Peter Morrison/Associated Press
In 1951, the British Open was played outside of Scotland and England for the first time, crossing the Irish Sea for the cliffs of the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.
Max Faulkner of England won that year, a command performance that loosened the stranglehold Bobby Locke of South Africa was placing on the Claret Jug. Historians place the crowds at 7,000 per day, and hopes were high that Royal Portrush would get another Open.
A decade later, Royal Portrush was still waiting.
The civil strife in Northern Ireland in the 1960s had helped keep away the Open.