The 1981 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 110th Open Championship, held from 16 to 19 July at Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, England. Bill Rogers won his only major championship, four strokes ahead of runner-up Bernhard Langer. The Open returned to Royal St. George's for the first time since 1949, making it a new venue for all; no former champions finished in the top ten.
Round summaries First round Thursday, 16 July 1981 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Vicente Fernández70E Nick JobT3 Isao Aoki71+1 David Graham Tony Jacklin Johnny Miller Simon Owen Hal Sutton (a)T9 Howard Clark72+2 Ben Crenshaw David Jagger Mark James Greg Norman Arnold Palmer Bill Rogers Sam Torrance
Second round Friday, 17 July 1981 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Bill Rogers72-66=138−2T2 Ben Crenshaw72-67=139−1 Nick Job70-69=1394 Bernhard Langer73-67=140E5 Sam Torrance72-69=141+1 T6 David Graham71-71=142+2 Tony Jacklin71-71=142 Mark James72-70=142 Tom Watson73-69=142T10 Gordon J. Brand78-65=143+3 Bill Dunk76-67=143 Trevor Powell75-68=143 Peter Townsend73-70=143
Amateurs: Godwin (+6), Evans (+8), Sutton (+8), Chapman (+10), Keppler (+10), Walton (+10), Young (+10), Brand (+12), R. Mitchell (+12), Sherborne (+12), Ploujoux (+14), Thomas (+14), Blakeman (+15), Planchin (+15), Seamer (+15), Ling (+17), C. Mitchell (+18), Pook (+19), Ambridge (+20), Heib (+22), Lawrence (+23), Hall (+24), Sviland (+24).
Third round Saturday, 18 July 1981 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Bill Rogers72-66-67=205−5T2 Mark James72-70-68=210E Bernhard Langer73-67-70=210T4 Isao Aoki71-73-69=213+3 Raymond Floyd74-70-69=213T6 Nick Faldo77-68-69=214+4 Nick Job70-69-75=214 Sam Torrance72-69-73=214 Lee Trevino77-67-70=214T10 Ben Crenshaw72-67-76=215 +5 Tony Jacklin71-71-73=215 Brian Jones73-76-66=215 Simon Owen71-74-70=215 Jerry Pate73-73-69=215 Manuel Piñero73-74-68=215
Amateurs: Godwin (+8), Sutton (+11), Keppler (+13), Evans (+15), Young (+15), Chapman (+16), Walton (+16).
Final round Sunday, 19 July 1981 Champion Silver Medal winner (low amateur)(a) = amateur(c) = past champion PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (£)1 Bill Rogers 72-66-67-71=276 −4 25,0002 Bernhard Langer 73-67-70-70=280 E 17,500T3 Raymond Floyd 74-70-69-70=283 +3 11,750 Mark James 72-70-68-73=2835 Sam Torrance 72-69-73-70=284 +4 8,500T6 Bruce Lietzke 76-69-71-69=285 +5 7,750 Manuel Piñero 73-74-68-70=285T8 Howard Clark 72-76-70-68=286 +6 6,500 Ben Crenshaw 72-67-76-71=286 Brian Jones 73-76-66-71=286 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (£)T11 Isao Aoki 71-73-69-74=287 +7 5,000 Nick Faldo 77-68-69-73=287 Lee Trevino (c) 77-67-70-73=287T14 Brian Barnes 76-70-70-72=288 +8 3,240 Eamonn Darcy 79-69-70-70=288 David Graham 71-74-72-72=288 Nick Job 70-69-75-74=288 Sandy Lyle 73-73-71-71=288T19 Gordon J. Brand 78-65-74-72=289 +9 2,012 Graham Marsh 75-71-72-71=289 Jerry Pate 73-73-69-74=289 Peter Townsend 73-70-73-73=289T23 Hubert Green 75-72-74-69=290 +10 1,706 Tony Jacklin (c) 71-71-73-75=290 Mark McNulty 74-74-74-68=290 Jack Nicklaus (c) 83-66-71-70=290 Simon Owen 71-74-70-75=290 Arnold Palmer (c) 72-74-73-71=290 Nick Price 77-68-76-69=290 Tom Watson (c) 73-69-75-73=290T31 John Morgan 77-72-73-69=291 +11 1,225 Greg Norman 72-75-72-72=291 Trevor Powell 75-68-73-75=291 Des Smyth 77-67-73-74=291T35 Bob Charles 77-71-71-73=292 +12 971 Bill Dunk 76-67-77-72=292 Tommy Horton 75-73-73-71=292 Masashi Ozaki 75-72-71-74=292T39 Seve Ballesteros (c) 75-72-74-72=293 +13 826 Neil Coles 74-73-73-73=293 Rodger Davis 74-71-74-74=293 Johnny Miller (c) 71-73-73-76=293 Florentino Molina 78-68-74-73=293T44 Ken Brown 74-72-74-74=294 +14 805 Terry Gale 73-73-71-77=294 Ron Streck 78-70-72-74=294T47 Jaime Gonzalez 76-70-76-73=295 +15 Mark O'Meara 74-73-73-75=295 Hal Sutton (a) 71-77-73-74=295 0T50 David Jones 77-71-74-74-296 +16 805 David Thorp 76-69-74-77=296 Brian Waites 75-69-74-78=296T53 Garry Cullen 78-70-73-76=297 +17 770 Mike Ferguson 75-72-71-79=297 Eddie Poland 75-75-72-75=297T56 Warren Humphreys 76-71-74-77=298 +18 Noel Hunt 74-73-75-76=298T58 Geoff Godwin (a) 75-71-72-81=299 +19 0 John O'Leary 73-74-75-77=299 770 Payne Stewart 73-75-74-77=29961 Dick McClean 75-73-72-82=303 +232ndCUT Vicente Fernández 70-75-78=223 +13 490 John Fowler 74-73-76=223 Stephen Keppler (a) 79-71-72=223 0 Peter Oosterhuis 74-75-74=223 490 Gary Player (c) 81-68-75=224 +14 John Bland 75-75-75=225 +15 José María Cañizares 77-70-78=225 Duncan Evans (a) 79-69-77=225 0 Massimo Mannelli 75-74-76=225 490 Martin Poxon 76-74-75=225 Ian Young (a) 76-74-75=225 0 Tienie Britz 73-76-77=226 +16 490 Roger Chapman (a) 76-74-76=226 0 Ross Drummond 78-72-76=226 490 David Jagger 72-74-80=226 Noel Ratcliffe 77-70-79=226 Philip Walton (a) 77-73-76=226 0 Mark Thomas 77-70-80=227 +17 490 Stewart Ginn 79-71-78=228 +18 Maurice Bembridge 75-74-80=229 +191stCUT Bernard Gallacher 79-72=151 +11 315 Steve Martin 79-72=151 Chris Moody 75-76=151 Andrew Payne 74-77=151 Craig Stadler 83-68=151 Mike Steadman 79-72=151 Ross Whitehead 76-75=151 Juan Anglada 77-75=152 +12 Hugh Baiocchi 76-76=152 Gordon Brand Jnr (a) 77-75=152 0 Lawrence Farmer 77-75=152 315 Antonio Garrido 78-74=152 Dale Hayes 80-72=152 Robert Mitchell (a) 78-74=152 0 David J. Russell 79-73=152 315 Andrew Sherborne (a) 74-78=152 0 Mike Gallagher 75-78=153 +13 315 Phil Loxley 77-76=153 Peter Barber 79-75=154 +14 Rafe Botts 77-77=154 David Ingram 80-74=154 Bobby Lincoln 79-75=154 Bill McColl 76-78=154 Mike Miller 82-72=154 Ian Mosey 78-76=154 Philippe Ploujoux (a) 80-74=154 0 Paul Thomas (a) 79-75=154 Haruo Yasuda 75-79=154 315 David Blakeman (a) 78-77=155 +15 0 Manuel Calero 81-74=155 315 Charles Cox 78-77=155 Harold Henning 73-82=155 Carlo Knauss 79-76=155 Garry Logan 81-74=155 Bill Longmuir 78-77=155 Gordon Manson 78-77=155 Tim Planchin (a) 76-79=155 0 Stephen Rolley 80-75=155 315 R. W. Seamer (a) 79-76=155 0 Paul Carrigill 80-76=156 +16 315 Andrew Chandler 78-78=156 Brian Lawson 82-74=156 David Williams 82-74=156 Roger Fidler 82-75=157 +17 Stephen Ling (a) 82-75=157 0 Stuart Meiklejohn 81-76=157 315 Roger Stephens 77-80=157 Manuel Ballesteros 77-81=158 +18 David M. Edwards 81-77=158 Carl Mason 82-76=158 Tony Minshall 79-79=158 Christopher Mitchell (a) 81-77=158 0 Rae Sargent 79-79=158 315 Steve Barr 83-76=159 +19 Paul Foley 78-81=159 Graeme Pook (a) 78-81=159 0 Brian Thompson 80-79=159 315 John Ambridge 83-77=160 +20 0 Michael King 84-76=160 315 Chris Phillips 84-76=160 David Regan 85-75=160 Grahame Cowlishaw 82-79=161 +21 Nick Brown 85-77=162 +22 Nick Brunyard 81-81=162 John Heib (a) 82-80=162 0 Andrew Griffiths 86-77=163 +23 315 Mark Lawrence (a) 83-80=163 0 R. J. Hall (a) 83-81=164 +24 Tore Sviland (a) 86-78=164 Ian Lee 91-81=172 +32 315DQ Jimmy Heggarty 75-72=147 +7 Philip Clark 75-74=149 +9 Source: The exchange rate at the time was approximately 1.87 dollars (US) per pound sterling.
References
External links Royal St George's 1981 (Official site) 110th Open Championship – Royal St George's (European Tour) (GolfCompendium.com)