What happened in previous British Open Championships at Royal Troon?
Published: Last updated:
The 2024 British Open is the 10th at Royal Troon – what happened every time The Open visited Royal Troon previously?
2024 is the 152nd Open Championship – and the 10th at Royal Troon. You may remember the most recent one – Henrik Stenson’s epic duel with Phil Mickelson – but what about Royal Troon Opens before that?
1923
Troon’s first-ever Open was something of a bolt from the blue. The 58th championship should have been played at Muirfield but there were concerns that the Gullane-based club didn’t really want to host so Troon stepped in. The great American Walter Hagen was the overwhelming favourite because he’d won the first of his four Opens a year before and would win his second a year later but he was denied a hat trick by the Englishman Arthur Havers.
Before then, however, there was controversy. Many American golfers in the field were planning to play clubs that were deemed illegal ahead of qualifying, with holes punched in the face that created extra back spin. Metalwork tools from the Glasgow shipyards were rushed down the coast to save the day but, even so, Gene Sarazen failed to progress from qualifying with his smoother sticks.
Jersey’s Aubrey Boomer also failed to qualify, not helped by the windy conditions which contributed to him hitting a bunker shot that flew high into the air before being swept back into his own jacket pocket.
Sand traps were a theme of the championship. Havers broke a tie at the top of the leaderboard on the 72nd hole when he chipped in from a greenside bunker for a closing birdie. Minutes later Hagen found the same spot but failed to match the hole out. The winning purse was a mighty £75, and the champion bolstered his earnings by touring the United States playing high profile head-to-heads that included victories over Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen.
1923 top 10
1. Arthur Havers
2. Walter Hagen
3. Macdonald Smith
4. Joe Kirkwood
5. Tom Fernie
T6. George Duncan, Charles Whitcombe
T8. Herbert Jolly, James MacKenzie, Abe Mitchell, Willie Watt
1950
Hagen might have failed to defend the Claret Jug at Troon in 1923, but he did so at Muirfield in 1929 and the next man to win the Open back-to-back was the great South African Bobby Locke, back at Troon, in 1950.
As with the first Troon Open, the bunkers played a significant role in the week. In the qualifying competition the German amateur Herman Tissies missed the green at the famous par-3 8th hole, the Postage Stamp, and then proceeded to visit bunker after bunker after bunker on his way to a catastrophic one-putt 15.
In the final round, Argentina’s Robert De Vicenzo was battling for the title with fellow 54-hole pace-setters Locke and Dai Rees (Wales). De Vicenzo’s tee shot at the Postage Stamp was plugged and, after declaring it unplayable, he returned to the tee. The rules of the time meant that there was no penalty stroke in this instance. His second blow left a tap-in for par but he was a little rattled and his challenge wilted on the back nine.
Locke was an outstanding golfer and an especially fine linksland performer. He would ultimately win four Open Championships in a nine-year run from 1949, failing to finish inside the top 10 just once during that stretch. He also had a peculiar relationship with names. His parents called him Arthur D’Arcy, he went by Bobby, and among his many nicknames were the astoundingly unkind Muffin Face, Moon Face and Lantern Jowls.
1950 top 10
1. Bobby Locke
2. Roberto De Vicenzo
T3. Fred Daly, Dai Rees
T5. Max Faulkner, Eric Moore, Fred Bullock, Arthur Lees
T9. Sam King, Flory Van Donck, Frank Stranahan (a)
1962
If the first two Open visits to Troon had hinted at an early trend, the third confirmed it. Hagen had narrowly failed the defend the Claret Jug in 1923, Locke successfully did so in 1950 and 12 years later so, too, did Arnold Palmer.
This was the final Open in which everyone in the field had to qualify and in some ways it was Palmer who changed the status quo. In flying over the Atlantic to compete he had broken with standard PGA Tour practice because most American professionals of the time considered it a waste of both time and energy to take a chance on the vagaries of qualifying and the linksland.
Palmer’s first trip in 1960 reaped second place, he won a year later at Royal Birkdale and he was dominant at Troon, swept to triumph by enormous galleries attracted by his golf, his personality and genuine affection for his willingness to travel.
On rock-hard fairways Palmer took an attacking approach and a second round 69 opened up a two-shot lead on the field. A 67 in the third round extended his advantage to five and a final round 69 stretched the victory margin to six. His 12-under total of 276 was an Open record.
The 1960 champion Kel Nagle, of Australia, was second and perhaps the only man in Troon unhappy that Palmer was an enthusiastic Trans-Atlantic traveller because he finished seven blows clear of Brian Huggett and Phil Rodgers who shared third.
The championship also witnessed the Open debut of Jack Nicklaus. He carded a first round 80 but was a fast learner. He made the cut, finished T34th and would register T16th or better in every Open from 1963 to 1983 (with 13 top three finishes).
1962 top 10
1. Arnold Palmer
2. Kel Nagle
T3. Brian Huggett, Phil Rodgers
5. Bob Charles
T6. Sam Snead, Peter Thomson
T8. Peter Alliss, Dave Thomas
10. Syd Scott
1973
Tom Weiskopf had already won three times in 1973 but he was of the opinion that his PGA Tour form counted for only so much ahead of the Open. He travelled early, played Troon eight times before the championship started and, by the end of the championship week, had proved that practice make perfect by winning wire-to-wire and matching the tournament low score of 12-under 276 set by Palmer in 1962.
It was a career standout moment for a golfer with one of the most admired swings in the game, but whose feisty temperament often got the worse of him. Not that week, however, as a series of quality players got close and were repelled by his brilliance.
He opened with a 68 to lead Jack Nicklaus and Bert Yancey by one. He added a 67 in the second round to lead Yancey and Johnny Miller by three at halfway. A third round 71 allowed Miller to close to within one while the homes hopes Brian Barnes and Neil Coles briefly flirted with the top end of the leaderboard. Coles maintained his challenge with a final round 66 to share second with Miller, but Weiskopf’s closing 70 secured a three-shot victory.
Meanwhile Gene Sarazen, the seven-time major champion (including the 1932 Open), played his final major and signed off in sensational style. Not only did he make a hole-in-one at the Postage Stamp in the first round, he also holed out from a bunker on the same hole for a birdie in his second circuit.
1973 top 10
1. Tom Weiskopf
T2. Neil Coles, Johnny Miller
4. Jack Nicklaus
5. Bert Yancey
6. Peter Butler
T7. Bob Charles, Christy O’Connor Sr, Lanny Wadkins
T10. Brian Barnes, Gay Brewer, Harold Henning, Lee Trevino
1982
There was absolutely no doubt that Tom Watson was a hot prospect ahead of the 1982 championship at what was now (as of a 1978 charter) Royal Troon. He was not only a three-time Open champion, he was also a three-time winner in the year including US Open triumph just a month earlier.
And yet he was not alone in being unable to keep pace with a sensational opening 36 holes from his compatriot Bobby Clampett who carded round of 67-66 to lead Nick Price by five strokes at halfway. Moreover, when the 22-year-old made a pair of early third round birdies he led the field by seven shots with just 31 holes to play.
But the Royal Troon bunkers were about to bite yet again. At the par-5 sixth hole Clampett found three bunkers on his way to a triple bogey-8. He would sign for a third round 78 but the wind had been knocked from him and he would only add a final lap 77 to tumble into a share of 10th.
Watson Had been alone in fifth ahead of the final round before he pounced on the hesitancy of Clampett, a stumbling Nick Price (another to have bunker problems) and the wilting British and Irish hopes of Sandy Lyle and Des Smyth. “I didn’t win this championship,” Watson said afterwards. “I had it handed to me.”
1982 top 10
1. Tom Watson
T2. Peter Oosterhuis, Nick Price
T4. Nick Faldo, Masahiro Kuramoto, Tom Purtzer, Des Smyth
T8. Sandy Lyle, Fuzzy Zoeller
T10. Bobby Clampett, Jack Nicklaus
1989
For much of the 1989 Open it seemed that a Wayne was destined to be added to the Claret Jug. Then it seemed Greg Norman would see his name scratched on the plinth. But ultimately it was Mark Calcavecchia who tested the engraver’s spelling.
Englishman Wayne Stephens set the first round pace with a 66 before the Aussie Wayne Grady grabbed the halfway lead and he was still a shot clear of 1982 champion Tom Watson with 18 holes to play.
The final round was played in fine weather and Grady could only add a 1-under 71. In contrast, his fellow Aussie Norman thrashed a sensational 64 that included six straight birdies to start and Calcavecchia a 68 to force the first-ever Open four-hole aggregate play-off.
Grady failed to fire in extra holes but Norman made a blistering start with two birdies. Calcavecchia responded with one of his own and added another at 18, his second of the day at the closing hole. It was enough for victory as Norman made bogey at 17 and then, at 18, found sand from tee, sand again with his second and launched his third blow into out of bounds.
1989 top 10
1. Mark Calcavecchia
T2. Greg Norman, Wayne Grady
4. Tom Watson
5. Jodie Mudd
T6. Fred Couples, David Feherty
T8. Eduardo Romero, Paul Azinger, Payne Stewart
1997
Heading into the final round of the 1997 championship hopes were high in Sweden that Jesper Parnevik was about to become the nation’s first-ever male major championship. Meanwhile, Darren Clarke was the focus of attention in Northern Ireland as the country sought a first win since 1947.
Parnevik led on 11-under, Clarke was second on 9-under with the Americans Fred Couples and Justin Leonard sharing third on 6-under. Only two players in Open history had overcome a five-shot pre-final round deficit but Leonard was about to become the third.
It was Clarke’s challenge which faltered first when his tee shot at the second flew on to the beach and out of bounds. Leonard was holing birdie and par putts from all sorts of distances as he ruthlessly hunted down an intimidating score and when he signed for a 65 it was only one shot shy of the then-record final round score by a Champion Golfer of the Year.
In the face of Swedish history and Leonard’s total, Parnevik blinked. He led by two strokes with seven holes to play but stumbled home and shared second with Clarke, three back of the winner. The tournament was also notable for a course record-equalling 64 from 21-year-old Tiger Woods in the third round.
1997 top 10
1. Justin Leonard
T2. Darren Clarke, Jesper Parnevik
4. Jim Furyk
T5. Pádraig Harrington, Stephen Ames
T7. Peter O’Malley, Eduardo Romero, Fred Couples
T10. Davis Love III, Retief Goosen, Frank Nobilo, Tom Kite, Mark Calcavecchia, Shigeki Maruyama, Ernie Els, Tom Watson, Robert Allenby, Lee Westwood
2004
There were many echoes of the 2002 Open at Muirfield in 2004: Thomas Levet (who lost a play-off two years earlier) shared the first round lead, Gary Evans hit the headlines with an albatross-2 at the fourth (he’d drained an enormous par putt after losing a ball in high grass at Muirfield) and Ernie Els (the play-off winner in 2002) was back playing extra holes. He didn’t, however, win.
He had only one opponent on this occasion, the little-known American Todd Hamilton, but appeared crushed that he had failed to win the championship in regulation play and never rose to the occasion in the four hole play-off.
The South African had defied a charge from Phil Mickelson on the back nine, but could not shake-off Hamilton despite playing some sensational golf tee to green. Els made birdie at the par-3 17th after a superb tee shot and gave himself a look at birdie from 10 feet at the 72nd hole but it never looked like going in.
In the drama-free extra holes four pars were sufficient for Hamilton to secure a sensational triumph. He was a veteran of the Asia and Japan Tours who had won his first PGA Tour title, the Honda Classic, earlier in the year, but few had expected him to become a major champion. He famously saved multiple pars from off the greens with his rescue club and admitted that he relished playing “ugly golf”.
2004 top 10
1. Todd Hamilton
2. Ernie Els
3. Phil Mickelson
4. Lee Westwood
T5. Thomas Levet, Davis Love III
T7. Retief Goosen, Scott Verplank
T9. Mike Weir, Tiger Woods
2016
Royal Troon’s habit of providing echoes of the past returned in 2016 because Jesper Parnevik might have failed to become Sweden’s first male major championship winner at the club in 1997 but Henrik Stenson achieve that feat 19 years later.
Phil Mickelson had set the pace with a thrilling 8-under 63 on the opening day that earned him a three-shot lead. Stenson responded with a Friday 65 to get to within a shot of the American and with it set up one of, if not the, greatest weekend duels in the championship’s history.
Stenson’s Saturday 68 left him one shot clear of Mickelson heading into the final round and six ahead of the next-nearest challenger. Effectively, a second cut had been made and only two men had made it: Sunday was a head-to-head tussle for the title and it was outrageous in its quality.
Mickelson played the first 10 holes in 5-under and yet had made no dent in Stenson’s lead as the Swede made one bogey and six birdies to the same point. A second error by the Swede at 11 left them briefly tied at the top before Stenson closed with four birdies in the final five holes to win with a final round 63 and a 20-under total of 264 that was a new championship record low.
Mickelson equalled the previous record low total and had thrashed third placed JB Holmes by 11 shots but it didn’t matter because Stenson has bested him by three in an astonishing performance.
Remember how the first Troon winner, Arthur Havers, won £75? Stenson pocketed just short of £1.2 million and last year’s champion Brian Harman won $3 million. The world, and the golf world in particular, has changed a lot in the last 101 years.
2016 top 10
1. Henrik Stenson
2. Phil Mickelson
3. J. B. Holmes
4. Steve Stricker
T. Sergio García, Tyrrell Hatton, Rory McIlroy
8. Andrew Johnston
T9. Bill Haas, Dustin Johnson, Søren Kjeldsen
Wondering who’s going to win the 2024 Open at Royal Troon? I’ve made my picks here…
About the author
Matt Cooper
Contributing Writer
Matt Cooper has been a golf journalist for 15 years. He’s worked for, among others, Golf365, SkySports, ESPN, NBC, Sporting Life, Open.com and the Guardian. He specializes in feature writing, reporting and tournament analysis.
He’s traveled widely in that time, covering golf from Kazakhstan to South Korea via Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
More straightforwardly, he’s also covered numerous Majors, Ryder Cups and Solheim Cups.
-
What happened when The Open visited Royal Troon previously?
