Jamie Anderson

After the era of Willie Park Snr, and Old and Young Tom Morris, Jamie Anderson and Bob Ferguson were the players that dominated The Open, each winning three times in a row.

Anderson was from St Andrews and started out as a caddie on the Old Course. He had a fine swing and although not as long as Park, he was deadly accurate with his approach shots.

He also never wasted any time. He assessed which club to use as he walked up to his ball, took his stance quickly, had one glance towards the target, and then swung away. It was all over in the blink of an eye but, crucially, the routine never wavered even at the most important moments.

He was a runner-up twice and won for the first time at Musselburgh in 1877 when he won by two strokes from Bob Pringle. His most dramatic performance came a year later at Prestwick when he holed a full iron shot in the final round before holing in one at the penultimate hole, his tee shot stopping at the top of a hill behind the green and then the ball rolling down into the hole.

That gave him a two-shot win over Bob Kirk and at St Andrews in 1879 he finished three in front of Andrew Kirkaldy and Jamie Allan. This time it had been his steady, consistent play that had grounded down his opponents.

With the 1880 Open at Musselburgh called at short notice in the spring, Anderson was unable to try and match Young Tom Morris’s four wins in a row, but he was second and third in the subsequent two years to Bob Ferguson. His nephew, Davie, was also a fine player and finished runner-up in the 1888 Open.