2003 Open Championship

2003 Open Championship
Tournament information
Dates17–20 July 2003
LocationSandwich, England
Course(s)Royal St George's Golf Club
Organized byThe R&A
Tour(s)European Tour
PGA Tour
Japan Golf Tour
Statistics
Par71
Length7,106 yards (6,498 m)[1]
Field156 players, 75 after cut[1]
Cut150 (+8)[1]
Prize fund£3,900,000
€5,631,600
$6,240,000
Winner's share£700,000
€1,010,800
$1,112,720
Champion
United States Ben Curtis
283 (−1)
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2004 →
Sandwich is located in England
Sandwich
Sandwich
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Location in England

The 2003 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 132nd Open Championship, held from 17 to 20 July at Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, England. Ben Curtis won his only major title, one stroke ahead of runners-up Thomas Bjørn and Vijay Singh. Bjørn had led in the final round by two shots with three holes to play, but needed three attempts to play out of a greenside bunker on the 16th hole.[2][3] Playing in his first major championship and number 396 in the world rankings, Curtis became the first debut winner at The Open since Tom Watson in 1975.[4][5][6]

Course layout

Main article: Royal St George's Golf Club
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Yards 442 418 210 497 420 172 532 455 388 3,534 414 242 381 459 550 475 163 428 460 3,572 7,106
Par 4 4 3 5 4 3 5 4 4 36 4 3 4 4 5 4 3 4 4 35 71

Source:[7]

  • The 4th hole was a par 4 in previous Opens

Lengths of the course for previous Opens (since 1950):[1]

  • 1993: 6,860 yards (6,273 m), par 70
  • 1985: 6,857 yards (6,270 m), par 70
  • 1981: 6,827 yards (6,243 m), par 70

Field

1. Top 15 and ties from the 2002 Open Championship

Stuart Appleby (4), Thomas Bjørn (4,5,18), Steve Elkington, Ernie Els (2,3,4,5,10,14), Gary Evans, Sergio García (4,5,14,18), Retief Goosen (4,5,10,14), Søren Hansen (5), Pádraig Harrington (4,5,18), Justin Leonard (2,3,4,14), Thomas Levet, Peter Lonard (4,22), Davis Love III (4,13,18), Shigeki Maruyama (4,14), Peter O'Malley (22), Nick Price (2,3,4,14)

2. Open Champions, 1993–2002

John Daly (3), David Duval (3,18), Paul Lawrie (3,4,5), Tom Lehman (3), Greg Norman (3), Mark O'Meara (3), Tiger Woods (3,4,10,11,12,13,14,18)

3. Past Open Champions aged 65 or under on 20 July 2003

Mark Calcavecchia (18), Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Tom Watson

4. The first 50 players on the OWGR on 29 May 2003

Robert Allenby (14), Rich Beem (12,14), Ángel Cabrera (5), Michael Campbell (5), Paul Casey, K. J. Choi (14), Darren Clarke (18), Fred Couples, Chris DiMarco (14), Bob Estes, Niclas Fasth (5,18), Brad Faxon, Steve Flesch, Fred Funk (14), Jim Furyk (10,14,18), Jay Haas, Charles Howell III (14), Trevor Immelman (5,24), Jerry Kelly (14), Bernhard Langer (5,18), Len Mattiace (14), Phil Mickelson (14,18), Colin Montgomerie (5,6,18), Craig Parry (22), Kenny Perry, Chris Riley, Eduardo Romero (5), Justin Rose (5), Adam Scott (5), Vijay Singh (11,12,14), Jeff Sluman (14), David Toms (12,14,18), Scott Verplank (18), Mike Weir (11)

5. Top 20 in the final 2002 European Tour Order of Merit

Bradley Dredge, Anders Hansen (6), Stephen Leaney, José María Olazábal (11)

6. The Volvo PGA Championship winners for 2000–03

Ignacio Garrido, Andrew Oldcorn

7. First 5 players, not exempt, in the top 20 of the 2003 European Tour Order of Merit as of 29 May

Brian Davis, Robert-Jan Derksen, Kenneth Ferrie, Mathias Grönberg, Freddie Jacobson

8. First 7 European Tour members, not exempt, in the top 25 of a cumulative money list taken from all official European Tour events from the 2003 Volvo PGA Championship up to and including the 2003 Scottish Open

Alastair Forsyth, Philip Golding, David Howell, Søren Kjeldsen, Mark McNulty, Greg Owen, Ian Poulter

9. The leading 8 players, not exempt having applied (8) above, in the 2003 Scottish Open

Raphaël Jacquelin, David Lynn, Rolf Muntz, Gary Murphy, Nick O'Hern, Iain Pyman, Mark Roe, Charl Schwartzel

10. The U.S. Open Champions for 1994–2003

Lee Janzen, Corey Pavin

11. The Masters Champions for 1999–2003
12. The PGA Champions for 1998–2002
13. The Players Champions for 2000–03

Craig Perks, Hal Sutton (18)

14. Top 20 in the final 2002 PGA Tour Official Money List
15. First 5 players, not exempt, in the top 20 of the 2003 PGA Tour Official Money List as of 29 May

Chad Campbell

16. First 7 PGA Tour members, not exempt, in the top 25 of a cumulative money list taken from the 2003 Players Championship and the five PGA Tour events leading up to and including the 2003 Western Open

Joe Durant, Jonathan Kaye, Cliff Kresge, J. L. Lewis, Rory Sabbatini, Duffy Waldorf

17. The leading 8 players, not exempt having applied (16) above, in the 2003 Western Open

Tom Byrum, José Cóceres, Ben Curtis, Luke Donald, Dudley Hart, Skip Kendall, Scott McCarron, Chris Smith

18. Playing members of the 2002 Ryder Cup teams

Paul Azinger, Stewart Cink, Pierre Fulke, Paul McGinley, Jesper Parnevik, Phillip Price, Lee Westwood

19. The 2002 Canadian Open Champion

John Rollins

20. The 2002 Japan Open Champion

David Smail

21. Winner of the 2002 Asian PGA Tour Order of Merit

Jyoti Randhawa

22. Top 3 from the 2002–03 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit
23. Top 3 from the 2002 Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit

Shingo Katayama, Nobuhito Sato, Toru Taniguchi

24. Top 2 from the 2002–03 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit

Mark Foster

25. The leading player, not exempt, in the 2003 Mizuno Open

Todd Hamilton

26. First 4, not exempt having applied (25) above, in the top 20 of a cumulative money list taken from all official Japan Golf Tour events from the 2003 Japan PGA Championship up to and including the 2003 Mizuno Open

Hur Suk-ho, Hirofumi Miyase, Hideto Tanihara, Katsuyoshi Tomori

27. The 2002 Senior British Open Champion

Noboru Sugai

28. The 2003 Amateur Champion

Gary Wolstenholme (a)

29. The 2002 U.S. Amateur Champion

Ricky Barnes (a)

30. The 2002 European Amateur Champion
Final Qualifying (Sunday 13 July and Monday 14 July)
Littlestone – Steven Bowditch, Robert Coles, Scott Godfrey (a), Adam Le Vesconte, Christopher Smith, Anthony Wall, Paul Wesselingh
North Foreland – Gary Emerson, Andrew George, Adam Mednick, Mårten Olander, Hennie Otto, Anthony Sproston, Simon Wakefield
Prince's – Mathew Goggin, Jarrod Moseley, Cameron Percy, Andrew Raitt, Marco Ruiz, Steen Tinning, Ian Woosnam
Royal Cinque Ports – Markus Brier, Charles Challen, Ben Crane, Peter Fowler, Euan Little, Malcolm MacKenzie, Mark Smith

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 17 July 2003

Place Player Score To par[8]
1 South Africa Hennie Otto 68 −3
T2 United States Davis Love III 69 −2
Australia Greg Norman
T4 South Korea S.K. Ho 70 −1
Sweden Freddie Jacobson
T6 United States Fred Couples 71 E
England Gary Evans
Sweden Mathias Grönberg
United States Charles Howell III
France Thomas Levet
United States Scott McCarron
United States Tom Watson

Second round

Friday, 18 July 2003

Place Player Score To par[9]
1 United States Davis Love III 69-72=141 −1
T2 Denmark Thomas Bjørn 73-70=143 +1
South Korea S.K. Ho 70-73=143
T4 United States Ben Curtis 72-72=144 +2
Scotland Alastair Forsyth 74-70=144
Spain Sergio García 73-71=144
France Thomas Levet 71-73=144
South Africa Hennie Otto 68-76=144
United States Kenny Perry 74-70=144
Paraguay Marco Ruiz 73-71=144

Amateurs: Barnes (+11), Wolstenholme (+14), Godfrey (+18).

Third round

Saturday, 19 July 2003

Mark Roe shot a 67 to finish at one over par, but he and playing partner Jesper Parnevik were disqualified, having failed to exchange scorecards and therefore having signed incorrect scorecards.[10] The rule that resulted in the disqualifications was changed two years later;[11] Roe never played in another major.[12]

Place Player Score To par[13]
1 Denmark Thomas Bjørn 73-70-69=212 −1
2 United States Davis Love III 69-72-72=213 E
T3 United States Ben Curtis 72-72-70=214 +1
Spain Sergio García 73-71-70=214
United States Kenny Perry 74-70-70=214
Fiji Vijay Singh 75-70-69=214
United States Tiger Woods 73-72-69=214
T8 South Korea Hur Suk-ho 70-73-72=215 +2
Wales Phillip Price 74-72-69=215
T10 England Gary Evans 71-75-70=216 +3
Sweden Pierre Fulke 77-72-67=216
Sweden Freddie Jacobson 70-76-70=216
Australia Peter Lonard 73-73-70=216

Final round

Sunday, 20 July 2003

Ben Curtis shot six-under in the first 11 holes to grab a 2 stroke lead, but dropped four strokes in the next six holes to fall behind, and sank a 10-foot (3 m) par putt on the final hole to post the clubhouse lead. Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods also moved into early contention, but fell behind Curtis with late bogeys, leaving Thomas Bjørn with a three stroke lead with four holes to play. He finished bogey-double bogey-bogey-par and tied for second, one stroke back.

It was not only Curtis' first win, but his first top-10 finish in a PGA Tour event.

Place Player Score To par Money (£)
1 United States Ben Curtis 72-72-70-69=283 −1 700,000
T2 Denmark Thomas Bjørn 73-70-69-72=284 E 345,000
Fiji Vijay Singh 75-70-69-70=284
T4 United States Davis Love III 69-72-72-72=285 +1 185,000
United States Tiger Woods 73-72-69-71=285
T6 England Brian Davis 77-73-68-68=286 +2 134,500
Sweden Freddie Jacobson 70-76-70-70=286
T8 England Nick Faldo 76-74-67-70=287 +3 155,383
United States Kenny Perry 74-70-70-73=287
T10 England Gary Evans 71-75-70-72=288 +4 97,750
Spain Sergio García 73-71-70-74=288
South Africa Retief Goosen 73-75-71-69=288
South Africa Hennie Otto 68-76-75-69=288
Wales Phillip Price 74-72-69-73=288

Source:[14]

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 3 5 4 3 5 4 4 4 3 4 4 5 4 3 4 4
United States Curtis E E E −1 −1 −1 −2 −2 −3 −4 −5 −4 −4 −3 −2 −2 −1 −1
Denmark Bjørn E E −1 −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −4 −3 −1 E E
Fiji Singh +1 E E E −1 −2 −3 −2 −2 −1 −1 −1 E −1 −1 E E E
United States Love +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +2 +2 +2 +3 +2 +2 +1 E E E E +1 +1
United States Woods +1 +1 +1 E −1 −1 −2 −1 −1 E E E E −1 E E +1 +1

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:[15]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 27, 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  2. ^ "Bunkered Bjorn's sandy sorrow". BBC Sport. 21 July 2003. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  3. ^ Bamberger, Michael (28 July 2003). "A major major upset". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  4. ^ "Ben who?". BBC Sport. 20 July 2003. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  5. ^ Ferguson, Doug (21 July 2003). "Rookie pulls off stunner". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. p. C-1. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  6. ^ Newberry, Paul (21 July 2003). "Caught in a trap". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. p. C-3. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  7. ^ "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. p. 5. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  8. ^ "PGA European Tour - Tournaments". Archived from the original on 4 September 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  9. ^ "PGA European Tour - Tournaments". Archived from the original on 4 September 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  10. ^ "Roe and Parnevik disqualified". BBC Sport. 19 July 2003. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  11. ^ "Mark Roe welcomes new rules change". Golf Today. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  12. ^ "Mark Roe Career Record". PGA European Tour. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  13. ^ "PGA European Tour - Tournaments". Archived from the original on 4 September 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  14. ^ "2003 Open Championship results". databasegolf.com. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  15. ^ "British Open Championship". ESPN. Retrieved 10 August 2015.

51°16′26″N 1°22′01″E / 51.274°N 1.367°E / 51.274; 1.367