by Jeff Skinner
You may think you know your Open Championship history. Facts like Harry Vardon having won six Opens and Willie Park winning the first in 1860 (not Old Tom Morris) should be common knowledge to any Open aficionado but do you know Royal Liverpool?
James Corrigan of The Telegraph gives us a look at some surprising facts about the course they call Hoylake. Click here for 10 Things You Did Not Know About Hoylake.
It was Hoylake that witnessed one of the major changes in technology in 1902. Hoylake essentially witnessed the beginning of the end for the traditional gutta-percha ball when in 1902 the Scot Sandy Herd became the first Open champion to use the new rubber-cored Haskell ball. Herd played with a Haskell in a practice round, could not believe how far it went and went to the club shop to purchase the entire stock – which amounted to four balls.
We know that Bobby Jones won The Open at Hoylake during his run to the Grand Slam but it may be here that Jones got the idea for the famous Masters Green Jacket.
Some historians believe that Bobby Jones, the founder of Augusta who won the Open at Hoylake in 1930, got the idea for the Masters’ Green Jacket from a member he sat next to at a dinner named Kenneth Stoker, who wore a red jacket with dark green lapels that identified him as a captain or past captain. Stoker offered to give it to him if he won that week. It is not known whether he obliged.
Click here for Corrigan’s article.
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