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.
Defending champion Tom Watson won his fifth Open Championship, one stroke ahead of runners-up Andy Bean and Hale Irwin. It was his second consecutive Open win and third in the last four, 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.
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.
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. Of his five Open wins, this was the only one outside Scotland.
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.
Course layout Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotalYards4504234102063434681504704103,3303844111845051985424155264733,6386,968Par444344344344435354543771
Round summaries First round Thursday, 14 July 1983 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Craig Stadler64−7T2 Bernhard Langer67−4 Bill Rogers Tom WatsonT5 Nick Faldo68−3 Mike Ferguson Vaughan Somers Hal Sutton Sam TorranceT10 Eamonn Darcy69−2 David Dunk Hubert Green Graham Marsh Philip Parkin (a) Lee Trevino Source:
Second round Friday, 15 July 1983 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Craig Stadler64-70=134−8T2 Lee Trevino69-66=135−7 Tom Watson67-68=1354 Nick Faldo68-68=136−65 Hale Irwin69-68=137−5T6 Raymond Floyd72-66=138−4 Terry Gale72-66=138 Bill Rogers67-71=138T9 Andy Bean70-69=139−3 Denis Durnian73-66=139 Bernhard Langer67-72=139 Graham Marsh69-70=139 Hal Sutton68-71=139 Source: Amateurs: Parkin (+5), Gilford (+7), Plaxton (+12), Thompson (+12), Wood (+12), Hamer (+13), Thomas (+13), Crosby (+17).
Third round Saturday, 16 July 1983 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Tom Watson67-68-70=205−82 Craig Stadler64-70-72=206−7T3 Nick Faldo68-68-71=207−6 Raymond Floyd72-66-69=207 David Graham71-69-67=2076 Lee Trevino69-66-73=208−5T7 Andy Bean70-69-70=209−4 Hale Irwin69-68-72=209 Mark McNulty72-69-68=209 Fuzzy Zoeller71-71-67=209 Source:
Final round Sunday, 17 July 1983 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (£)1 Tom Watson 67-68-70-70=275 −9 40,000T2 Andy Bean 70-69-70-67=276 −8 23,000 Hale Irwin 69-68-72-67=2764 Graham Marsh 69-70-74-64=277 −7 15,0005 Lee Trevino 69-66-73-70=278 −6 13,600T6 Seve Ballesteros 71-71-69-68=279 −5 12,250 Harold Henning 71-69-70-69=279T8 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 Source: The exchange rate at the time was approximately 1.52 dollars (US) per pound sterling.
References
External links Royal Birkdale 1983 (Official site) 112th Open Championship - Royal Birkdale (European Tour)