St Andrews, Scotland, 11 July 2022 – Ten teams, including the former champions of The Open and top players of women's, amateur and disabled athletes, gathered at the Old St Andrews Stadium on Monday to participate in the Celebration of Champions to kick off the 150th Edition of The Open. In the end, 64-year-old Nick Verdo reversed the time and led the four-man team to victory.
The Champions Celebration is a team exhibition event played on four holes: 1st, 2nd, 17th and 18th at the Old St. Andrews. Each team has a total of four players, and the best two strokes of the group on each hole are taken as the team score. The team with the lowest total number of four holes won the championship.
The four players in the Nick-Verdow group are John Dalí, Zach Johnson and Louis Urschur, all of whom are former champions of St Andrews. They grabbed a pair of birdies on The First and Second Holes, a tie on the 17th hole, another pair of birdies on the 18th hole, and a 6-under-par lead to win the championship.
Tiger Woods, McIlroy, along with Hall of Famer Lee Trevino and AIG Women's Open champion Georgia Hall, formed a team and the final group set off, shooting a 3-under-par and tied for second place with Davis.
Tiger Woods paired with McIlroy is always a star team that can't help but look at, and in particular, St Andrews is the stadium where Woods made miracles. He has won the title here twice, including achieving a "career grand slam" here in 2000. In order to ensure that he can devote himself to the event, Tiger Woods, who was in a car accident last year, even gave up last month's US Open.
Today's highlights included the appearance of 18-time Grand Slam champion Nicklaus on the field to accompany Woods on the final leg of the 18th hole. In 2005, when Nicklaus bid farewell to The Open and the four Grand Slams, Woods won the title for the second time at the old stadium.
The first group of kick-off players in the Championship Celebration Tournament included the tournament's defending champion Colin Morikawa and amateur world number one Keita Nakajima. They shot a 1-under-par shot and tied for fifth place.
However, neither the Woods group nor the Morikawa group were able to defeat the Fodu group in the end. Three-time champion Nick Fodo reunited with legendary female caddie Fanny Sunesson, attacking the green on the first hole and catching the birdies, opening the game for their group.
However, Woods caught a birdie on the second and 18th holes, and McIlroy caught a birdie on the last hole, which also received a round of applause.
Other categories in the Champions Celebrations are also interesting, such as Gary Player, Bob Charles, Sandy Lyle and Monique Kalkman, who together are 293 years old.
The Open is the oldest golf tournament in the world, with 150 editions this year. At such a historic moment, the tournament returned to the "home of golf" St. Andrews. The official tournament began on Thursday, and domestic fans can watch the live broadcast of the event through iQiyi, golf channels and so on.