1979 Open Championship
Golf tournament
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1979 Open Championship was the 108th Open Championship, held 18–21 July at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lancashire, England. Seve Ballesteros, 22, won the first of his five major titles, three strokes ahead of runners-up Jack Nicklaus and Ben Crenshaw.[4] It was the first of his three Open Championship victories; he raised the Claret Jug again in 1984 and 1988.[5][6]
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 18–21 July 1979 |
| Location | Lancashire, England |
| Course | Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club |
| Tour(s) | European Tour PGA Tour |
| Statistics | |
| Par | 71[1] |
| Length | 6,822 yards (6,238 m)[1][2] |
| Field | 152 players 82 after 1st cut 61 after 2nd cut[1] |
| Cut | 152 (+10) (1st cut) 227 (+14) (2nd cut) |
| Prize fund | £155,000[1] $325,000 |
| Winner's share | £15,000[1][3] $31,500 |
| Champion | |
 Seve Ballesteros | |
| 283 (−1) | |
St Annes
St Annes
This was the last Open scheduled to end on Saturday;[7] in 1980 it moved to a Sunday final round, similar to the other three majors.
Course
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Round summaries
First round
Wednesday, 18 July 1979
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Bill Longmuir | 65 | −6 |
| 2 |  Hale Irwin | 68 | −3 |
| 3 | Jerry Pate | 69 | −2 |
| 4 |  Isao Aoki | 70 | −1 |
| T5 |  Terry Gale | 71 | E |
 Peter McEvoy (a) | |||
| Orville Moody | |||
| Lee Trevino | |||
| T9 |  Hugh Baiocchi | 72 | +1 |
| Ken Brown | |||
 Dennis Clark | |||
| Ben Crenshaw | |||
| Gary Cullen | |||
| Jack Nicklaus | |||
| Tom Watson |
Source:[8]
Second round
Thursday, 19 July 1979
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hale Irwin | 68-68=136 | −6 |
| 2 | Seve Ballesteros | 73-65=138 | −4 |
| 3 | Bill Longmuir | 65-74=139 | −3 |
| 4 | Tom Watson | 72-68=140 | −2 |
| T5 | Dennis Clark | 72-69=141 | −1 |
| Jack Nicklaus | 72-69=141 | ||
| 7 | Graham Marsh | 74-68=142 | E |
| T8 | Ken Brown | 72-71=143 | +1 |
| Bob Byman | 73-70=143 | ||
| Ben Crenshaw | 72-71=143 | ||
| Jerry Pate | 69-74=143 |
Source:[9]
Amateurs: McEvoy (+3), Player (+8), Hallberg (+14), Hoad (+15),
Bennett (+17), Myers (+18), Guy (+20), Whelan (+23).
Third round
Friday, 20 July 1979
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hale Irwin | 68-68-75=211 | −2 |
| 2 | Seve Ballesteros | 73-65-75=213 | E |
| T3 | Mark James | 76-69-69=214 | +1 |
| Jack Nicklaus | 72-69-73=214 | ||
| T5 | Rodger Davis | 75-70-70=215 | +2 |
| Bob Byman | 73-70-72=215 | ||
| Ben Crenshaw | 72-71-72=215 | ||
| T8 | Isao Aoki | 70-74-72=216 | +3 |
| Greg Norman | 73-71-72=216 | ||
| Tom Watson | 72-68-76=216 | ||
| Bill Longmuir | 65-74-77=216 |
Amateurs: McEvoy (+4), Player (+19).
Final round
Saturday, 21 July 1979
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seve Ballesteros | 73-65-75-70=283 | −1 | 15,000 |
| T2 | Ben Crenshaw | 72-71-72-71=286 | +2 | 11,250 |
| Jack Nicklaus | 72-69-73-72=286 | |||
| 4 | Mark James | 76-69-69-73=287 | +3 | 7,500 |
| 5 | Rodger Davis | 75-70-70-73=288 | +4 | 6,500 |
| 6 | Hale Irwin | 68-68-75-78=289 | +5 | 6,000 |
| T7 | Graham Marsh | 74-68-75-74=291 | +7 | 5,000 |
| Isao Aoki | 70-74-72-75=291 | |||
| Bob Byman | 73-70-72-76=291 | |||
| T10 | Bob Charles | 78-72-70-72=292 | +8 | 4,000 |
| Masashi Ozaki | 75-69-75-73=292 | |||
| Greg Norman | 73-71-72-76=292 |
- Amateurs: McEvoy (+10)
- The exchange rate at the time was approximately 2.30 dollars (US) per pound sterling.[13]