The 153rd edition of The Open Championship will be played at Royal Portrush this year.

The Open is the oldest and most prestigious trophy to win in the game.

The very best players in history have won the Claret Jug, including the likes of Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nickaus, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth.

The Open Championship tests all facets of a golfer’s game.

If just one department is off, it is impossible to contend, let alone win.

The Open has produced some incredible golf and some utterly bizarre moments throughout the years.

Back in 1991 at Royal Birkdale, Richard Boxall broke his leg when in contention to win The Open.

And interestingly, that same year served up one of the most surprise winners in the history of the championship.

Ian Baker-Finch won The Open but then completely lost his game

Australian Ian Baker-Finch won The Open at Royal Birkdale in 1991, when he finished two shots clear of second placed Mike Harwood.

It was a very classy display of golf that year from Baker-Finch. In this third round, he whizzed round the back nine at Birkdale in 32 shots, before taking only 29 shots to complete his front nine on the final day.

That’s 18 consecutive holes completed in just 61 shots, and is an example of just how talented he was.

However, unfortunately for him, things went downhill fast after he lifted the Claret Jug 34 years ago at Royal Birkdale.

The Australian completely lost his game not long after that, and didn’t win on the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour again.

It seemed like Baker-Finch had hit rock bottom in 1995 when he was paired alongside Arnold Palmer at St Andrews for the American’s final Open Championship.

On the first tee at the Home of Golf, the Australian inexplicably hooked his tee shot out of bounds on the left.

The first fairway at St Andrews is commonly known as the widest fairway in golf.

Meanwhile, caddies at the fabled Old Course have often commented how they have never even seen an amateur hit their drive out of bounds on the left side of that hole.

However, as crazy as this sounds, things were set to get even worse and more humiliating for the 1991 Open champion.

Baker-Finch’s 92 in The Open that signalled the end of his career

Leading up to the 1997 Open at Royal Troon, Baker-Finch had missed 10 consecutive cuts in major championships.

The now 64-year-old was suffering with a bad back at the time and he didn’t actually want to play, but was persuaded to do so by friends and sponsors.

And things went exactly how he expected them to go.

Baker-Finch ended up signing for a 21-over par 92 in his first round at The Open that year, and then withdrew from the tournament ahead of his second round.

The former Open champion would never play in a major again after that humiliating experience at Royal Troon.

Golf is an incredible game whereby you can win the biggest trophy there is to win but collapse just a few years later and be no better than an average 18-handicapper.

Former Open champion Baker-Finch went in to broadcasting after he hung up his clubs and he is still doing that job extremely well to this very day.