A new exemption category has been introduced for the 2010 Open to recognize Tom Watson’s almost-win in the 2009 event.
Condition F(4) exempts from qualifying any past Open Champions who finished in the top 10 and ties in any of the previous five Open Championships, thus effectively providing them with a five-year exemption into the Championship.
“We have introduced this exemption as a direct response to seeing two of our great Open Champions, both in their 50s, challenging to win our championship these last two years,” said Peter Dawson, chief executive of The R&A, which runs the British Open.
“We rightly reduced the age of exemption for past champions from 65 to 60 two years ago and our intention was never to remove players still at the top of their game from competing in The Open.”
The change comes in reaction to past Open winner Tom Watson’s nearly mythical bid to win the 2009 British Open, which Watson, 59, lost in a playoff to Stewart Cink. Another past Open winner, Greg Norman, 53, challenged Padraig Harrington in the 2008 Open.
Additionally, another change means that competitors at The Open; International Final Qualifying – Australasia, Asia, America and Europe; and at Local Final Qualifying will be subject to the new clubface groove regulations as per Decision 4-1/1 of Decisions on the Rules of Golf.
The change brings the R&A into line with the USGA, which adopted the same prohibition against wide, sharp-edged clubface grooves for its top events starting in 2010. The two organizations jointly administer the “Rules of Golf” and conforming equipment list.
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The building, to the right of the Swilken Burn Bridge and the Old Course’s 18th fairway, was featured in the film “Chariots of Fire” and in global television coverage of tournaments played on the Old Course, which will be the venue for the 2010 British Open.
