The Open: Royal Lytham’s last day dramas

The list of champions is a distinguished one. Between them, the nine winners over the Lancashire links amassed as many as 37 major titles. And, strangely, it wasn’t until Lytham’s ninth Open that an American professional laid claim to the Old Claret Jug.

1926: Bobby Jones

Lytham’s first Open as a “Royal” club – and the first played over three days rather than two – was notable for the fact that two of the championship’s most famous-ever shots were struck within half an hour of each other on the final day. The first, a 175-yard long iron by the eventual champion, found the penultimate green from an undistinguished lie left of the fairway and was so remarkable that a commemorative plaque still sits on the hallowed spot. The second came at the final hole, courtesy of the game’s consummate showman, Walter Hagen. After hitting the fairway, “The Haig” had to hole his approach to tie Jones. And he almost did. After he had dramatically walked all the way to the green and back, Hagen’s ball landed inches from the cup, although it finished up in a bunker and he could do no better than tie for third.

1952: Bobby Locke

The leisurely and laconic South African had to rush for once en route to what would be the third of his four Open titles. Early on the morning of the final day, Locke arrived at the Blackpool garage where his clubs were being stored only to find it locked and no one around. A passing milkman gave him a ride to find the garage owner, which he eventually did. Arriving with only a few minutes to spare, the unflappable Locke quickly changed into his golf shoes before shooting 74-73 to win by a single shot from the fast-finishing young Australian Peter Thomson. For all that, the man in third place, 1947 champion Fred Daly, surely walked away with most regrets. Leading at halfway after sparkling rounds of 67-69, the Ulsterman needed as many as 17 shots more to complete the next 36 holes and finished only two strokes behind the champion.

1958: Peter Thomson

For a remarkable fourth time in only five years, it was the ever-consistent Thomson who emerged as the champion, albeit he had to endure a 36-hole play-off with big-hitting Welshman Dave Thomas before eventually collecting the £1,000 first prize cheque. One day after the pair tied on 278 – Scot Eric Brown finished one shot back after making a disastrous double-bogey at the 72nd hole – the precise play of the dapper Australian was comfortably too good for his younger and far less experienced opponent. One shot ahead at lunch after a smooth 68, Thomson won by four over the man who was surely the worst chipper ever to (nearly) win a major championship. So bad was Thomas’s nerve and technique with the more lofted clubs, he would often resort to putting from well off the green, even when sand or rough blocked his way to the hole. Sad but true.

1963: Bob Charles

The first left-handed winner of the Open (or, in fact, any of the four major championships), Bob Charles was also the first New Zealander to do so. And, just as it had Peter Thomson five years before, it took him 108 holes to achieve both feats. After tying with American Phil Rodgers on 277, Charles lived up to his reputation as one of the game’s premier putters, using the shortest club in his bag only 26 times in the first round of the play-off. Seven times the lanky Kiwi impassively got up and down from sand or rough around the greens, a feat that clearly caused massive aggravation to the extrovert Californian, who was consistently inside Charles after their respective approach shots. By the end, Charles’ three-shot lunchtime lead had stretched to a yawning eight shots. And, it is rumoured, he even managed a wee smile when it was all over.

1969: Tony Jacklin

The first British winner of the Open since the lovably eccentric Max Faulkner was the champion at Royal Portrush 18 years earlier, Tony Jacklin made himself an overnight national hero. With a 72-hole aggregate of 280 – marked by an almost perfect up-and-down record from Lytham’s many and much-feared bunkers – the then 25-year-old from Scunthorpe finished two shots ahead of another Lytham champion, Bob Charles. Armed with that advantage, Jacklin hit a magnificent drive up the narrow 18th fairway. “What a corker,” exclaimed BBC commentator Henry Longhurst. “Miles up the middle.” Three shots later – his beautifully controlled three-quarter 7-iron to the green was a potent indication of his clear confidence in a swing that had previously shown a tendency towards excessive speed under pressure – Jacklin was the “champion golfer of the year” and well on his way to what was a brief and ultimately unfulfilling flirtation with superstardom.

1974: Gary Player

The ultimate margin of victory over Peter Oosterhuis was a comfortable enough four shots, but the final round of Player’s third and last Open win is remembered more for the ball that was “lost” rather than the identity of the champion. After pulling a 6-iron approach to the penultimate green into heavy rough well left of the putting surface, the diminutive South African and a horde of spectators spent nearly five minutes looking for his ball before it was found by Player’s caddie “Rabbit” Dyer. Or was it? Film evidence seemed to indicate the ball played from the long grass could not possibly be the one Player had hit in there. But we’ll never know for sure. And one hole later the nine-times major champion had his victory, albeit he was forced to putt left-handed away from the clubhouse wall behind the 18th green. With Gary, dull moments were rare indeed.

1979: Seve Ballesteros

The dawn of what would soon enough become a golden era for European golf at the highest level, Ballesteros’s victory cemented his reputation as one of the greatest shot-makers of all time. Typically playing his approaches from places other than the correct fairway, the then 22-year-old Spaniard proved himself way too good for his playing partner, the newly-minted US Open champion Hale Irwin, and won by three shots from two more nephews of Uncle Sam, Ben Crenshaw and Jack Nicklaus. So amazing was some of Seve’s play that Irwin was moved to wave “surrender” with a white handkerchief as they made their way up the final fairway. Most famously, Ballesteros struck his short approach to the 16th hole from a temporary car park well right of the fairway, a fact the American nation has yet to recover from, judging by how often it is mentioned in their apparently still-bitter media.

1983: Seve Ballesteros

After one of the most memorable final-day duels in the Open’s long and distinguished history, Ballesteros prevailed at Lytham for a second time when his closing 65, six under par, was just good enough to beat a brave but ultimately unavailing Nick Price. The Zimbabwean had led by two shots after 54 holes and would break 70 on the final day, a combination that, more times than not, would surely have given him the title. In truth, both men played superbly and either would have been a worthy champion. Not until the 18th green did the dashing Spaniard make the decisive thrust – a delightfully weighted chip from left of the putting surface kissed the edge of the cup before settling inches away. Needing to hole from 30 feet to tie, Price ran his putt nearly six feet past before missing again. It was, if only in the mind’s eye, magnificent stuff.

1996: Tom Lehman

Ultimately, he did it the hard way but, with a two-over final round of 73, Lehman became the first American professional to win an Open at Lytham. Six shots clear with 18 holes to play and paired with home favourite Nick Faldo, the brawny Minnesotan struggled over the front nine. Not until a birdie two at the short 12th – where he struck a lovely 4-iron to eight feet and made the putt – did he appear to regain the composure that had seen him shoot a seven-birdie 64 the previous day. Thereafter he steadied and, in the end, won by two shots from future Open champion Ernie Els – who bogeyed two of the last three holes – and the unlikely figure of Mark McCumber. “Not pretty, but gritty,” was Lehman’s apt description of his only major victory, one that took him to No.1 in the world – for precisely one week.

2001: David Duval

IT MAY only have been for a brief moment in time, but David Duval was once the best golfer in the world, a fact he underlined with a comfortable three-shot Open victory over Sweden’s Niclas Fasth. One of four men tied for the lead with 18 holes to play – a brace of Germans, Bernhard Langer and Alex Cejka, and former Masters champion Ian Woosnam were the others – and with a further 19 players within a couple of shots, Duval’s closing 67 was decisive on a day remembered more for the number “15.” That, unfortunately for him, was exactly how many clubs were in the unwitting Woosnam’s golf bag at the moment he teed off on the par-3 opening hole. Discovered on the second tee – “you’re going to go ballistic,” said his horrified caddie – it led to a two-stroke penalty for the Welshman, who eventually finished tied for third, four shots back.