pre-1900 | 1900-30 | 1930-60 | 1960-80 | 1980-2000| 2001+

By the turn of the century it was estimated that more than 20 million guttys were in play world-wide.

James Braid won the first of his five Open titles in 1901 to join J.H.Taylor and Harry Vardon as the dominant players of the day (16 Open wins and 13 second place finishes between them). Vardon won the US Open of 1900 during a tour of America where he played in approximately 80 matches - winning 70 of them.

Willie Anderson, from North Berwick, Scotland, was a four-time winner of the US Open, with a present day record hat-trick from 1903 to 1905.

The first time the Open Championship was won by an overseas player was at Holylake in 1907, when Frenchman Arnaud Massey held on to beat J.H. Taylor by two strokes.

1910 saw James Braid become the first player to land five Open titles with victory at St Andrews.

Harry Vardon joined him on that score the following year, with J.H Taylor making it a three-way tie in 1913.

Vardon pulled away with a record sixth victory at Prestwick in 1914, before a five-year hiatus due to WWI.

A new young American talent emerged in 1914 - Walter Hagen won the US open, and triumphed again in 1919. Hagen would go on to dominate the 1920's and mound a new role for the Professional golfer.

The first meeting of the US Professional Golfers Association took place in New York on January 17, 1916. Later that same year, the US PGA tournament, which was for many years a match play event and is today refered to as the fourth "major", was won by Long Jim Barnes. Barnes defended his title in 1919 after a two year break for WWI.

The Royal and Ancient Club took over complete running of the Open in time for the 1920 event at Deal, a task performed by their Championship Committee ever since.

Walter Hagen won the first of his four Open titles at St George's in 1922. The other triumphs came in 1924, '28 and '29.

In 1922 the 20-year-old Gene Sarazen burst on to the scene in dramatic fashion, landing both the US Open and US PGA titles The following year he retained his US PGA Championship in a play-off with Walter Hagen. However, Hagen was not to be denied and won the next four US PGA contests in a row 1924-27.

The Walker Cup was established in 1922 when the R&A sent an official team to the National Golf Links of America at Southampton in New York. The clash between amateur teams representing America and Great Britain and Ireland was played on an annual basis for the first three years - then, from 1926, it assumed its present day two-year cycle. It is a competition that the Americans have dominated throughout the ages.

In 1923 the 21-year-old Bobby Jones won the first of his four US Open titles and from 1924 to 1930 he won five of his seven entries in the US Amateur and was runner-up once.

In 1926 the remarkable Jones won the Open at Royal Lytham and defended the claret jug the following year at St Andrews.

1927 saw the first Ryder Cup match between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland, with Walter Hagen captaining the Americans to a convincing victory at Worcester, Massachusettes. Hagen was to lead the US side for the first six cup competitions - winning four times.