The 2009 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 138th Open Championship, held from 16–19 July at the Ailsa Course of the Turnberry Resort, in Ayrshire, Scotland. Stewart Cink won his only major championship after a four-hole playoff with Tom Watson. At age 59, Watson had the chance to win his sixth Open and become the oldest major champion in history during regulation play, but was unable to par the final hole and tied with Cink.[2]
As with previous editions of The Open Championship at Turnberry, this event was played on the resort's Ailsa Course. Since it last hosted the Championship in 1994, the course had been lengthened by almost 250 yards (230 m), with over 60 yards (55 m) having been added to the par 5 17th hole. Six new tees had been built, and the 16th hole was 45 yards (41 m) longer and had been remodelled into a dog-leg to the right, having previously been relatively straight.[4]
Card of the course
Ailsa Course
Hole
Name
Yards
Par
Hole
Name
Yards
Par
1
Ailsa Craig
354
4
10
Dinna Fouter
456
4
2
Mak Siccar
428
4
11
Maidens
175
3
3
Blaw Wearie
489
4
12
Monument
451
4
4
Woe-Be-Tide
166
3
13
Tickly Tap
410
4
5
Fin Me Oot
474
4
14
Risk-An-Hope
448
4
6
Tappie Toorie
231
3
15
Ca' Canny
206
3
7
Roon The Ben
538
5
16
Wee Burn
455
4
8
Goat Fell
454
4
17
Lang Whang
559
5
9
Bruce's Castle
449
4
18
Duel in the Sun
461
4
Out
3,583
35
In
3,621
35
Total
7,204
70
Previous lengths of the course for The Open Championship:[1]
Each year, around two-thirds of The Open Championship field consists of players that are fully exempt from qualifying for the Open. Below is a list of the exemption categories, and the players who were exempt for the 2009 Open. Each player is classified according to the first category by which they qualified, with other categories they also fall into being shown in parentheses. Some categories are not shown as all players in that category had already qualified from an earlier category:
9. First 2 European Tour members and any European Tour members tying for 2nd place, not exempt, in a cumulative money list taken from all official PGA European Tour events from OWGR Week 19 up to and including the BMW International Open and including the U.S. Open Nick Dougherty, Johan Edfors
17. First 2 PGA Tour members and any PGA Tour members tying for 2nd place, not exempt, in a cumulative money list taken from The Players Championship and the five PGA Tour events leading up to and including the 2009 AT&T National Paul Goydos, Bryce Molder
Alternates
Drawn from the Official World Golf Rankings of 5 July 2009[14] (provide the player was entered in the Open and did not withdraw from qualifying):[9][15]
High winds and scattered showers pushed the scoring average more than two strokes higher with just seven sub-par rounds on Friday, compared to fifty on Thursday. The conditions were the worst during the morning, and the round's best of 68 belonging to co-leader Steve Marino and Ross Fisher, tied for fourth place. Retief Goosen shot an even par 70 to share fourth. Veteran Tom Watson continued his excellent performance; he struggled through the front nine, but holed long putts at the 16th and 18th, as he made three birdies on the back nine to tie Marino for the lead at 135 (−5). Nearly sixty, Watson looked to become the oldest winner of a major championship by over a decade.[19]
The cut was at 144 (+4) and 73 players advanced to the weekend. Sixteen-year-old British Amateur ChampionMatteo Manassero played with Watson and posted 141 and all but secured the silver medal as the leading amateur.[20] Among those to miss the cut was world number one and pre-tournament favorite Tiger Woods. Going out in the afternoon, his 74 included two double bogeys on holes 10 and 13, and his 145 missed the cut by a stroke. It was his first missed cut at the Open, and only the second missed cut in a major as a professional, after the 2006 U.S. Open.[19] Other notables to miss the cut included Mike Weir (67–78=145), Ben Curtis (65–80=145), David Duval (71–76=147), and Geoff Ogilvy (75–78=153).[21]
Tom Watson continued his good form with a one-over 71 to maintain a one stroke lead. Mathew Goggin was one of only five players under par in conditions similar to Friday, and was just one stroke off the lead, tied for second with Ross Fisher. The best round of the day was 67 by Bryce Molder, who leapt into the top ten after starting the round in a tie for 53rd.[22][23]
Fisher birdied the first two holes to take the outright lead as Watson had two bogeys in three holes. Fisher had a three shot lead at one point, but dropped back with a bogey on the 4th hole and quadruple bogey 8 on the 5th hole, and was never in contention again. Matthew Goggin was in contention most of the day and was tied for the lead with 5 holes remaining, but 3 straight bogeys took him out of contention. Chris Wood was 4 under for the day through 17 holes and 2 under the tournament, just 1 stroke behind the lead. But he caught a flier from the rough on 18 and was unable to get up and down behind the green, dropping to 1 under. Lee Westwood eagled the 7th hole to move into the lead, which he held or shared for most of the round, but bogeys at three of the last four holes, including a three putt on 18, dropped him to 1 under, one stroke behind clubhouse leader Cink, who had rolled in a 15-foot (4.5 m) putt for birdie at the 18th to move to two-under.
Watson birdied the 17th to move into sole possession of the lead at 3 under par. Needing a par four at the 18th to win, his approach shot took a hard bounce and rolled well over the green. Watson was unable to get up and down and entered into a four-hole playoff with Cink for the Claret Jug.[2][24]
Watson and Cink had tied at 278 (−2) during regulation play and entered a playoff for the championship. Under the rules of the Open Championship, a four-hole aggregate playoff was played over hole numbers 5, 6, 17, and 18.
On the first extra hole, both players found greenside bunkers, but while Watson was only able to make minimal progress towards the hole and made bogey, Cink splashed out to six feet (1.8 m) and saved par. Both made par three on the second hole, but at the par 5 17th, Watson's drive went left to a bad lie in heavy rough, and he was unable to reach the fairway with his next shot. On the green in four, he three-putted for double bogey, while Cink hit the green in two and two-putted for birdie. With a four-stroke lead on the final hole, Cink hit his approach to five feet (1.5 m) and made birdie to triumph in the playoff by six strokes.[2][24]
