The descriptor "Open" is used in a number of sports, and especially in golf, to describe a tournament that is “open” (in theory to allcomers) rather than being closed (i.e. one that is restricted to a particular group). Thus an Amateur tournament (e.g. the U.S. Amateur) is not open because it is, by definition, closed to professional golfers. In golf the first precise usage of the adjective “Open” was in 1861 when the Prestwick Golf Club opened its Medal competition (launched the previous year for professionals only) to amateurs as well and ever since The Open Championship, as it was called, has been open to all. Any golfer can, in theory, play in The Open either by invitation or by various forms of qualification. In practice the event is a professional tournament in which a small number of the world’s leading amateurs also play (by invitation or qualification).
Over time the descriptor "Open" has been extended to include the premier national tournaments of many countries (starting with the U.S. Open in 1895) and also (mainly in the United States) to some other tournaments (e.g. the Buick Open).
Famous quotes containing the words open and/or golf:
“I have passed down the river before sunrise on a summer morning, between fields of lilies still shut in sleep; and when, at length, the flakes of sunlight from over the bank fell on the surface of the water, whole fields of white blossoms seemed to flash open before me, as I floated along, like the unfolding of a banner, so sensible is this flower to the influence of the sun’s rays.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Years ago we discovered the exact point, the dead center of middle age. It occurs when you are too young to take up golf and too old to rush up to the net.”
—Franklin Pierce Adams (1881–1960)