Soudal Open Winners and History

Soudal Open Winners and History

The Soudal Open is the latest incarnation of the Belgian Open, which has been staged off and on since 1910.

With a new sponsor (and thus a name change), the Soudal Open returns to a stroke play format after two years in a “knockout format,” which combined stroke and match play.

The “knockout” format was a bit of a curiosity that obviously didn’t catch on. It involved a 36 hole stroke play qualifier, followed by a series of nine hole match play “knockouts” between the top 64 players.

Soudal is a Belgian company that produces caulks and sealants, including materials using silicone, polyurethane, marine sealants, acrylics, foams and adhesives.  

The inaugural Belgian Open was won by Arnaud Massy, who won the 1907 Open Championship. He remains France’s only Major Championship winner. Other notable Soudal Open winners include Walter Hagen, Roberto De Vicenzo, Nick Faldo and Lee Westwood.

As a side note, while I am happy that companies such as Soudal are stepping up to sponsor golf tournaments, I find it sad that the tournaments’ traditional names are lost in the monetary shuffle. It couldn’t hurt for this tournament to be known as the Soudal Belgian Open.

The Belgian Open became an official European Tour event in 1978

A list of Soudal Open Winners follows

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