Former ISU men’s golfer Jason Knutzon will take on the world’s elite golfers this weekend in the 2011 Open Championship at the Royal St. George’s golf course.

The Open Championship is the only major championship played outside the United States. It is also the oldest of the four Majors, having first been played in 1860.

The Open, also commonly referred to as The British Open, is played every year in one of nine locations in either England or Scotland.

An Eagle Grove native and 1999 ISU graduate, Knutzon plays the majority of his professional events on the Asian Tour, but has spent a large part of this year playing in Europe.

In his time as a Cyclone, Knutzon was named an All-Big 12 performer and in 2003 became just the second former ISU golfer in school history to make the U.S. Open field.

Knutzon has two professional career wins to his name, both of which came on the Asian Tour. The first, in 2004, came in the Macau Open when he registered a score of 16 under par.

His second professional victory was in 2006 at the Motorola International Bintan.

The 2011 Open Championship will be played from July 14 through July 17, with the first group teeing off at 12:30 a.m.

Knutzon will be part of the last group to tee off and will golf the first round with fellow ISU men’s golfers, Andrew Johnston and Chih-Bing Lam.

The group is scheduled to tee off at 10:11 a.m.