1983 Open Championship
Golf tournament
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The 1983 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 112th Open Championship, held from 14 to 17 July at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. It was the sixth time the course had hosted, with the first in 1954.
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 14–17 July 1983 |
| Location | Southport, England |
| Course | Royal Birkdale Golf Club |
| Tour(s) | European Tour PGA Tour |
| Statistics | |
| Par | 71[1] |
| Length | 6,968 yards (6,372 m)[1] |
| Field | 151 players 83 after 1st cut 63 after 2nd cut[1] |
| Cut | 146 (+4) (1st cut) 217 (+4) (2nd cut)[1] |
| Prize fund | £400,000 $600,000 |
| Winner's share | £40,000 $60,000 |
| Champion | |
 Tom Watson | |
| 275 (−9) | |
Defending champion Tom Watson won his fifth Open Championship, one stroke ahead of runners-up Andy Bean and Hale Irwin.[2][3] It was his second consecutive Open win and third in the last four,[4] but was helped by Irwin "whiffing" a one-inch putt on the 14th hole on the third day, which cost him a chance of a play-off with Watson for the tournament.[5]
At age 33, this was Watson's eighth and final major title; he had won three of the last six majors, but had not won any event for twelve months.[6][5]
Watson was the fifth to win five Open Championships, last accomplished in 1965 by Peter Thomson, also at Royal Birkdale. He was the first to successfully defend the title in over a decade, since Lee Trevino in 1972 at Muirfield.[2] Of his five Open wins, this was the only one outside Scotland.[7][8]
Seven years earlier at Royal Birkdale in 1976, defending champion Watson posted an 80 in the third round, finishing with a pair of sixes, and missed the 54-hole cut by a stroke.[9]
Course layout
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yards | 450 | 423 | 410 | 206 | 343 | 468 | 150 | 470 | 410 | 3,330 | 384 | 411 | 184 | 505 | 198 | 542 | 415 | 526 | 473 | 3,638 | 6,968 |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 34 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 37 | 71 |
Round summaries
First round
Thursday, 14 July 1983
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Craig Stadler | 64 | −7 |
| T2 |  Bernhard Langer | 67 | −4 |
| Bill Rogers | |||
| Tom Watson | |||
| T5 |  Nick Faldo | 68 | −3 |
 Mike Ferguson | |||
| Vaughan Somers | |||
| Hal Sutton | |||
 Sam Torrance | |||
| T10 |  Eamonn Darcy | 69 | −2 |
| David Dunk | |||
| Hubert Green | |||
| Graham Marsh | |||
 Philip Parkin (a) | |||
| Lee Trevino |
Second round
Friday, 15 July 1983
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Craig Stadler | 64-70=134 | −8 |
| T2 | Lee Trevino | 69-66=135 | −7 |
| Tom Watson | 67-68=135 | ||
| 4 | Nick Faldo | 68-68=136 | −6 |
| 5 | Hale Irwin | 69-68=137 | −5 |
| T6 | Raymond Floyd | 72-66=138 | −4 |
| Terry Gale | 72-66=138 | ||
| Bill Rogers | 67-71=138 | ||
| T9 | Andy Bean | 70-69=139 | −3 |
| Denis Durnian | 73-66=139 | ||
| Bernhard Langer | 67-72=139 | ||
| Graham Marsh | 69-70=139 | ||
| Hal Sutton | 68-71=139 |
Source:[13][14]
Amateurs: Parkin (+5), Gilford (+7), Plaxton (+12), Thompson (+12), Wood (+12), Hamer (+13), Thomas (+13), Crosby (+17).
Third round
Saturday, 16 July 1983
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Watson | 67-68-70=205 | −8 |
| 2 | Craig Stadler | 64-70-72=206 | −7 |
| T3 | Nick Faldo | 68-68-71=207 | −6 |
| Raymond Floyd | 72-66-69=207 | ||
| David Graham | 71-69-67=207 | ||
| 6 | Lee Trevino | 69-66-73=208 | −5 |
| T7 | Andy Bean | 70-69-70=209 | −4 |
| Hale Irwin | 69-68-72=209 | ||
 Mark McNulty | 72-69-68=209 | ||
| Fuzzy Zoeller | 71-71-67=209 |
Final round
Sunday, 17 July 1983
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Watson | 67-68-70-70=275 | −9 | 40,000 |
| T2 | Andy Bean | 70-69-70-67=276 | −8 | 23,000 |
| Hale Irwin | 69-68-72-67=276 | |||
| 4 | Graham Marsh | 69-70-74-64=277 | −7 | 15,000 |
| 5 | Lee Trevino | 69-66-73-70=278 | −6 | 13,600 |
| T6 |  Seve Ballesteros | 71-71-69-68=279 | −5 | 12,250 |
 Harold Henning | 71-69-70-69=279 | |||
| T8 | Denis Durnian | 73-66-74-67=280 | −4 | 9,625 |
| Nick Faldo | 68-68-71-73=280 | |||
| Christy O'Connor Jnr | 72-69-71-68=280 | |||
| Bill Rogers | 67-71-73-69=280 |
- The exchange rate at the time was approximately 1.52 dollars (US) per pound sterling.[17]