Australia’s five-time Open Championship winner Peter Thomson will join some of the all-time greats of the game in an historic four-hole challenge during this year’s Championship at St Andrews in three weeks.
The ceremonial occasion will mark the 60th anniversary of Thomson’s victory in the Open at St Andrews in 1955, and also is to pay tribute to the late Kel Nagle, the Australian who won the centenary Open in 1960 at St Andrews.
Nagle died in January in Sydney, aged 94.
Melburnian Thomson, now 85, won the Open in 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958 and 1965, and was one of Nagle’s closest friends.
Another five-time Open winner, Tom Watson, will compete in the Champion Golfers’ Challenge alongside the defending champion, Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, on the day before the tournament begins, and a host of former champions.
Others teeing it up include Gary Player, Sir Nick Faldo, Tiger Woods, Bob Charles, Tony Jacklin, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington.
South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen has confirmed, along with Stewart Cink, David Duval, Paul Lawrie, Mark O’ Meara, Justin Leonard, John Daly and Sandy Lyle.
Peter Dawson, chief executive of The R&A, said: “We are looking forward to a wonderful celebration of the rich heritage of The Open at the Champion Golfers’ Challenge in St Andrews. As golf fans, we all have cherished memories of watching these great players competing over the years and the excitement of seeing such inspirational competitors winning The Open. It will also be a fitting occasion to recognise the wonderful career of Kel Nagle, one of the sport’s great gentlemen, who is sadly no longer with us.”
The four-hole challenge will see groups of three or four play the first, second, 17th and 18th holes of the Old Course, competing for a prize of 50,000 pounds, which will go to a charity of the winning team’s choice. The best individual score per team on each hole will count as the team score.