Waiting is almost over for 150th Open Championship

J.T. Poston, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Emiliano Grillo qualified for The Open fro the John Deere Classic. Pic by Meg McLaughlin/R&A/R&A via Getty Images

Golf fans will arrive from across the globe to north east Fife as the home of the game holds the 150th Open Championship.

At Prestwick in 1860 the likes of Willie Park Snr and Old Tom Morris were part of a field of just eight players teeing off for the first Open, played over three rounds of the 12 hole course.

Since then it’s grown into not only golf’s most famous tournament, but one of sport’s.

St Andrews has been preparing for the tournament for months and now it’s almost time for the talking to stop and the golf to start.

The 150th Open at St Andrews will be the largest in the championship’s long history with a record-breaking 290,000 fans set to attend the Old Course from July 10-17.

There, they will watch on as the likes of Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy aim to wrestle the famous claret jug away from last year’s winner, Collin Morikawa.

The entry list is almost set, but there remains a few places open for qualification at the time of writing.

Fife has no representation at its own Open but aiming to change that is Drumoig’s Connor Syme.

Syme was handed an invitation to this week’s Genesis Scottish Open, the 15th event in The Open qualifying series, being played at The Renaissance Club.

The leading three players who finish in the top ten and ties at the Genesis Scottish Open, who are not already exempt, will earn places in The 150th Open.

The Barbasol Championship is the final event in the series and has one place up for grabs.

Last week JT Poston’s win at the John Deere Classic saw him book his place at The Open. Following his win, he said: “My game is in a great spot and to get it done wire to wire is special.

"And to punch my ticket to St Andrews… it is a championship I have never played in and one that I always wanted to play. For my first one to be in St Andrews is pretty special.”

Poston qualified along with Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Emiliano Grillo from the John Deere with John Catlin, Fabrizio Zanotti and David Law securing their places through last week’s Horizon Irish Open.