British Open New Champions - The Nations With Just One Open British Open Champion

Players from 15 different countries have received the honour of being crowned the Champion Golfer of the Year during The Open's storied 163-year existence. The most champions have come from the United States, Scotland, and England, while there have also been several champions from Australia, South Africa, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and Jersey, the home of The Open's most successful player, Harry Vardon. Golf and British Open 2023 fans can buy British Open Tickets from our website.

The Claret Jug has only been lifted by seven players as the lone men from their respective countries. We examine the golfers who have made history and whose accomplishments have not been matched by those of their countrymen.

Arnaud Massy

The significance of Massy's British Open victory at Royal Liverpool in British Open 1907 only grew with time. The Frenchman was the first player from outside of continental Europe to win the British Open Championship, and it would take another 72 years for Seve Ballesteros to succeed.

Vardon, James Braid, and JH Taylor dominated the game during this time, but Massy outperformed them all sensationally to win by two strokes with a score of 312. He also participated in a play-off at Royal St. George's in 1911, but Vardon easily prevailed.

Twice, France has come agonisingly close to a second British Open championship victory. At Carnoustie in 1999, when extra holes were once again necessary, Jean van de Velde famously came up just short before falling to Paul Lawrie in a play-off, while Thomas Levet finished second to Ernie Els at Muirfield three years later.

Charles Bob

Charles became the sole Champion Golfer of New Zealand to date because to his outstanding putting performance in The 92nd British Open championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 1963. Charles defeated Phil Rodgers in the final 36-hole play-off of the Championship after both players finished at three under par, one shot ahead of Jack Nicklaus.

In the playoff, Charles had a scorching round on the greens and beat Rodgers by eight strokes. He was the first left-handed player to win The British Open in addition to becoming the first New Zealander to do it. Following suit exactly 50 years later was Phil Mickelson.

After that, Charles lost in the play-offs at Carnoustie in 1968 and again in Lytham the following year. Simon Owen and Michael Campbell have come the closest to giving New Zealand another victory since that time. At St. Andrews in 1978, Owen finished second to Nicklaus in a tie, while Campbell missed the subsequent play-off by one stroke in 1995.

Roberto De Vicenzo

Sixty years after Massy's historic victory, De Vicenzo won the 1967 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, becoming the second champion from a nation that had never won the tournament. Having placed between second and fourth in seven of his first ten games, the Argentinean had a stellar record in the Championship.

In spite of his struggles during that time, De Vicenzo finally won at Hoylake at the age of 44 by outlasting the reigning champion Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player in the final round to claim a two-stroke victory. Antonio Cerda, a De Vicenzo contemporary who finished second in 1951 and 1953 as part of a streak of seven straight top-10 results, too came near to winning the Claret Jug.

Andres Romero surged into the lead with an incredible final-round performance at Carnoustie in 2007, only to miss out on a play-off by a stroke due to a double-bogey, bogey finish. Jose Jurado, another Argentina, finished second in 1931. The 151st British Open Championship fans can buy British Open 2023 Tickets from our website.

Ballesteros, Seve

There has never been a lack of elite athletes in Spain. Jose Maria Olazabal and two-time British Open championship runner-up Sergio Garcia have both won the Masters, Miguel Angel Jimenez has finished in the top four of three majors and has won 21 European Tour championships, and many believe that Jon Rahm will win one of the biggest prizes in the game sooner rather than later given his exceptional talent.

But for now at least, the legendary Ballesteros is still the lone British Open champion in the nation.

Ballesteros won the Claret Jug three times, twice at Lytham in 1979 and 1988, and once at St. Andrews in 1984, which featured one of the most famous victories in golfing history when Seve celebrated by punching the air in excitement after birdying the 18th.

At the age of 22, he achieved his first victory at Lytham; astonishingly, three years earlier, he had shared second place at Royal Birkdale. By the time he returned to the north-west coast of England to win his third British Open championship, he had already cemented his reputation as one of the greatest and most flamboyant golfers in history.

Nick Price

Nick Price, who had also been in a tie for second place in 1982 and was one shot behind five-time champion Tom Watson, finished second to Ballesteros in 1988. The Zimbabwean won the Claret Jug at The 123rd Open Championship in 1994 in surprising fashion after twice coming so close to victory.

Jesper Parnevik appeared to be in control at Turnberry, but the Swede was shockingly defeated when he bogeyed the last hole and Price followed up a birdie at 16 with an incredible eagle. Price won the US PGA Championship at Southern Hills a month after winning his second major championship, as if that weren't enough.

Henrik Stenson

After watching as Parnevik came agonisingly close to winning Sweden's first major championship, Stenson finished second to Phil Mickelson in The 142nd British Open at Muirfield in 2013.

Three years later, the roles were turned as Stenson triumphed at Royal Troon, winning by three strokes with a record total of 20 under par after he and Mickelson had both performed admirably in a contest reminiscent of Watson and Nicklaus' infamous Duel in the Sun.

Mickelson's 66 on the last day was excellent, but Stenson's exquisite 63 tied the greatest score in The Open Championship history at the time and gave a nation that has produced many excellent players its first major.

Francesco Molinari

Tiger Woods, the reigning three-time Champion Golfer of the Year, was undoubtedly the centre of attention at Carnoustie in 2018 as he came into serious contention for his first major victory in ten years.

On Sunday, Woods briefly held the lead, but in the end, it was his playing companion, Molinari, who stood out as the field's best player thanks to an outstanding performance under duress.

While some of his competitors stumbled due to the difficult circumstances, Molinari pulled off 13 consecutive pars before kicking for the hole-in-one with birdies at 14 and 18. He finished two shots ahead of Woods, Kevin Kisner, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, and Xander Schauffele.

The closest Italy has been to winning the British Open before Molinari's triumph was in 1995 at St. Andrews, when Costantino Rocca holed a spectacular long putt to force a play-off with John Daly, but the American won.

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