1998 Open Championship


The 1998 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 127th Open Championship, held from 16–19 July at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. In weekend wind and rain, Mark O'Meara won his second major championship of the year and first Open Championship in a playoff over Brian Watts, the 54-hole leader.
Three months earlier, O'Meara won the Masters on the final green by sinking a birdie putt. At age 41, he became the oldest player to win two majors in a year: Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, and Craig Wood were all age forty.
At the previous Open at Royal Birkdale seven years earlier in 1991, O'Meara was a co-leader after 54 holes, shot 69, and tied for

Course

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal
Yards4494214072033444801774574113,3494034081834981985444165474723,6697,018
Par444344344344434354543670

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Lengths of the course for previous Opens:

Made the cut

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Missed the cut

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Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 16 July 1998
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1John Huston65–5
T1Tiger Woods65–5
T3Fred Couples66–4
T3Nick Price66–4
T3Loren Roberts66–4
T6Robert Allenby67–3
T6Brad Faxon67–3
T6Fredrik Jacobson67–3
T6Davis Love III67–3
T6Vijay Singh67–3

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Second round

Friday, 17 July 1998
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Brian Watts68-69=137–3
T2Nick Price66-72=138–2
T2Justin Rose 72-66=138–2
T2Tiger Woods65-73=138–2
5Thomas Bjørn68-71=139–1
T6Stephen Ames68-72=140E
T6Fred Couples66-74=140E
T6Jim Furyk70-70=140E
T6Davis Love III67-73=140E
T6Mark O'Meara72-68=140E
T6Jesper Parnevik68-72=140E

Source:
Amateurs: Rose, García, De Vooght , McCarthy, Kuchar.

Third round

Saturday, 18 July 1998
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Brian Watts68-69-73=210E
T2Jim Furyk70-70-72=212+2
T2Mark O'Meara72-68-72=212+2
T2Jesper Parnevik68-72-72=212+2
5Justin Rose 72-66-75=213+3
T6Thomas Bjørn68-71-76=215+5
T6Brad Faxon67-74-74=215+5
T6John Huston65-77-73=215+5
T6Tiger Woods65-73-77=215+5
T10David Duval70-71-75=216+6
T10Costantino Rocca72-74-70=216+6
T10Raymond Russell68-73-75=216+6
T10Katsuyoshi Tomori75-71-70=216+6

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Final round

Sunday, 19 July 1998
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
T1Mark O'Meara72-68-72-68=280EPlayoff
T1Brian Watts68-69-73-70=280EPlayoff
3Tiger Woods65-73-77-66=281+1135,000
T4Jim Furyk70-70-72-70=282+276,667
T4Jesper Parnevik68-72-72-70=282+276,667
T4Justin Rose 72-66-75-69=282+20
T4Raymond Russell68-73-75-66=282+276,667
8Davis Love III67-73-77-68=285+549,500
T9Thomas Bjørn68-71-76-71=286+640,850
T9Costantino Rocca72-74-70-70=286+640,850

Sources:
Amateurs: Rose, García, De Vooght.

Playoff

The four-hole aggregate playoff was played on the concluding holes.
O'Meara birdied the first, while Watts parred, and they halved the next two holes with pars.
Watts bogeyed the final hole, while O'Meara parred to win the playoff by two strokes and the Claret Jug.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Mark O'Meara4-4-5-4=17–1300,000
2Brian Watts5-4-5-5=19+1188,000

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par
EagleBirdieBogeyDouble bogey

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