British Open 2011: Is Open Championship Golf's Forgotten Major?

Is the British Open the most forgotten major?

Well, that depends on who you ask. To an American, the answer is probably yes. To anyone else, it's probably a no. That "honor" would probably go to the PGA Championship.

The British Open is somewhat forgotten in the U.S. because, frankly, it's not that easy to follow. True golf fans will follow it, but a casual golf fan is simply not going to get up at four in the morning to watch a golf tournament.

I live in California, and it's even more awkward for us on the West Coast to follow it. The coverage starts at 1:00 a.m. here, which means we either have to get up extremely early or stay up extremely late.

For the rest of the world, the American majors present similar obstacles. Welcome to the world of time zones.

For golf fans, the British Open is not forgotten. It's still more difficult to follow, though, and I would imagine less of it gets watched by American golf fans than any other major, but that doesn't make it forgotten.

It's golf's oldest major championship, and that does carry a lot of weight with golf fans. More than any other sport, golf does honor its history, so when you're watching a tournament that's literally 35 years older than the next-oldest major, it really does give goose bumps.

For the record, the U.S. Open is the second-oldest major. The inaugural U.S. Open was played in 1895, so it's not exactly new.

If you're a baseball fan, think about the reverence that many fans have towards places like Fenway Park or Wrigley Field. There are certainly better places to watch a game, but none quite give the feeling that the two oldest stadiums give fans.

That's kind of what the British Open represents to a golf fan.

For one, no major has a greater diversity in its champions. Sure, the Open has its elite champions, but no major has the amount of "out-of-nowhere" winners that the Open has.

Paul Lawrie won it in 1999. Tiger Woods won it in 2000. Sam Snead won in 1946, while Fred Daly won in 1947. You'll have a hard time finding more diverse champions in other majors.

Sure, over the amount of time that they've all been played, you can do it, but you won't find as many stories like that, not even close.

For a fan of the sport who knows that history, and appreciates watching the golf on those old courses whose beauty just does not translate to television, it's not forgotten.

As a matter of fact, if you were to ask golf fans which tournament they would most want their favorite golfer to win, 90 percent would probably say the Masters, U.S. Open, or British Open.

The Masters is the only tournament played at the same venue every year. Because of that, and because of the brilliance of Augusta, it is held in great reverence by golf fans.

Augusta also gives us the first major of the year and, depending on where you live, the unofficial beginning of spring.

The U.S. Open is generally the most challenging tournament in the world. Plus, for Americans, it’s our national championship, so it carries a great deal of weight.

The British Open is the oldest major. It is frequently very challenging, and it's the national championship for British golfers. It’s also considered the unofficial national championship for most non-American golfers.

It’s so different than any other major we see, and really different than most of the tournaments that aren’t played in Great Britain.

The PGA Championship really hasn't done anything to make it stand out since 1958, when it became a stroke play event.

For PGA pros, like the ones you see at your local golf clubs, it probably is the most significant major. But for anyone else, its greatest attribute is that it’s the last major of the year, “Glory’s Last Stand,” as it’s called.

That’s all a long way of saying this: Is the British Open the most forgotten major? That depends on who you ask and where they’re from. But for everyone that call themselves golf fans, it’s not the forgotten major, regardless of where they're from.