1977 Open Championship


The 1977 Open Championship was the 106th Open Championship, held 6–9 July on the Ailsa Course at Turnberry, Scotland. Tom Watson won the second of his five Open titles by one stroke over runner-up Jack Nicklaus. The two played together in the final two rounds and had separated themselves from the field under clear skies, leading this Open to be remembered as the "Duel in the Sun." This was the first Open ever held at Turnberry, which renamed its 18th hole after the duel. Three months earlier, Watson had held off Nicklaus to win his first green jacket at the Masters.
In the second round, Mark Hayes rebounded from his opening 76 with 63 to establish a new single round record at The Open Championship by two strokes. The previous record of 65 was set by Henry Cotton in the second round in 1934 at Royal St. George's and later equaled by nine others. Lightning briefly interrupted play in the third round on Friday.
Americans dominated the final leaderboard, filling the top eight spots and eleven of the first twelve. The first page of the leaderboard was loaded with future members of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
The leader after 36 holes, Roger Maltbie, finished with 80 for 289, in a tie for 26th place.
The previous year, Watson was defending champion, but missed the 54-hole cut after an 80 in the third round, while Nicklaus finished in a tie for second.

Duel in the Sun

Watson's victory is considered by many to be the finest tournament played in the latter half of the 20th century. After two rounds, he and Nicklaus were one shot out of the lead, in a four-way tie for second, and were paired for the third round on Friday. Both shot five-under 65 for 203, three shots clear of Ben Crenshaw and six ahead of the remainder of the field after 54 holes.
Paired again for the final round on Saturday afternoon, Nicklaus birdied twice and was up by three strokes after four holes. Watson birdied three of the next four to pull even at two-under for the round, then bogeyed the ninth hole to fall one back at the turn. Nicklaus birdied the 12th hole to go two strokes ahead, then Watson birdied 13 and the par-3 15th, rolling in a putt from off the green to even up the round at three-under.
After halving the 16th with pars, it was on to the reachable par-5 17th, where Nicklaus missed the green to the right but chipped his third to from the cup. Watson missed an eagle putt and tapped in for birdie, but then Nicklaus two-putted for par to go a stroke down with one hole remaining. On the 18th tee, Watson drove to an ideal position in the fairway, but Nicklaus went right and into the rough. Watson's 7-iron approach stopped pin-high and two feet left of the flag, and with Nicklaus in trouble, appeared to seal the victory. But Nicklaus slashed his 8-iron recovery onto the front of the green and sank his putt for a remarkable birdie and a bogey-free 66. Now needing a seventh birdie of the round to avoid an 18-hole playoff, Watson sank the two-footer for his second straight 65, second Open, and third major title. With birdies on four of the final six holes, his total of 268 was eight strokes better than the previous best score ever in the Open.
Watson and Nicklaus finished well ahead of the other challengers, and shot the same score every day, except on Saturday. The third place finisher, reigning U.S. Open champion Hubert Green, shot a final round 67 and was a distant ten strokes behind Nicklaus, who won his third Open the following year at St. Andrews.

Course

Ailsa Course
^ The 18th hole was renamed "Duel in the Sun" in 2003.

Past champions in the field

Made both cuts

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Missed the first cut

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Round summaries

First round

Wednesday, 6 July 1977
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1John Schroeder66−4
2Martin Foster67−3
T3Jack Nicklaus68−2
T3Lee Trevino68−2
T3Tom Watson68−2
T6Seve Ballesteros69−1
T6Gaylord Burrows69−1
T6Johnny Miller69−1
T9George Burns70E
T9Raymond Floyd70E
T9Tommy Horton70E
T9Hsu Chi-san70E
T9Hale Irwin70E
T9Ian Stanley70E

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Second round

Thursday, 7 July 1977
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Roger Maltbie71-66=137−3
T2Hubert Green72-66=138−2
T2Jack Nicklaus68-70=138−2
T2Lee Trevino68-70=138−2
T2Tom Watson68-70=138−2
T6Peter Butler71-68=139−1
T6Mark Hayes76-63=139−1
T8Seve Ballesteros69-71=140E
T8George Burns70-70=140E
T8Howard Clark72-68=140E
T8Ben Crenshaw71-69=140E
T8Hsu Chi-san70-70=140E
T8John Schroeder66-74=140E

Source:
Amateurs: Garner, McEvoy, Powell, Carrick, Lyle, Pierse, Wilson, Cosh, Chapman.

Third round

Friday, 8 July 1977
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Jack Nicklaus68-70-65=203−7
T1Tom Watson68-70-65=203−7
3Ben Crenshaw71-69-66=206−4
T4Tommy Horton70-74-65=209−1
T4Gaylord Burrows69-72-68=209−1
T4Roger Maltbie71-66-72=209−1
T7Johnny Miller69-74-67=210E
T7Lee Trevino68-70-72=210E
T9Raymond Floyd70-73-68=211+1
T9Mark Hayes76-63-72=211+1

Source:

Final round

Saturday, 9 July 1977
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Tom Watson68-70-65-65=268−1210,000
2Jack Nicklaus68-70-65-66=269−118,000
3Hubert Green72-66-74-67=279−16,000
4Lee Trevino68-70-72-70=280E5,000
T5George Burns70-70-72-69=281+14,250
T5Ben Crenshaw71-69-66-75=281+14,250
7Arnold Palmer73-73-67-69=282+23,750
8Raymond Floyd70-73-68-72=283+33,500
T9John Schroeder66-74-73-71=284+42,875
T9Mark Hayes76-63-72-73=284+42,875
T9Johnny Miller69-74-67-74=284+42,875
T9Tommy Horton70-74-65-75=284+42,875

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Scorecard

Final round
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12131415161718
Par444343544434443454
Watson−7−6−6−6−7−7−8−9−8−8−8−8−9−9−10−10−11−12
Nicklaus−7−8−8−9−9−9−9−9−9−9−9−10−10−10−10−10−10−11
Green+2+1+1+1EEEE−1−1−1−1EEEE−1−1

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
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