The 1979 Open Championship was the 108th Open Championship, held 18–21 July at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lancashire, England. Seve Ballesteros, 22, won the first of his five major titles, three strokes ahead of runners-up Jack Nicklaus and Ben Crenshaw.[4] It was the first of his three Open Championship victories; he raised the Claret Jug again in 1984 and 1988.[5][6]
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 18–21 July 1979 |
| Location | Lancashire, England |
| Course(s) | Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club |
| Tour(s) | European Tour PGA Tour |
| Statistics | |
| Par | 71[1] |
| Length | 6,822 yards (6,238 m)[1][2] |
| Field | 152 players 82 after 1st cut 61 after 2nd cut[1] |
| Cut | 152 ( 10) (1st cut) 227 ( 14) (2nd cut) |
| Prize fund | £155,000[1] $325,000 |
| Winner's share | £15,000[1][3] $31,500 |
| Champion | |
 Seve Ballesteros | |
| 283 (−1) | |
Lytham &
St Annes
St Annes
Location in England
Lytham &
St Annes
St Annes
Location in Lancashire. England
This was the last Open scheduled to end on Saturday;[7] in 1980 it moved to a Sunday final round, similar to the other three majors.
Course
edit| Hole | Yards | Par | Hole | Yards | Par | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 206 | 3 | 10 | 334 | 4 | |
| 2 | 436 | 4 | 11 | 542 | 5 | |
| 3 | 458 | 4 | 12 | 201 | 3 | |
| 4 | 393 | 4 | 13 | 339 | 4 | |
| 5 | 212 | 3 | 14 | 445 | 4 | |
| 6 | 486 | 5 | 15 | 468 | 4 | |
| 7 | 551 | 5 | 16 | 356 | 4 | |
| 8 | 394 | 4 | 17 | 453 | 4 | |
| 9 | 162 | 3 | 18 | 386 | 4 | |
| Out | 3,298 | 35 | In | 3,524 | 36 | |
| Source:[2] | Total | 6,822 | 71 | |||
Hole #6 was a par 4 in 2012.
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Lengths of the course for The Open Championship (since 1950):[1]
Round summaries
editFirst round
editWednesday, 18 July 1979
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Bill Longmuir |
65 | −6 |
| 2 |  Hale Irwin |
68 | −3 |
| 3 | Jerry Pate |
69 | −2 |
| 4 |  Isao Aoki |
70 | −1 |
| T5 |  Terry Gale |
71 | E |
 Peter McEvoy (a)
| |||
| Orville Moody
| |||
| Lee Trevino
| |||
| T9 |  Hugh Baiocchi |
72 | 1 |
| Ken Brown
| |||
 Dennis Clark
| |||
| Ben Crenshaw
| |||
| Gary Cullen
| |||
| Jack Nicklaus
| |||
| Tom Watson
|
Source:[8]
Second round
editThursday, 19 July 1979
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hale Irwin |
68-68=136 | −6 |
| 2 |  Seve Ballesteros |
73-65=138 | −4 |
| 3 | Bill Longmuir |
65-74=139 | −3 |
| 4 | Tom Watson |
72-68=140 | −2 |
| T5 | Dennis Clark |
72-69=141 | −1 |
| Jack Nicklaus |
72-69=141 | ||
| 7 | Graham Marsh |
74-68=142 | E |
| T8 | Ken Brown |
72-71=143 | 1 |
| Bob Byman |
73-70=143 | ||
| Ben Crenshaw |
72-71=143 | ||
| Jerry Pate |
69-74=143 |
Source:[9]
Amateurs: McEvoy ( 3), Player ( 8), Hallberg ( 14), Hoad ( 15),
Bennett ( 17), Myers ( 18), Guy ( 20), Whelan ( 23).
Third round
editFriday, 20 July 1979
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hale Irwin |
68-68-75=211 | −2 |
| 2 | Seve Ballesteros |
73-65-75=213 | E |
| T3 | Mark James |
76-69-69=214 | 1 |
| Jack Nicklaus |
72-69-73=214 | ||
| T5 | Rodger Davis |
75-70-70=215 | 2 |
| Bob Byman |
73-70-72=215 | ||
| Ben Crenshaw |
72-71-72=215 | ||
| T8 | Isao Aoki |
70-74-72=216 | 3 |
| Greg Norman |
73-71-72=216 | ||
| Tom Watson |
72-68-76=216 | ||
| Bill Longmuir |
65-74-77=216 |
Amateurs: McEvoy ( 4), Player ( 19).
Final round
editSaturday, 21 July 1979
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seve Ballesteros |
73-65-75-70=283 | −1 | 15,000 |
| T2 | Ben Crenshaw |
72-71-72-71=286 | 2 | 11,250 |
| Jack Nicklaus |
72-69-73-72=286 | |||
| 4 | Mark James |
76-69-69-73=287 | 3 | 7,500 |
| 5 | Rodger Davis |
75-70-70-73=288 | 4 | 6,500 |
| 6 | Hale Irwin |
68-68-75-78=289 | 5 | 6,000 |
| T7 | Graham Marsh |
74-68-75-74=291 | 7 | 5,000 |
| Isao Aoki |
70-74-72-75=291 | |||
| Bob Byman |
73-70-72-76=291 | |||
| T10 | Bob Charles |
78-72-70-72=292 | 8 | 4,000 |
| Masashi Ozaki |
75-69-75-73=292 | |||
| Greg Norman |
73-71-72-76=292 |
- Amateurs: McEvoy ( 10)
- The exchange rate at the time was approximately 2.30 dollars (US) per pound sterling.[13]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 57, 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ a b "The course only tigers can tame". Glasgow Herald. 18 July 1979. p. 17.
- ^ Bonk, Thomas (14 July 1988). "There's nothing like it: British Open course set apart by history and other factors". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- ^ Jenkins, Dan (30 July 1979). "Adios, amigos". Sports Illustrated.
- ^ Lipica, Mike (22 July 1979). "Ballesteros wins British". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 4.
- ^ a b Jacobs, Raymond (23 July 1979). "A wayward win much in character". Glasgow Herald. p. 16.
- ^ "Spaniard overtakes the Yanks". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire services. 22 July 1979. p. 1B.
- ^ Jacobs, Raymond (19 July 1979). "Longmuir blazes the Open trail". Glasgow Herald. p. 16.
- ^ Jacobs, Raymond (20 July 1979). "Sevvy has 65 – but Irwin leads". Glasgow Herald. p. 24.
- ^ "Leaderboard: 1979". The Open Championship. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- ^ "The 108th Open Golf Championship: (1979) leaderboard". European Tour. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- ^ "1979 Open Championship results". databasegolf.com. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
- ^ "British Pound / US Dollar Historical Reference Rates from Bank of England for 1979". PoundSterling. July 1979. Retrieved 18 July 2024.