The Open Championship will return to Muirfield in 2013, after an eleven year gap. The course, hailed by many top golfers as the best on the rota, has hosted fifteen Opens previously, with winners including Tom Watson, Nick Faldo, Lee Trevino, and James Braid.

The 2002 Open, which was won by Ernie Els after a four-way playoff, was affected by a storm on the Saturday, during which Tiger Woods famously struggled to a score of 81.

The course has also staged  ten Amateur Championships, the last in 1998 when a young Sergio Garcia took the title, and two Walker Cups, in 1959 and 1979.

R&A director of championships said: “We are delighted that The Open is returning to Muirfield, an outstanding championship course that consistently produces a very worthy champion. For any club to host The Open requires a great deal of work and the R&A would, therefore, like to thank The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers for its continued cooperation, which has enabled the Championship to come back to this fine venue for a sixteenth time.”