2003 Open Championship
The 2003 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 132nd Open Championship, held from 17–20 July at Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, England. Ben Curtis won his only major title, one stroke ahead of runners-up Thomas Bjørn and Vijay Singh. Bjørn had led in the final round by two shots with three holes to play, but needed three attempts to play out of a greenside bunker on the 16th hole. Playing in his first major championship and number 396 in the world rankings, Curtis became the first debut winner at The Open since Tom Watson in 1975.
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 | 442 | 418 | 210 | 497 | 420 | 172 | 532 | 455 | 388 | 3,534 | 414 | 242 | 381 | 459 | 550 | 475 | 163 | 428 | 460 | 3,572 | 7,106 |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 36 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 35 | 71 |
Source:
- The 4th hole was a par 4 in previous Opens
- 1993:, par 70
- 1985:, par 70
- 1981:, par 70
Field
Stuart Appleby, Thomas Bjørn, Steve Elkington, Ernie Els, Gary Evans, Sergio García, Retief Goosen, Søren Hansen, Pádraig Harrington, Justin Leonard, Thomas Levet, Peter Lonard, Davis Love III, Shigeki Maruyama, Peter O'Malley, Nick Price
- Scott Hoch did not play.
John Daly, David Duval, Paul Lawrie, Tom Lehman, Greg Norman, Mark O'Meara, Tiger Woods
;3. Past Open Champions aged 65 or under on 20 July 2003
Mark Calcavecchia, Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Tom Watson
- Seve Ballesteros withdrew.
- Ian Baker-Finch, Tony Jacklin, Johnny Miller, Jack Nicklaus, Bill Rogers, Lee Trevino, and Tom Weiskopf did not enter.
Robert Allenby, Rich Beem, Ángel Cabrera, Michael Campbell, Paul Casey, K. J. Choi, Darren Clarke, Fred Couples, Chris DiMarco, Bob Estes, Niclas Fasth, Brad Faxon, Steve Flesch, Fred Funk, Jim Furyk, Jay Haas, Charles Howell III, Trevor Immelman, Jerry Kelly, Bernhard Langer, Len Mattiace, Phil Mickelson, Colin Montgomerie, Craig Parry, Kenny Perry, Chris Riley, Eduardo Romero, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Vijay Singh, Jeff Sluman, David Toms, Scott Verplank, Mike Weir
- Rocco Mediate and Kirk Triplett did not play.
Bradley Dredge, Anders Hansen, Stephen Leaney, José María Olazábal
;6. The Volvo PGA Championship winners for 2000–03
Ignacio Garrido, Andrew Oldcorn
;7. First 5 players, not exempt, in the top 20 of the 2003 European Tour Order of Merit as of 29 May
Brian Davis, Robert-Jan Derksen, Kenneth Ferrie, Mathias Grönberg, Fredrik Jacobson
;8. First 7 European Tour members, not exempt, in the top 25 of a cumulative money list taken from all official European Tour events from the 2003 Volvo PGA Championship up to and including the 2003 Scottish Open
Alastair Forsyth, Philip Golding, David Howell, Søren Kjeldsen, Mark McNulty, Greg Owen, Ian Poulter
;9. The leading 8 players, not exempt having applied above, in the 2003 Scottish Open
Raphaël Jacquelin, David Lynn, Rolf Muntz, Gary Murphy, Nick O'Hern, Iain Pyman, Mark Roe, Charl Schwartzel
;10. The U.S. Open Champions for 1994–2003
Lee Janzen, Corey Pavin
- Steve Jones did not play.
;12. The PGA Champions for 1998–2002
;13. The Players Champions for 2000–03
Craig Perks, Hal Sutton
;14. Top 20 in the final 2002 PGA Tour Official Money List
;15. First 5 players, not exempt, in the top 20 of the 2003 PGA Tour Official Money List as of 29 May
Chad Campbell
;16. First 7 PGA Tour members, not exempt, in the top 25 of a cumulative money list taken from the 2003 Players Championship and the five PGA Tour events leading up to and including the 2003 Western Open
Joe Durant, Jonathan Kaye, Cliff Kresge, J. L. Lewis, Rory Sabbatini, Duffy Waldorf
- Joey Sindelar did not play.
Tom Byrum, José Cóceres, Ben Curtis, Luke Donald, Dudley Hart, Skip Kendall, Scott McCarron, Chris Smith
;18. Playing members of the 2002 Ryder Cup teams
Paul Azinger, Stewart Cink, Pierre Fulke, Paul McGinley, Jesper Parnevik, Phillip Price, Lee Westwood
;19. The 2002 Canadian Open Champion
John Rollins
;20. The 2002 Japan Open Champion
David Smail
;21. Winner of the 2002 Asian PGA Tour Order of Merit
Jyoti Randhawa
;22. Top 3 from the 2002–03 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit
;23. Top 3 from the 2002 Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit
Shingo Katayama, Nobuhito Sato, Toru Taniguchi
;24. Top 2 from the 2002–03 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit
Mark Foster
;25. The leading player, not exempt, in the 2003 Mizuno Open
Todd Hamilton
;26. First 4, not exempt having applied above, in the top 20 of a cumulative money list taken from all official Japan Golf Tour events from the 2003 Japan PGA Championship up to and including the 2003 Mizuno Open
Hur Suk-ho, Hirofumi Miyase, Hideto Tanihara, Katsuyoshi Tomori
;27. The 2002 Senior British Open Champion
Noboru Sugai
;28. The 2003 Amateur Champion
Gary Wolstenholme
;29. The 2002 U.S. Amateur Champion
Ricky Barnes
;30. The 2002 European Amateur Champion
- Raphaël Pellicioli forfeited his exemption by turning pro.
Past champions in the field
Made the cut
Missed the cut
Source:Round summaries
First round
Thursday, 17 July 2003| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
| 1 | Hennie Otto | 68 | −3 | |
| T2 | Davis Love III | 69 | −2 | |
| T2 | Greg Norman | 69 | −2 | |
| T4 | S.K. Ho | 70 | −1 | |
| T4 | Fredrik Jacobson | 70 | −1 | |
| T6 | Fred Couples | 71 | E | |
| T6 | Gary Evans | 71 | E | |
| T6 | Mathias Grönberg | 71 | E | |
| T6 | Charles Howell III | 71 | E | |
| T6 | Thomas Levet | 71 | E | |
| T6 | Scott McCarron | 71 | E | |
| T6 | Tom Watson | 71 | E |
Second round
Friday, 18 July 2003| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
| 1 | Davis Love III | 69-72=141 | −1 | |
| T2 | Thomas Bjørn | 73-70=143 | +1 | |
| T2 | S.K. Ho | 70-73=143 | +1 | |
| T4 | Ben Curtis | 72-72=144 | +2 | |
| T4 | Alastair Forsyth | 74-70=144 | +2 | |
| T4 | Sergio García | 73-71=144 | +2 | |
| T4 | Thomas Levet | 71-73=144 | +2 | |
| T4 | Hennie Otto | 68-76=144 | +2 | |
| T4 | Kenny Perry | 74-70=144 | +2 | |
| T4 | Marco Ruiz | 73-71=144 | +2 |
Amateurs: Barnes, Wolstenholme, Godfrey.
Third round
Saturday, 19 July 2003Mark Roe shot a 67 to finish at one over par, but he and playing partner Jesper Parnevik were disqualified, having failed to exchange scorecards and therefore having signed incorrect scorecards. The rule that resulted in the disqualifications was changed two years later; Roe never played in another major.
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
| 1 | Thomas Bjørn | 73-70-69=212 | −1 | |
| 2 | Davis Love III | 69-72-72=213 | E | |
| T3 | Ben Curtis | 72-72-70=214 | +1 | |
| T3 | Sergio García | 73-71-70=214 | +1 | |
| T3 | Kenny Perry | 74-70-70=214 | +1 | |
| T3 | Vijay Singh | 75-70-69=214 | +1 | |
| T3 | Tiger Woods | 73-72-69=214 | +1 | |
| T8 | Hur Suk-ho | 70-73-72=215 | +2 | |
| T8 | Phillip Price | 74-72-69=215 | +2 | |
| T10 | Gary Evans | 71-75-70=216 | +3 | |
| T10 | Pierre Fulke | 77-72-67=216 | +3 | |
| T10 | Fredrik Jacobson | 70-76-70=216 | +3 | |
| T10 | Peter Lonard | 73-73-70=216 | +3 |
Final round
Sunday, 20 July 2003Ben Curtis shot six-under in the first 11 holes to grab a 2 stroke lead, but dropped four strokes in the next six holes to fall behind, and sank a par putt on the final hole to post the clubhouse lead. Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods also moved into early contention, but fell behind Curtis with late bogeys, leaving Thomas Bjørn with a three stroke lead with four holes to play. He finished bogey-double bogey-bogey-par and tied for second, one stroke back.
It was not only Curtis' first win, but his first top-10 finish in a PGA Tour event.
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par | Money |
| 1 | Ben Curtis | 72-72-70-69=283 | −1 | 700,000 | |
| T2 | Thomas Bjørn | 73-70-69-72=284 | E | 345,000 | |
| T2 | Vijay Singh | 75-70-69-70=284 | E | 345,000 | |
| T4 | Davis Love III | 69-72-72-72=285 | +1 | 185,000 | |
| T4 | Tiger Woods | 73-72-69-71=285 | +1 | 185,000 | |
| T6 | Brian Davis | 77-73-68-68=286 | +2 | 134,500 | |
| T6 | Fredrik Jacobson | 70-76-70-70=286 | +2 | 134,500 | |
| T8 | Nick Faldo | 76-74-67-70=287 | +3 | 155,383 | |
| T8 | Kenny Perry | 74-70-70-73=287 | +3 | 155,383 | |
| T10 | Gary Evans | 71-75-70-72=288 | +4 | 97,750 | |
| T10 | Sergio García | 73-71-70-74=288 | +4 | 97,750 | |
| T10 | Retief Goosen | 73-75-71-69=288 | +4 | 97,750 | |
| T10 | Hennie Otto | 68-76-75-69=288 | +4 | 97,750 | |
| T10 | Phillip Price | 74-72-69-73=288 | +4 | 97,750 |
Source:
Scorecard
Final round| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
 Curtis | E | E | E | −1 | −1 | −1 | −2 | −2 | −3 | −4 | −5 | −4 | −4 | −3 | −2 | −2 | −1 | −1 |
 Bjørn | E | E | −1 | −2 | −2 | −2 | −3 | −3 | −3 | −3 | −3 | −3 | −3 | −4 | −3 | −1 | E | E |
 Singh | +1 | E | E | E | −1 | −2 | −3 | −2 | −2 | −1 | −1 | −1 | E | −1 | −1 | E | E | E |
| Love | +1 | +2 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +3 | +2 | +2 | +1 | E | E | E | E | +1 | +1 |
| Woods | +1 | +1 | +1 | E | −1 | −1 | −2 | −1 | −1 | E | E | E | E | −1 | E | E | +1 | +1 |
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source: