The Old Course at St Andrews has been confirmed as the host of the Open Championship in 2027.

The announcement by the Royal & Ancient (R&A) maintains the five-year cycle the Old Course has had, with just one exception, since 1990.

Royal St George’s was awarded the 2020 Open so the Old Course – widely regarded as the Home of Golf – could stage the 150th edition of the game’s oldest major the following year.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic meant the Claret Jug was contested on the Kent coast in 2021 before the championship returned to Fife in 2022.

That was the 30th time St Andrews had been the host – comfortably ahead of Prestwick with 24 – since it first did so in 1873.

The 2027 championship – from 15 to 18 July – will be the 100th anniversary of the great Bobby Jones’ victory in The Open at St Andrews, where six years earlier he had torn up his scorecard after taking four shots to escape from a bunker on the 11th.

For the R&A to return The Open to St Andrews to the regular slot of years ending in a 5 or 0, as it had had since 1990, it would have had to host either just three years after it last did so – or seven.

Instead the governing body has opted to retain the five-year cycle and awarded St Andrews the 155th Open, meaning it is also poised to host in 2032 and 2037.