THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP - Royal Troon named as host venue for 2016

The R & A have annonced that the 2016 Open Golf Championship will be hosted by Royal Troon Golf Club, ending months of speculation locally about a return to Troon for golf's oldest major championship.

The return of the championship to Troon comes 12 years after the last time The Open was played there, when Tod Hamilton beat Ernie Els in a play off to win the Claret Jug in 2004.

2016 will be the ninth time that the Open Championship will have been played over the old course at Troon, and on the last six occassions the winner has hailed from the United States of America.

The previous winners at Troon were :-

1923 - Arthur Havers (GB)
1950 - Bobby Locke (South Africa)
1962 - Arnold Palmer (USA)
1973 - Tom Weiskopf (USA)
1982 - Tom Watson (USA)
1989 - Mark Calcaveccia (USA)
1997 - Justin Leonard (USA)
2004 - Tod Hamilton (USA)

With this announcement, The Open will be now be held in Scotland three times in four years, beginning with Muirfield in 2013, St Andrews in 2015 and Royal Troon in 2016.