For golf purists,
there is only one ‘The Open’. To refer to it as any other name is like defying
the sporting gods, a crime that usually does not go unpunished. And calling it ‘The
British Open’ also falls under the category of criminal offences, one that will
be swiftly met with disdain and correction from anyone in the vicinity of the perp.

Also Read | Rain washout helps Japan’s Nasa Hataoka secure LPGA title

Speaking to
USA Today, Norther Ireland golfer Graeme McDowell has his say on the matter. “That’s
not a good start, even though I do like to take a jab at the boys back home and
tell them that ‘The Open’ is the U.S. Open. Naturally, there’s only one ‘The
Open’,” he said.

American
golfer Olin Brown says he used to call it ‘The British Open’ earlier in his
career, but slowly learned to call it ‘The Open Championship’. Responding to how
that change came about, he said, “Because that’s the name of the tournament.
Game, set, match. Great answer.”

Also Read | Cam Davis outlasts Troy Merritt in Detroit playoff for first PGA Tour win

His compatriot
Zach Johnson, who was the Champion Golfer of the year in 2015, said he also
grew up calling it the ‘British Open’, and that “once I started playing it, I
learned it’s ‘The Open’”.

However, this
hasn’t always been the case, as 1969 Open champion Tony Jacklin says. The
77-year-old Englishman said that the nomenclature statutes were more of a
recent thing and that back in his days, “you could call it the British Open and you wouldn’t get a thousand
bloody letters”.

1994 champion, Zimbabwe’s
Nick Price says he has referred to the tournament with both names, although
when he talks to “people knowledgeable about golf, I call it ‘The Open’”.

Also Read | Yuvraj poking fun at Ishant’s golfing skills leaves the internet in splits

American magazine Golfweek
has used the title ‘British Open’, given that Google searches for that term were
four times as much as ‘Open’ Championship’ in the United States five years ago.
However, the tables have turned recently, as searches for ‘The Open’ outnumbered
others by over four times, despite most American pros being used to the US
version.

Smylie
Kaufman told USA Today that “Ours is ‘The Open’,” referring to the US Open which
came nearly 35 years after the “British” one in 1985.

Also Read | In pictures: Yuvraj Singh plays golf with Sachin Tendulkar and Ajit Agarkar

 “Every year I come over here, there’s a debate
on if it’s the Open or British Open. The Earl of Airlie referred to it as the
British Open when awarding Bobby Jones the Claret Jug in 1930 at Hoylake. Both
are acceptable,” six-time major Championship winner Phil Mickelson, who won ‘The
Open’ in 2013, said in tweet recently.

However, Martin
Slumbers, chief of Scotland’s The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews,
one of the oldest golf clubs in the world, has a different view. “I think it
says so behind me, doesn’t it? It’s The Open.”