2016 Open Championship

2016 Open Championship
Tournament information
Dates14–17 July 2016
LocationTroon, South Ayrshire, Scotland
55°31′55″N 4°39′04″W / 55.532°N 4.651°W / 55.532; -4.651
Course(s)Royal Troon Golf Club
Old Course
Organized byThe R&A
Tour(s)
Statistics
Par71
Length7,190 yd (6,575 m)
Field156 players, 81 after cut
Cut146 (+4)
Prize fund£6,500,000[1]
€7,544,614
$8,572,200
Winner's share£1,175,000
€1,363,834
$1,549,590
Champion
Sweden Henrik Stenson
264 (−20)
Location map
Royal Troon is located in the United Kingdom
Royal Troon
Royal Troon
Location in the United Kingdom
Royal Troon is located in Scotland
Royal Troon
Royal Troon
Location in Scotland
Royal Troon is located in South Ayrshire
Royal Troon
Royal Troon
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The 2016 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 145th Open Championship, played from 14–17 July at Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland. It was the ninth Open Championship played at the Old Course of Troon, and the fifth since gaining royal status.

Henrik Stenson shot a final round 63 for 264, a record 20-under par, three strokes ahead of runner-up Phil Mickelson, the 2013 champion. The leader after 54 holes, Stenson became the first Scandinavian man to win a major title.[2] The duo's final-day battle, ending fourteen and eleven shots clear of third-place J. B. Holmes, was dubbed "High Noon at Troon" and compared in quality to the renowned "Duel in the Sun" of 1977.[3][4]

Media

This was the first Open Championship under new television rights deals in the United Kingdom and United States. In the U.K., Sky Sports replaced the BBC, who held broadcast rights from 1955 to 2015, marking the first time that rights to the Open had been held by a subscription television service. To comply with anti-siphoning laws, rights to broadcast a nightly highlights programme on free-to-air television were sold to the BBC. The contract was to begin in 2017, but the BBC opted out of the 2016 edition.[5][6]

In the U.S., television rights shifted from ESPN to NBC and sister pay-TV network Golf Channel, marking the first time that Golf Channel had coverage of a men's major championship. It also restored a major to the network for the first time since 2014; from 1995 to 2014, NBC televised the U.S. Open and other championships of the USGA, which moved to Fox Sports in 2015.[7] Similarly to the BBC, ESPN chose to opt out of its final year of Open rights, causing NBC's rights to begin in 2016 instead.[8]

Venue

Main article: Royal Troon Golf Club

Old Course

Hole Name Yards Par Hole Name Yards Par
1 Seal 367 4 10 Sandhills 451 4
2 Black Rock 390 4 11 The Railway 482 4
3 Gyaws 377 4 12 The Fox 430 4
4 Dunure 555 5 13 Burmah 473 4
5 Greenan 209 3 14 Alton 178 3
6 Turnberry 601 5 15 Crosbie 499 4
7 Tel-el-Kebir 401 4 16 Well 554 5
8 Postage Stamp 123 3 17 Rabbit 220 3
9 The Monk 422 4 18 Craigend 458 4
Out 3,445 36 In 3,745 35
Source:[9] Total 7,190 71

Lengths of the course for previous Opens:[10][11]

Opens from 1962 through 1989 played the 11th hole as a par-5.

Field

Criteria and exemptions

Each player is classified according to the first category in which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses.[12][13]

1. The Open Champions aged 60 or under on 17 July 2016

2. The Open Champions for 2006–2015

3. First 10 and anyone tying for 10th place in the 2015 Open Championship

4. The first 50 players on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) for Week 21, 2016

5. First 30 in the Race to Dubai for 2015

6. The BMW PGA Championship winners for 2014–2016

7. First 5 European Tour members and any European Tour members tying for 5th place, not otherwise exempt, in the top 20 of the Race to Dubai on completion of the 2016 BMW International Open

8. The U.S. Open Champions for 2012–2016

9. The Masters Tournament Champions for 2012–2016

10. The PGA Champions for 2011–2015

11. The Players Champions for 2014–2016

12. Top 30 players from the final 2015 FedEx Cup points list

  • Bae Sang-moon (14) was unable to compete due to a military obligation in South Korea.

13. First 5 PGA Tour members and any PGA Tour members tying for 5th place, not exempt in the top 20 of the PGA Tour FedEx Cup points list for 2016 on completion of the 2016 Quicken Loans National

14. Playing members of the 2015 Presidents Cup teams

15. First and anyone tying for 1st place on the Order of Merit of the Asian Tour for 2015

16. First and anyone tying for 1st place on the Order of Merit of the PGA Tour of Australasia for 2015

17. First and anyone tying for 1st place on the Order of Merit of the Southern Africa PGA Sunshine Tour for 2015

18. The Japan Open Champion for 2015

19. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, not exempt, on the Official Money List of the Japan Golf Tour for 2015

20. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, in a cumulative money list taken from all official 2016 Japan Golf Tour events up to and including the 2016 Japan Golf Tour Championship

21. The Senior Open Champion for 2015

22. The Amateur Champion for 2016

23. The U.S. Amateur Champion for 2015

24. The European Amateur Champion for 2015

25. The Mark H. McCormack Medal winner for 2015

  • Jon Rahm forfeited his exemption by turning professional in June 2016 but subsequently earned a spot through the Open Qualifying Series.

Open Qualifying Series

The Open Qualifying Series (OQS) consisted of 10 events from the six major tours. Places were available to the leading players (not otherwise exempt) who finish in the top n and ties. In the event of ties, positions went to players ranked highest according to that week's OWGR.

Location Tournament Date Spots Top Qualifiers
Australia Emirates Australian Open 29 Nov 3 10 Nick Cullen, Matt Jones, Rod Pampling
Thailand Thailand Golf Championship 13 Dec 4 12 Jamie Donaldson, Phachara Khongwatmai, Clément Sordet, Lee Westwood (4)
Africa Joburg Open 17 Jan 3 10 Zander Lombard, Haydn Porteous, Anthony Wall
Japan Mizuno Open 29 May 4 12 Kodai Ichihara, Shugo Imahira, Lee Sang-hee, Hideto Tanihara
Sweden Nordea Masters 5 Jun 1 5 Lasse Jensen
USA FedEx St. Jude Classic 12 Jun 4 12 Brian Gay, Russell Henley, Noh Seung-yul, Steve Stricker
USA Quicken Loans National 26 Jun 4 12 Jon Rahm, Vijay Singh, Harold Varner III
France Alstom Open de France 3 Jul 4 12 Alex Norén, Callum Shinkwin, Richard Sterne, Brandon Stone
USA Barracuda Championship 3 Jul 1 5 Greg Chalmers
Scotland Scottish Open 10 Jul 4 12 Nicolas Colsaerts, Tyrrell Hatton, Matteo Manassero, Richie Ramsay

The Greenbrier Classic was cancelled due to the damage sustained by the course in the 2016 West Virginia flood.[18] The Open Qualifying Series event originally slated for the Greenbrier was shifted to the Barracuda Championship.[19]

Final Qualifying

The Final Qualifying events were played on 28 June at four courses covering Scotland and the North-West, Central and South-coast regions of England. Three qualifying places were available at each location. None of the twelve qualifiers had played in Regional Qualifying on 20 June: each was exempted by virtue of holding an Official World Golf Ranking.[20]

Location Qualifiers[a][b]
Gailes Links Oskar Arvidsson, Scott Fernández, Colin Montgomerie
Hillside Dave Coupland, Paul Howard, Jack Senior
Royal Cinque Ports Steven Alker, James Heath, Matthew Southgate
Woburn Paul Dunne, Ryan Evans, Robert Rock

Alternates

To make up the full field of 156, additional places were allocated in ranking order from the Official World Golf Ranking at the time that these places were made available by the Championship Committee.

From the Week 26 Official World Golf Ranking:[21]

From the Week 27 Official World Golf Ranking:

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 14 July 2016

Phil Mickelson shot an 8-under-par 63 to take a three-shot lead over Martin Kaymer and Patrick Reed. His 63 tied him with 27 others for the lowest round in a major championship.[25][26] Mickelson had a 16-foot putt at the 18th to become the first player to score 62 at a major championship, but the putt lipped out of the hole.[27]

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Phil Mickelson 63 −8
T2 Germany Martin Kaymer 66 −5
United States Patrick Reed
T4 United States Keegan Bradley 67 −4
United States Tony Finau
United States Billy Horschel
United States Zach Johnson
Denmark Søren Kjeldsen
United States Steve Stricker
England Andy Sullivan
United States Justin Thomas

Second round

Friday, 15 July 2016

Phil Mickelson maintained his lead at the halfway point at 132 (−10), a stroke ahead of Henrik Stenson, whose 65 moved him into solo second place.[28] The cut was at 146 (+4), allowing previous major champions Jordan Spieth, Danny Willett, and Bubba Watson to continue onto the third day. Billy Horschel started in joint fourth place, but had a dismal 85 to miss the cut by six strokes.[29]

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Phil Mickelson 63-69=132 −10
2 Sweden Henrik Stenson 68-65=133 −9
T3 United States Keegan Bradley 67-68=135 −7
Denmark Søren Kjeldsen 67-68=135
5 United States Zach Johnson 67-70=137 −5
T6 United States Tony Finau 67-71=138 −4
Spain Sergio García 68-70=138
United States Bill Haas 68-70=138
England Andrew Johnston 69-69=138
South Africa Charl Schwartzel 72-66=138

Amateurs: Gregory (+9), Mazzoli (+12)

Third round

Saturday, 16 July 2016

Henrik Stenson (68) overtook Phil Mickelson (70) in the third round, taking a single-shot lead into the final round,[30] with Mickelson five shots clear of the field.[31]

Place Player Score To par
1 Sweden Henrik Stenson 68-65-68=201 −12
2 United States Phil Mickelson 63-69-70=202 −11
3 United States Bill Haas 68-70-69=207 −6
4 England Andrew Johnston 69-69-70=208 −5
5 United States J. B. Holmes 70-70-69=209 −4
T6 United States Tony Finau 67-71-72=210 −3
Denmark Søren Kjeldsen 67-68-75=210
United States Steve Stricker 67-75-68=210
T9 United States Keegan Bradley 67-68-76=211 −2
Spain Sergio García 68-70-73=211
United States Patrick Reed 66-74-71=211
South Africa Charl Schwartzel 72-66-73=211

Final round

Sunday, 17 July 2016

In what earned instant acclaim as one of the greatest final-round duels in major championship history,[32] Henrik Stenson broke the aggregate scoring record for all majors while establishing a new Open Championship record on his way to his first career major win. In the final pairing with Phil Mickelson, Stenson began the round with a one-shot advantage. Mickelson quickly jumped into the lead with a birdie at the first while Stenson three-putted for bogey. Stenson rebounded with five birdies on the front nine while Mickelson recorded a birdie and an eagle at the par-5 fourth, giving Stenson back a one-shot lead at the turn.[33]

Both birdied the tenth, then Stenson made bogey at the eleventh and they were tied again.[34] Both parred the next two holes, then Stenson recorded three consecutive birdies, including a 51-foot (16 m) putt from off the green on the 15th to open up a two-shot lead. Mickelson narrowly missed an eagle putt on the 16th while Stenson got up and down from the greenside rough for a birdie to maintain the advantage. With another birdie at the 18th, Stenson tied the major championship scoring record at 63 (−8).[35] Runner-up Mickelson shot 267 to equal the previous Open record set by Greg Norman in 1993. Eleven strokes behind Mickelson in solo third was J. B. Holmes at 278 (−6).

Final leaderboard

Champion
(a) = amateur
(c) = past champion
Place Player Score To par Money (£)
1 Sweden Henrik Stenson 68-65-68-63=264 −20 1,175,000
2 United States Phil Mickelson (c) 63-69-70-65=267 −17 675,000
3 United States J. B. Holmes 70-70-69-69=278 −6 433,000
4 United States Steve Stricker 67-75-68-69=279 −5 337,000
T5 Spain Sergio García 68-70-73-69=280 −4 235,667
England Tyrrell Hatton 70-71-71-68=280
Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy (c) 69-71-73-67=280
8 England Andrew Johnston 69-69-70-73=281 −3 170,000
T9 United States Bill Haas 68-70-69-75=282 −2 135,333
United States Dustin Johnson 71-69-72-70=282
Denmark Søren Kjeldsen 67-68-75-72=282

Source:[36]

Scorecard

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par 4 4 4 5 3 5 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 5 3 4
Sweden Stenson −11 −12 −13 −14 −14 −15 −15 −16 −16 −17 −16 −16 −16 −17 −18 −19 −19 −20
United States Mickelson −12 −12 −12 −14 −14 −15 −15 −15 −15 −16 −16 −16 −16 −16 −16 −17 −17 −17
United States Holmes −4 −4 −4 −5 −5 −6 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −5 −6 −6 −6
United States Stricker −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −6 −6 −7 −5 −5
Spain García −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −3 −4 −5 −5 −4 −4 −4 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4
England Hatton −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4
Northern Ireland McIlroy E −1 −1 −1 −2 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −3 −2 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4
England Johnston −6 −5 −6 −7 −7 −7 −7 −6 −6 −5 −5 −4 −4 −4 −3 −3 −3 −3
United States Haas −6 −6 −6 −6 −5 −4 −4 −3 −3 −3 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2
United States D. Johnson −1 −1 −2 −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2
Denmark Kjeldsen −3 −2 −2 −2 −1 −1 −1 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Eagle Birdie Bogey Double bogey

Source:[36]

Records

  • Stenson became the second to finish 20-under-par in a major championship, tying Jason Day's record from the PGA Championship in 2015.
  • Stenson was the first to finish 20-under at the Open Championship, beating Tiger Woods' record of 19-under in 2000.
  • Stenson's 264 set a new major championship record, beating David Toms' 265 in the PGA Championship in 2001.
  • Stenson broke the previous Open Championship record by three shots, formerly 267, set by Greg Norman in 1993.
  • Stenson's 63 (in round 4) and Mickelson's (in round 1) tied the major record for a round. It was the 28th and 29th time this score had been achieved, and Stenson was the 27th different player to do so. Stenson and Johnny Miller are the only players to shoot 63 in the final round of a major and win.[37]
  • Mickelson, age 46, became the oldest player to shoot a round of 63 in an Open Championship and also the second-oldest player to shoot 63 in any major championship; Gary Player shot 63 in the second round of the PGA Championship in 1984 at age 48.[38]
  • The 11-shot difference between 2nd and 3rd place was the largest in history.[39]

Notes

  1. ^ (a) – indicates the player was an amateur.
  2. ^ (R) – indicates a golfer who came through Regional Qualifying.
  3. ^ Herman replaced Billy Hurley III.
  4. ^ Fraser replaced Tiger Woods.
  5. ^ Donald replaced Jaco van Zyl.[22]
  6. ^ Summerhays replaced Stewart Cink.[23]
  7. ^ Lovemark replaced Daniel Berger.[15]
  8. ^ Knost replaced Brooks Koepka.[14]

References

  1. ^ "The Champion Golfer of the Year will win £1,175,000 at The 145th Open at Royal Troon". The Open Championship. 5 July 2016.
  2. ^ "Henrik Stenson pays tribute to late friend and Phil Mickelson after British Open win". The National. 17 July 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  3. ^ English, Tom (17 July 2024). "'Gobsmacking brilliance of High Noon at Troon will never fade'". BBC Sport.
  4. ^ Dempster, Martin (17 July 2024). "The Open 2024: Who will win at Troon and what does weather have in store?". The Scotsman.
  5. ^ Gibson, Owen (3 February 2015). "Sky Sports wins rights to show Open Championship golf live from 2017". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  6. ^ "Open Championship: Sky wins rights; BBC to show highlights". BBC Sport. 3 February 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  7. ^ Ourand, John; Lombardo, John (8 June 2015). "NBC, Golf Channel ending ABC/ESPN British Open reign". Sports Business Journal. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  8. ^ Ourand, John (12 October 2015). "NBC getting British Open a year early". Sports Business Journal. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  9. ^ "The Course". The Open Championship. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  10. ^ "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 25, 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  11. ^ "The Course for the Open Golf Championship". Dundee Evening Telegraph. 8 June 1923. Retrieved 27 July 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. ^ "2016 Open Championship – Exemptions". The Open. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  13. ^ "The Open Championship – Entry Form – 2016". The Open. Archived from the original on 21 January 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  14. ^ a b Menta, Nick (9 July 2016). "Koepka (ankle) withdraws from Open; Knost in". Golf Channel. Archived from the original on 12 July 2016.
  15. ^ a b Lavner, Ryan (8 July 2016). "Berger WDs from The Open, replaced by Lovemark". Golf Channel. Archived from the original on 14 July 2016.
  16. ^ Gray, Will (7 July 2016). "Van Zyl out of Open, PGA to focus on Olympics". Golf Channel. Archived from the original on 9 July 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  17. ^ "Hurley chooses his sister over The Open Championship". PGA Tour. 28 June 2016.
  18. ^ "The Greenbrier Classic cancelled due to severe flooding". PGA Tour. 25 June 2016.
  19. ^ "The Open Qualifying Series place at Greenbrier Classic moved to Barracuda Championship". The Open. 26 June 2016.
  20. ^ "145th Open Championship". OWGR. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  21. ^ "Graeme McDowell Among 11 Alternates Added to British Open". Golf.com. Associated Press. 27 June 2016.
  22. ^ "Luke Donald gets Open spot after Jaco Van Zyl withdrawal". ESPN. 6 July 2016.
  23. ^ "Stewart Cink withdraws from The Open Championship at Royal Troon". ESPN. Associated Press. 6 July 2016.
  24. ^ "Charles Howell III out 4-5 weeks after medical procedure". ESPN. Associated Press. 6 July 2016.
  25. ^ Harig, Bob (14 July 2016). "Phil Mickelson ties major record with 63 at The Open". ESPN.
  26. ^ Murray, Scott; Goodwin, Stuart (14 July 2016). "The Open 2016: day one – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  27. ^ Murray, Ewan (14 July 2016). "Phil Mickelson suffers outrageous fortune as Open record evades him". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  28. ^ Murray, Scott; McVeigh, Niall (15 July 2016). "The Open 2016: day two – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  29. ^ Reddy, Luke; Bysouth, Alex. "Relive the highs and lows of round two". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  30. ^ "The Open 2016: day three – as it happened". Guardian. 16 July 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  31. ^ Emons, Michael; Bysouth, Alex. "The Open: Day three as it happened". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  32. ^ Marcuson, Jamie (18 July 2016). "Was this the greatest finish to an Open?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  33. ^ Scott, Ged (17 July 2016). "The Open 2016: Henrik Stenson beats Phil Mickelson to win at Royal Troon". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  34. ^ Murray, Scott; McVeigh, Niall (17 July 2016). "The Open 2016: final round – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  35. ^ Reddy, Luke; Bysouth, Alex (17 July 2016). "How Stenson won the Open". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  36. ^ a b "The Open". ESPN. 17 July 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  37. ^ "With This Win – Henrik Stenson, Open Champion". PGA European Tour. 17 July 2016.
  38. ^ @ESPNStatsInfo (14 July 2016). "Oldest Players to Shoot 63 in a Major..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  39. ^ "Henrik Stenson claims Open for first major title". ESPN. 17 July 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2016.