Muirfield magic will turn up men of mettle

Adam Scott learned to get tough to win a Major, Justin Rose’s perseverance earned him a US Open title and for Pádraig Harrington, it was understanding that nothing mattered except for the last nine holes on a Sunday.

All but a very few major champions attain that status purely by luck and nowhere is that more the case than here at Muirfield, where the names of the last eight champions read like a who’s who of the game’s post-war history.

Henry Cotton, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo (twice) and Ernie Els; not one of them a chancer or one-hit wonder, possessing 79 Major victories between them.