Why is The Open Championship not called British Open anymore? Story behind name explored

The month of July will bring about the 152nd edition of The Open Championship. This year's edition of the Major will begin on July 18 and conclude on July 21. The tournament will be played at the Royal Troon Golf Club which is located in the United Kingdom.

While there is a lot of anticipation about The Open Championship, there are also questions about why the tournament is not called the British Open anymore. Earlier, people would often refer to the event as the British Open. As per the official website, the reason dates back to the first Open Championship played in 1860.

At the time, there was no US Open, French Open, or any other Open. These Opens only came into existence once golf grew in stature and became increasingly mainstream. In response to these Opens which were defined by nationality, the governing body of The Open, R&A, was clear with their stance.

Their stance was that the event would always remain The Open Championship. After the first Open, the host club Prestwick made an announcement that the tournament would be 'open to the world'. Over the many decades of the tournament, it has never been referred to as the British Open in official documentation.

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A look at the field for The Open Championship 2024

As of Friday, July 12th, 2024, here is the current look at the field for The Open Championship 2024:

• Ludvig Aberg
• Byeong Hun An
• Abraham Ancer
• Mason Andersen
• Christiaan Bezuidenhout
• Akshay Bhatia
• Alexander Bjork
• Denwit Boriboonsub
• Dan Bradbury
• Keegan Bradley
• Daniel Brown
• Dean Burmester
• Sam Burns
• Jorge Campillo
• Laurie Canter
• Patrick Cantlay
• John Catlin
• Alex Cejka
• Stewart Cink
• Wyndham Clark
• Darren Clarke
• Dominic Clemons (a)
• Eric Cole
• Corey Conners
• Sean Crocker
• John Daly
• Jason Day
• Santiago de la Fuente (a)
• Joe Dean
• Bryson DeChambeau
• Matthew Dodd-Berry (a)
• David Duval
• Austin Eckroat
• Ernie Els
• Nacho Elvira
• Harris English
• Ewen Ferguson
• Jaime Montojo Fernandez (a)
• Darren Fichardt
• Tony Finau
• Matt Fitzpatrick
• Tommy Fleetwood
• Rickie Fowler
• Ryan Fox
• Lucas Glover
• Ben Griffin
• Emiliano Grillo
• Adam Hadwin
• Todd Hamilton
• Brian Harman
• Padraig Harrington
• Tyrrell Hatton
• Michael Hendry
• Russell Henley
• Angel Hidalgo
• Daniel Hillier
• Ryo Hisatsune
• Tom Hoge
• Nicolai Hojgaard
• Rasmus Hojgaard
• Max Homa
• Billy Horschel
• Sam Horsfield
• Rikuya Hoshino
• Viktor Hovland
• Mackenzie Hughes
• Sam Hutsby
• Sungjae Im
• Aguri Iwasaki
• Stephan Jaeger
• Dustin Johnson
• Zach Johnson
• Matthew Jordan
• Masahiro Kawamura
• Yuto Katsuragawa
• Tom Kim
• Si Woo Kim
• Minkyu Kim
• Ryosuke Kinoshita
• Chris Kirk
• Kurt Kitayama
• Kazuma Kobori
• Brooks Koepka
• Gun-Taek Koh
• Romain Langasque
• Thriston Lawrence
• Min Woo Lee
• Justin Leonard
• Charlie Lindh
• Shane Lowry
• Joost Luiten
• Robert MacIntyre
• Matteo Manassero
• Luis Masaveu (a)
• Hideki Matsuyama
• Denny McCarthy
• Jack McDonald
• Rory McIlroy
• Tom McKibbin
• Maverick McNealy
• Adrian Meronk
• Phil Mickelson
• Guido Migliozzi
• Francesco Molinari
• Taylor Moore
• Collin Morikawa
• Keita Nakajima
• Joaquin Niemann
• Liam Nolan (a)
• Vincent Norrman
• Andy Ogletree
• Thorbjorn Olesen
• Jacob Skov Olesen (a)
• Louis Oosthuizen
• C.T. Pan
• Yannik Paul
• Matthieu Pavon
• Victor Perez
• .J.T. Poston
• David Puig
• Jon Rahm
• Justin Rose
• Gordon Sargent (a)
• Xander Schauffele
• Scottie Scheffler
• Adam Schenk
• Adam Scott
• Shubhankar Sharma
• Marcel Siem
• Jordan Smith
• Cameron Smith
• Elvis Smylie
• Sebastian Soderberg
• Younghan Song
• Matthew Southgate
• Jordan Spieth
• Henrik Stenson
• Sepp Straka
• Jasper Stubbs (a)
• Jesper Svensson
• Nick Taylor
• Sahith Theegala
• Justin Thomas
• Davis Thompson
• Brendon Todd
• Sami Valimaki
• Altin van der Merwe (a)
• Ryan Van Velzen
• Matt Wallace
• Jeung-Hun Wang
• Gary Woodland
• Tiger Woods
• Cameron Young
• Will Zalatoris