It’s quite a view from the windowsill of Blackrock House; waves gently lapping the shores of the Firth of Clyde, the Isle of Arran towering far beyond, as Tiger Woods taps in for par just a stone’s throw away.
The Open Championship is in full swing at Royal Troon in South Ayrshire, Scotland, and right at its heart is a property that has allowed its owners to marvel at the world’s greatest players without stepping foot outside their front door.
For the golf fanatics of the world, it could soon all be yours – so long as you have a spare £1.5 million ($1.93 million) to part with.
Viewings on the home will begin after the victor of the 152nd edition of the major has been crowned on Sunday, offering prospective buyers “a once in a generation opportunity” to own “one of the best houses in golf,” according to estate agent Strutt and Parker.
“The sale of Blackrock House is one of those rare times where you can safely say there isn’t anything else like this available in the world,” Strutt and Parker selling agent Annabel Blackett told CNN via email.
Originally one of a row of cottages, the four-bedroom, semi-detached property – neighboured by No. 16 Crosbie Road – pre-dates the foundation of fabled links club, established in 1878.
It would be another 45 years before the course hosted its first Open Championship, with this week marking its 10th time staging the major. In that time, the house’s tenants have had an unparalleled view of the drama at the 16th and second hole – the latter par-five known as “Black Rock” as a nod to the home.
Sightlines extend to the third, 17th and even 18th hole, where greats of the game Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson clinched the Claret Jug in 1962 and 1982 respectively. In 2020, it offered a ticket to a ticketless tournament – as the pandemic meant the first ever Women’s British Open staged at Royal Troon was played behind closed doors.
“You can watch five holes from the comfort of your own home, and of course you also have the club on your doorstep for your own playing,” Blackett said.
“While the views are fantastic year-round – and particularly with the coastal waters in the distance – the position really comes into its own when a championship as prestigious as The Open is in town.”
“It’s little surprise that launching a home as special as this has created the level of buzz and interest that we’ve seen so far,” she added.
The clients selling Black Rock are the children of David and Isabel Kelly, who owned the home for 30 years before they died, a representative for Strutt and Parker told CNN.
The couple watched three Open Championships from their gardens with their sons Andrew and John, culminating with Sweden’s Henrik Stenson besting Phil Mickelson in the storied “High Noon at Troon” showdown of 2016.
“This will be a bittersweet Open for us,” Andrew Kelly told the Associated Press ahead of this week’s tournament.
“We were going to sell it anyway, so we decided to put it on during the Open, as you can imagine it’s probably the best time to do it.”
