The 1979 Open Championship was the 108th Open Championship, held 18–21 July at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lancashire, England. Seve Ballesteros, 22, won the first of his five major titles, three strokes ahead of runners-up Jack Nicklaus and Ben Crenshaw. It was the first of his three Open Championship victories; he raised the Claret Jug again in 1984 and 1988.
This was the last Open scheduled to end on Saturday; in 1980 it moved to a Sunday final round, similar to the other three majors.
Course
HoleYardsParHoleYardsPar12063 1033442436411542534584122013439341333945212314445464865154684755151635648394417453491623183864 Out3,29835 In3,52436Source: Total 6,82271 Hole #6 was a par 4 in 2012.
Lengths of the course for The Open Championship (since 1950):
1974: , par 71 1969: , par 71 1963: , par 70 1958: , par 71 1952:
Round summaries First round Wednesday, 18 July 1979 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Bill Longmuir65−62 Hale Irwin68−33 Jerry Pate69−24 Isao Aoki70−1T5 Terry Gale71E Peter McEvoy (a) Orville Moody Lee TrevinoT9 Hugh Baiocchi72+1 Ken Brown Dennis Clark Ben Crenshaw Gary Cullen Jack Nicklaus Tom Watson Source:
Second round Thursday, 19 July 1979 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Hale Irwin 68-68=136 −62 Seve Ballesteros 73-65=138 −43 Bill Longmuir 65-74=139 −34 Tom Watson 72-68=140 −2T5 Dennis Clark 72-69=141 −1 Jack Nicklaus 72-69=1417 Graham Marsh 74-68=142 ET8 Ken Brown 72-71=143 +1 Bob Byman 73-70=143 Ben Crenshaw 72-71=143 Jerry Pate 69-74=143 Source:
Amateurs: McEvoy (+3), Player (+8), Hallberg (+14), Hoad (+15),Bennett (+17), Myers (+18), Guy (+20), Whelan (+23).
Third round Friday, 20 July 1979 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Hale Irwin68-68-75=211−22 Seve Ballesteros73-65-75=213ET3 Mark James76-69-69=214+1 Jack Nicklaus72-69-73=214T5 Rodger Davis75-70-70=215+2 Bob Byman73-70-72=215 Ben Crenshaw72-71-72=215T8 Isao Aoki70-74-72=216+3 Greg Norman73-71-72=216 Tom Watson72-68-76=216 Bill Longmuir65-74-77=216
Amateurs: McEvoy (+4), Player (+19).
Final round Saturday, 21 July 1979 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (£)1 Seve Ballesteros 73-65-75-70=283 −1 15,000 T2 Ben Crenshaw 72-71-72-71=286 +2 11,250 Jack Nicklaus 72-69-73-72=2864 Mark James 76-69-69-73=287 +3 7,500 5 Rodger Davis 75-70-70-73=288 +46,500 6 Hale Irwin 68-68-75-78=289 +5 6,000 T7 Graham Marsh 74-68-75-74=291 +7 5,000 Isao Aoki 70-74-72-75=291 Bob Byman 73-70-72-76=291T10 Bob Charles 78-72-70-72=292 +8 4,000 Masashi Ozaki 75-69-75-73=292 Greg Norman 73-71-72-76=292 Source: Amateurs: McEvoy (+10) The exchange rate at the time was approximately 2.30 dollars (US) per pound sterling.
References
External links Royal Lytham & St Annes 1979 (Official site) 108th Open Championship - Royal Lytham & St Annes (European Tour)