The Open Championship will maintain the now-established five year cycle and return to the Old Course at St Andrews in 2015.
The 114th championship will be the 29th time The Open, golf’s oldest major, has been played at the Home of Golf on the game’s most iconic course.
South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen won by seven shots with a 16-under par total of 272 when The Open was last held at St Andrews in 2010.
Peter Dawson, the Chief Executive of the R&A which runs the championship, said: “We are delighted to announce that The Open will be returning to St Andrews and the historic Old Course in 2015.
“St Andrews has proved time and again that it is perfectly equipped to host The Open and I am certain we will yet again see a worthy winner lift the Claret Jug.
“Players, spectators and officials alike will welcome a return to the game’s spiritual home and I fully expect that we will witness another thrilling championship.”
Euan Loudon, Chief Executive of St Andrews Links Trust which administers the Old Course, said: “We are very much looking forward to welcoming The Open Championship back to the Links.
“There is always a special sense of anticipation when The Open is played on the Old Course and it promises to be no different in 2015.
“Almost every great champion in the game has played here and there is no more fitting celebration of the rich heritage of the Home of Golf than hosting golf’s oldest Major Championship.”
The Open has gone to St Andrews every five years since the 1990 championship won by Nick Faldo, but there had been some speculation that the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, who run the tournament, might opt to break the cycle this year.
The 150th staging of the championship is due in 2021 and it’s expected the R&A would want to have The Open on the Old Course for that historic milestone. It was thought possible that they would seek to make the alteration in The Open “rota” in 2015.
There is also some debate in St Andrews itself about the frequency in which the town hosts the championship and the inevitable disruption that it causes.
Surveys of the effect of the championship show it to be worth £100m to Scotland and more than £40m to the economy of North East Fife and nearby, but many local businesses find operating difficult during Open week, partly due to the necessary traffic management systems to transport over 200,000 spectators in and out of the town for the championship.
The R&A only announce host courses for The Open three to four years in advance and do not enter into speculation about future venues, so it is far from certain that 150th championship in 2021 will be at the Old Course; the 100th championship in 1971, won by Lee Trevino, was played at Royal Birkdale.
However since the Millennium Open in 2000 the R&A has embraced The Open’s milestone events more readily and they are known to be keen on holding another Champions’ Challenge event to which all living Open champIons are invited.
It was successfully staged as a curtain-raiser in 2000 and was due to be repeated at the 150th Anniversary Open last year but had to be cancelled due to severe weather.