1976 Open Championship

1976 Open Championship
Tournament information
Dates7–10 July 1976
LocationSouthport, England
Course(s)Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Tour(s)European Tour
PGA Tour
Statistics
Par72[1]
Length7,001 yards (6,402 m)[1]
Field155 players
84 after 1st cut
66 after 2nd cut[1]
Cut152 (+8) (1st cut)
226 (+10) (2nd cut)[1]
Prize fund£75,000
$135,000
Winner's share£7,500
$13,500
Champion
United States Johnny Miller
279 (−9)
← 1975
1977 →
 Royal Birkdale  Golf Club is located in Merseyside
 Royal Birkdale  Golf Club
 Royal Birkdale
 Golf Club
class=notpageimage|
Location in Southport, Merseyside,
north of Liverpool, England

The 1976 Open Championship was the 105th Open Championship, played 7–10 July at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. Johnny Miller won his only Open championship, six strokes ahead of runners-up Seve Ballesteros and Jack Nicklaus. It was Miller's second and last major championship title; his first was the U.S. Open in 1973.[2][3][4]

Ballesteros, age 19, was the 54-hole leader at 211 (−5), two strokes ahead of Miller.[5] In the final round, he was seven over par after twelve holes, which included a triple-bogey at the eleventh. Ballesteros rallied on the final six holes, with three birdies and an eagle, to tie Nicklaus for second place.

Defending champion Tom Watson carded an 80 (+8) in the third round for 227 (+11) and missed the second cut by a stroke. U.S. Open champion Jerry Pate was level par after two rounds, but also missed the second cut with an 87 for 231.[6] Masters winner Raymond Floyd finished in fourth at 286 (−2), a stroke behind Ballesteros and Nicklaus. The championship is also well remembered for the one and only appearance of Maurice Flitcroft who posed as a professional to gain entry and carded a record 121 for his first round qualifier before being banned by the R&A.[7]

Round summaries

First round

Wednesday, 7 July 1976

Place Player Score To par
T1 Spain Seve Ballesteros 69 −3
Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Jnr
Japan Norio Suzuki
T4 Scotland Brian Barnes 70 −2
United States Tom Kite
Australia Jack Newton
T7 United States Bill Brask 71 −1
South Africa John Fourie
Australia Graham Marsh
T10 New Zealand Bob Charles 72 E
Netherlands Jan Dorrestein
United States Hubert Green
United States Johnny Miller
South Africa Gary Player

Second round

Thursday, 8 July 1976

Place Player Score To par
1 Spain Seve Ballesteros 69-69=138 −6
2 United States Johnny Miller 72-68=140 −4
T3 United States Hubert Green 72-70=142 −2
Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Jnr 69-73=142
T5 Scotland Brian Barnes 70-73=143 −1
United States Raymond Floyd 76-67=143
England Tommy Horton 74-69=143
T8 United States George Burns 75-69=144 E
United States Carl Higgins 77-67=144
Wales Guy Hunt 76-68=144
United States Tom Kite 70-74=144
Australia Graham Marsh 71-73=144
Australia Jack Newton 70-74=144
United States Jack Nicklaus 74-70=144
United States Jerry Pate 73-71=144
South Africa Gary Player 72-72=144
Japan Norio Suzuki 69-75=144

Amateurs: McEvoy (+12), Squires (+12), Powell (+14), Poxon (+14), McNally (+15), McLean (+17), Ridley (+22).

Third round

Friday, 9 July 1976

Place Player Score To par
1 Spain Seve Ballesteros 69-69-73=211 −5
2 United States Johnny Miller 72-68-73=213 −3
3 England Tommy Horton 74-69-72=215 −1
T4 Australia Graham Marsh 71-73-72=216 E
United States Jack Nicklaus 74-70-72=216
United States Raymond Floyd 76-67-73=216
T7 United States Tom Kite 70-74-73=217 +1
Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Jnr 69-73-75=217
T9 South Africa Bobby Cole 75-71-72=218 +2
Scotland Brian Barnes 70-73-75=218

Source:[6]

Final round

Saturday, 10 July 1976

Place Player Score To par Money (£)
1 United States Johnny Miller 72-68-73-66=279 −9 7,500
T2 United States Jack Nicklaus 74-70-72-69=285 −3 5,250
Spain Seve Ballesteros 69-69-73-74=285
4 United States Raymond Floyd 76-67-73-70=286 −2 3,800
T5 England Mark James 76-72-74-66=288 E 2,820
United States Hubert Green 72-70-78-68=288
United States Tom Kite 70-74-73-71=288
Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Jnr 69-73-75-71=288
England Tommy Horton 74-69-72-73=288
T10 United States George Burns 75-69-75-70=289 +1 1,975
England Peter Butler 74-72-73-70=289
Argentina Vicente Fernández 79-71-69-70=289
Japan Norio Suzuki 69-75-75-70=289

Source:[4][8]

Scorecard

Final round

Hole 1 2 3 4; 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 3 5 3 5 4 5 5
United States Miller −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4 −4 −5 −7 −7 −7 −7 −8 −9
Spain Ballesteros −5 −4 −4 −4 −4 −2 −2 −1 −1 −2 +1 +2 +1 E E E −2 −3
United States Nicklaus E E −1 −2 −2 E E E E E E +1 E −1 −1 −1 −2 −3
United States Floyd E E E E −1 −2 −1 −1 E −1 −1 E −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 −2

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Eagle Birdie Bogey Double bogey Triple bogey+

Source:[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 60, 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  2. ^ Jenkins, Dan (19 July 1976). "At last, he's out of the crowd". Sports Illustrated. p. 18.
  3. ^ "Miller wins British Open". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. 11 July 1976. p. 1, sec. 3.
  4. ^ a b c "Miller turns it into runaway". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. 11 July 1976. p. B1.
  5. ^ "Ballesteros is Bullish in British". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. 10 July 1976. p. 1, sec. 2.
  6. ^ a b "Golf: British Open scores". Chicago Tribune. 10 July 1976. p. 2, sec. 2.
  7. ^ @ajcdeane (21 February 2021). "Maurice's memoirs remain tragically..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  8. ^ "1976 Open Championship results". databasegolf.com. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  9. ^ "British Pound / US Dollar Historical Reference Rates from Bank of England for 1976". PoundSterling. July 1976. Retrieved 18 July 2024.

53°37′19″N 3°01′59″W / 53.622°N 3.033°W / 53.622; -3.033