Amateur Championship 14 times.

History

The club was founded by the surgeon Laidlaw Purves in 1887 in a setting of wild duneland. Laidlaw Purves and his brother, Alexander Pattison Purves WS, stood at the top of the tower of St Clement's Church to survey the surrounding countryside. "By George, what a place for a golf course' was exclaimed by Doctor Purves.^[2] Whilst some believe the club's name was decided beforehand by the doctor's remark at St. Clement's, nevertheless, holding England's patron saint at the forefront of the club implicated 'a promise of national distinction'.^[3] It was only in 1902 that St George's became Royal St Georges, becoming the 31st golf club granted royal status in the world. Doctor Purves was adamant to create and present the ethos and traditions that are held at St. Andrews Golf Club, however in the South of England. Many holes feature blind or partially blind shots, although this element has been reduced somewhat, after several 20th century modifications. The course also possesses the deepest bunker in championship golf, located on its fourth hole.^[4]

Author Ian Fleming used the Royal St George's course under the name "Royal St. Marks" in his 1959 novel Goldfinger. In 1964, Fleming was elected Captain by his predecessor Eric Pemberton. The following day, Fleming died of a heart attack at a hospital in Canterbury.

Competitions

Challenge Cup

The club's Challenge Cup dates from 1888 and is one of the oldest amateur events in golf. It has been contested annually over 36 holes except during the war years. A 19-year-old Jack Nicklaus won the tournament in 1959 shortly before going on to win the first of his two U.S. Amateur titles.^[5]

Halford Hewitt

After being founded in 1924, The Halford Hewitt, a foursomes knockout match, was originally played at Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club. In 1950, the competition, due to increased capacity, expanded its first two out of ten rounds to The Royal St George's Golf Club, and has since then been the case.

The Open Championship

Royal St George's has hosted The Open Championship on 15 occasions since 1894. This was the first time the event had been held outside Scotland. Due to Sandwich's medieval styled architecture and roads, traffic became increasingly difficult to manage, and the club would not see another Open Championship for more than 30 years after Bobby Locke's win in 1949. Along with traffic capabilities, Royal St George's was redeemed as inappropriate test for a modern professional.^[6]

Year	Winner	Score					Winners share (£)
Year	Winner	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Winners share (£)
1894	J.H. Taylor ^1st	84	80	81	81	326	30
1899	Harry Vardon ^3rd	76	76	81	77	310	30
1904	Jack White	80	75	72	69	296	50
1911	Harry Vardon ^5th	74	74	75	80	303 ^PO	50
1922	Walter Hagen ^1st	76	73	79	72	300	75
1928	Walter Hagen ^3rd	75	73	72	72	292	100
1934	Henry Cotton ^1st	67	65	72	79	283	100
1938	Reg Whitcombe	71	71	75	78	295	100
1949	Bobby Locke ^1st	69	76	68	70	283 (−5)	300
1981	Bill Rogers	72	66	67	71	276 (−4)	25,000
1985	Sandy Lyle	68	71	73	70	282 (+2)	65,000
1993	Greg Norman ^2nd	66	68	69	64	267 (−13)	100,000
2003	Ben Curtis	72	72	70	69	283 (−1)	700,000
2011	Darren Clarke	68	68	69	70	275 (−5)	900,000
2021	Collin Morikawa	67	64	68	66	265 (−15)	$2,070,000

Note: For multiple winners of The Open Championship, superscript ordinal identifies which in their respective careers.

Scorecard

Royal St. George's Golf Club^[1]
Tee	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Championship	442	426	239	496	416	176	573	457	410	3635	412	242	379	457	545	493	161	424	456	3569	7204
Par	4	4	3	4	4	3	5	4	4	35	4	3	4	4	5	4	3	4	4	35	70
Medal	411	385	195	415	416	152	490	419	373	3256	371	215	361	442	533	436	161	418	437	3374	6630
Weekday	399	350	180	412	406	142	464	395	366	3114	351	202	340	420	507	435	150	392	429	3226	6340
SI	10	6	16	2	8	18	14	4	12		9	7	15	3	13	1	17	5	11

References

1 2 "Scorecard". Royal St. George's Golf Club. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
↑ Furber, F R (1996). A Course for Heroes. The Royal St. George's Golf Club. p. 15.
↑ Furber, F R (1996). A Course for Heroes: A History of The Royal St. George's Golf Club. The Royal St. George's Golf Club. p. 17.
↑ The World Atlas of Golf, second, revised edition, by Herbert Warren Wind, Charles Price, and Peter Thomson, London 1988, Mitchell Beazley publishers.
↑ "Royal St George's Golf Club, Sandwich, Facts and Figures, Golf Today, 2011".
↑ Edmund, Nick (1997). The Strokesaver Guide to the Classic Courses of Great Britain & Ireland. Little, Brown & Company. pp. 141–145. ISBN 9780316853897.

External links

51°16′26″N 1°22′01″E / 51.274°N 1.367°E / 51.274; 1.367

[scorecard-1] 1 2 "Scorecard". Royal St. George's Golf Club. Retrieved 16 June 2012.

[2] Furber, F R (1996). A Course for Heroes. The Royal St. George's Golf Club. p. 15.

[3] Furber, F R (1996). A Course for Heroes: A History of The Royal St. George's Golf Club. The Royal St. George's Golf Club. p. 17.

[4] The World Atlas of Golf, second, revised edition, by Herbert Warren Wind, Charles Price, and Peter Thomson, London 1988, Mitchell Beazley publishers.

[5] "Royal St George's Golf Club, Sandwich, Facts and Figures, Golf Today, 2011".

[6] Edmund, Nick (1997). The Strokesaver Guide to the Classic Courses of Great Britain & Ireland. Little, Brown & Company. pp. 141–145. ISBN 9780316853897.

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