150th Open celebrations special event at St Andrews
150th OPEN: Friday, July 8th
British Women’s Amateur champion Jess Baker will have Open champion Collin Morikawa as a team-mate in a special Celebration of Champions event which is being held on Monday as part of The 150th Open celebrations.
The unique four-hole competition around the Old Course at St Andrews will also see Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Lee Trevino and Georgia Hall forming a team.
Morikawa will have the honour of hitting the first tee shot at 3.05pm. Partnering Baker and the 2021 Open champion will be reigning AIG Women’s Open champion Anna Nordqvist and Asia-Pacific Amateur champion and 2021 Mark McCormack Medal winner Keita Nakajima (Japan).
“It is going to be an amazing experience and the atmosphere, with it being The 150th Open, is going to be something special,” said the Gosforth Park Ladies star. “I get to play with three incredible golfers so it will be an unforgettable day.”
Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A, addedd: “We have planned a very special celebration of golf for fans to attend and I’m sure they will be excited at the prospect of watching the greatest names in golf, as well as the future stars of the sport, come together to play over the Old Course at St Andrews.
“We are deliberately inviting a field that represents the past, present and future of this game we all love and reflects our purpose to ensure that golf is seen as welcoming, accessible and can be played by anyone who wants to.
“It will be a lot of fun and we look forward to revealing the full draw on Monday before enjoying a fitting celebration of this great Championship at the home of golf.”
Three-time Open champion Woods, two-time champion Trevino and 2014 Champion McIlroy will partner Hall, who said: “It is an absolute thrill to play alongside Tiger, Rory and Lee. I think it’s fantastic that The R&A has invited champions from all levels of the sport and I’m sure that Jess and Keita will be massively excited by the prospect of teeing it up with Collin and Anna at St Andrews.”
The full draw will be announced on the morning of Monday, July 11th. The competition format will see the best two scores out of four count on each hole and the team with the lowest total over the four holes will be declared the winners.
Fans attending The 150th Open next Monday (July 11th) can look forward to watching a star-studded field of Champion Golfers, women’s Major Champions, male and female amateur champions and golfers-with-disability champions compete over the 1st, 2nd, 17th and 18th holes of the famous Old Course in celebration of the historic playing of golf’s original championship.
The R&A Celebration of Champions will be broadcast live from St Andrews via TheOpen.com and The Open’s YouTube channel.
Baker won the British Women’s Amateur Championship at Hunstanton last month.