Andrew and his brother Chris, as part of their Scotland Golf trip, attended the 150th Open Championship at the Old Course at St. Andrews. Read about their experience at the tournament including getting there, the food, merchandise, and the reality that they were actually at the home of golf. While Andrew will be providing some information on the tournament, he will let the pictures tell most of the story.
How Did We Get Tickets to the Open Championship?
The short answer to “how were we lucky enough to get tickets to the 150th Open at St. Andrews” is pure luck. Chris and I entered into a lottery late summer of 2021 that, if selected, would give us the chance to purchase Open Championship tickets. When we entered the lottery, we had to choose which days we wanted to go and how many tickets we wanted. Luckily, Chris was chosen, so we purchased tickets for the practice round on Tuesday. Also, the price was very reasonable at £55 ($62 at the time) per ticket.
Getting There
St. Andrew’s is normally a small town but the week of the Open Championship, it becomes the 3rd largest city by population in Scotland. Because of this, getting to the Championship means parking outside of town and taking a bus to the course. We were staying in Edinburgh so the drive was around an hour from our hotel to the satellite parking just south of St. Andrews. There were temporary road signs beginning just as we crossed the river north of Edinburgh guiding us all the way to parking. The bus ride from the parking lot to the golf course was about 10 minutes, dropping us off at the entrance to the Spectators Pavilion.
You can see the Old Course from the parking lot.
The Old Course
As someone who has played golfed since I was 13, finally getting the chance to be at St. Andrews is something I thought I would never get to do. There were quite a few times throughout the day that I couldn’t believe I was actually at the Old Course.
So What’s the Big Deal with St. Andrews?
St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and St Andrews is the Home of Golf, having been played at St Andrews Links for 600 years. In 1552, Archbishop Hamilton’s Charter recognized the right of the people of St Andrews to play golf at the Links. It has the oldest course in the world, the Old Course.
We were there!
Driving Range
Cool addition to the stands.
Swilcan Bridge
Merchandise
There was no shortage of tournament swag to be had in the Open Championship Merchandise shop. Including shopping for those at home with wish lists, I still didn’t do too much damage. I was even able to get Julie a nice polo.
Merchandise Tent at the Open Championship
Food
There were plenty of options when it came to getting food at the Open and everything we ate was quite good. In the Spectator Village, there was just about anything you could want. Multiple food booths were located throughout the course along with a larger food pavilion towards the back of the course.
Players
Of course we were able to see just about every one of our favorite golfers. It was a little tricky trying to find everyone since we attended a practice round and we learned that most golfers only play nine holes each day earlier in the week.
Justin Thomas
Tony Finau
Phil Mickelson
Jordan Spieth
Jon Rahm and Padraig Harrington
Tiger Woods
Final Thoughts
Like I mentioned above, there were times when I stopped, looked around, and couldn’t believe I was actually at St. Andrews. This truly was the trip of a lifetime and an amazing way to cap off an incredible week in Scotland.
We got the opportunity to play Bay Hill Golf Club thanks to winning a charity auction a few months back. Here are our thoughts on playing a course where some of the best to ever play the game have competed and won.