When driving into Portrush in Northern Ireland it’s hard not to miss a sign saying:  ‘Welcome to Portrush – Golfing Capital of the World’.

The quite seaside town now boast four Major Champions in Fred Daly (1947 Open), Graeme McDowell (2010 U.S. Open) and Darren Clarke (2011 Open Champion).

You can add to the Portrush honours roll – Alan Dunbar (2012 British Amateur champion) and now Stephanie Meadow who yesterday captured the Women’s British Amateur title with her 4 & 3 victory over Rocio Sanchez Lobato of Spain.

Meadow went into the prestigious event fresh from being a member of the victorious Curtis Cup side who came from behind to defeat their more fancied American rivals.

The 20-year old Meadow became the first Irish player to win the title since Lilian Behan in 1985.

It’s a remarkable achievement for such a small country as Northern Ireland but then the country does possess some of the best links golf courses in the world including Royal Portrush, Portstewart, Royal County Down, Ardglass and Castlerock.

But when it comes to Major Champions no club can touch Musselburgh to the east of Edinburgh.

Musselburgh can lay claim to 11 Major winners and all Open Championship winnners.

MUSSELBURGH’S OPEN CHAMPIONS

Willie Park Senior (1833 – 1903)   – Open Champion 1860, 1863, 1866 and 1875.

Willie Park Junior (1864 – 1925) – Open Champion 1887 and 1889.

David Brown – Open Champion 1886.

Mungo Park (1835 – 1904) – Open Champion 1874.

Bob Ferguson (1848 – 1915) –  Open Champion 1880, 1881 and 1882.

No other golf club, including the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews, nor nearby Muirfield or Prestwick or for that matter Royal Troon, Carnoustie or any golf course in the States, can lay claim to having produced so many Major Championship winners.

What a distinction for a nine-hole golf course!

Legendary Musselburgh golfer Willie Park Senior had won the first-ever British Open in October 1860 at Prestwick.

Park produced a 36-hole score of 174 with his prize being a leather belt.  He then went onto win The Open a further three times in 1863, 1866 and 1875.

Willie Park Senior, who lived to 70 years of age, got into golf as a young boy as a caddy.  The caddies would then play together during the long summer evenings and Willie soon established himself as a leading player, who went on to challenge the great golfers of the time, Alan Robertson, Willie Dunn and Old Tom Morris.

Musselburgh’s second Major Champion was Mungo Park who was a brother to Willie Park Senior.

Mungo Park returned to Musselburgh in the early 1870s and discovered his golfing skills had not been affected from such a long break from the game.

When Musselburgh played host to The Open for a first occasion in 1874, Mungo reigned supreme with a 36-hole score of 159 in defeating Young Tom Morris by two strokes.

Mungo continued to contest The Open before spending the rest of his life serving as a club-maker and teacher at various British Clubs.  He also designed a number of courses including Alnmouth where he was appointed as the club’s first professional.

Mungo died aged 69 in 1904 and the gold medal he was presented with in winning the 1874 British Open to this day is played for the scratch prize at Grimsdyke Golf Club.

Ferguson was a caddie for much of his life and for defeating Peter Paxton by five shots, the then 32-year old was presented with a prize of £7.

Ferguson was denied a fourth straight Open Championship after losing in a play-off at Musselburgh in 1883 to Willie Fernie.

Some 20 years earlier in his career, Ferguson won a tournament at Leith Links using borrowed clubs, against a strong field.  He was a superb putter as Old Tom Morris, who was on the opposite end of six challenge match loses, could attest.

Ferguson was so gifted using the putter it became known as the ‘Musselburgh Iron’.

Unfortunately a bout of typhoid cut short Ferguson’s career before being appointed custodian of the Musselburgh Links.  He died in 1915 from chronic bronchitis aged 67.  The 18th hole at Monktonhall in the U.K. is named after Bob while a marble water fountain was erected in front of the clubhouse in his memory.

David or ‘Deacon’ Brown became the fourth Musselburgh clubman to taste Major success when he sealed the 1886 British Open at his home club of Musselburgh.

There’s a story that Brown, who was a slater by trade, was listed as a reserve for the championship but on the opening day he was up on a roof somewhere in Musselburgh going about his daily trade.

Brown later went to America and in 1903 he tied for first place in the U.S. Open at Baltusrol  with fellow Scot Willie Anderson before losing a play-off, and with Anderson then going on to win three straight U.S. Open titles.

Willie Park Senior’s son, Willie Park Junior became Musselburgh’s sixth Major Champion in capturing The Open in 1887 when he defeated fellow Musselburgh player and 1878 winner, Bob Martin at Prestwick.

Willie Park Junior also won the 1889 Open in defeating Andrew Kirkcaldy in a play-off when Musselburgh hosted its last Open Championship.

He designed links and other courses with his father and uncle, and later on his own with construction assistance from his brother Mungo and Jack Park.  Two of Willie’s courses, Sunningdale and Huntercombe, became landmarks in the history of golf course architecture.

Willie lived in the States from 1895 to 1898 where he promoted golf and also designed courses, and when he returned to the U.S. in 1916 he became inundated with requests to design and redesign courses so much so his name is on over 70 courses in America.

While Musselburgh club players continued to contest golf’s oldest Major, 1889 marked the final time Musselburgh found itself on The Open Championship rota.