British Open to return to Royal Troon in 2016

Published Jun. 20, 2012 3:30 p.m. ET

foxsports

The British Open will be staged at Royal Troon in Scotland for the ninth time in 2016.

The Ayrshire course last hosted the British Open in 2004 when American Todd Hamilton beat 2002 champion Ernie Els of South Africa in a playoff.

Other former winners at the course were Arthur Havers (1923), Bobby Locke (1950), Arnold Palmer (1962), Tom Weiskopf (1973), Tom Watson (1982), Mark Calcavecchia (1989) and Justin Leonard, who won in 1997 after shooting a magnificent closing 65.

South Ayrshire council's Bill McIntosh says: ''This is great news - not just for Troon, but for the whole of Ayrshire.''