1997 Open Championship

The 1997 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 126th Open Championship, held from 17–20 July at the Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland. Justin Leonard won his only major championship and was the fifth consecutive American to win at Royal Troon.

1997 Open Championship

Tournament information
Dates	17–20 July 1997
Location	Troon, Scotland
Course(s)	Royal Troon Golf Club
Tour(s)	European Tour PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	71[1]
Length	7,079 yards (6,473 m)[1][2]
Field	156 players, 70 after cut[1]
Cut	147 (+5)[1]
Prize fund	£1,600,000 €2,220,820 $2,680,000
Winner's share	£250,000 €350,000 $418,875
Champion
Justin Leonard
272 (–12)

Royal Troon Golf Club

Location in Scotland

Royal Troon Golf Club

Location in South Ayrshire, Scotland

Five strokes back after a 72 in the third round, Leonard had six birdies on the front nine in the final round; he added two more at 16 and 17 for 65 (–6) to win by three strokes over runners-up Darren Clarke and Jesper Parnevik, the 54-hole leader.[3][4][5]

Course

Old Course

Hole	Name	Yards	Par		Hole	Name	Yards	Par
1	Seal	364	4		10	Sandhills	438	4
2	Black Rock	391	4		11	The Railway	463	4
3	Gyaws	379	4		12	The Fox	431	4
4	Dunure	557	5		13	Burmah	465	4
5	Greenan	210	3		14	Alton	179	3
6	Turnberry	577	5		15	Crosbie	457	4
7	Tel-el-Kebir	402	4		16	Well	542	5
8	Postage Stamp	126	3		17	Rabbit	223	3
9	The Monk	423	4		18	Craigend	452	4
Out		3,429	36		In		3,650	35
Source:[2][6]					Total		7,079	71

Lengths of the course for previous Opens (since 1950):[1]

1989: 7,097 yards (6,489 m), par 72 1982: 7,067 yards (6,462 m), par 72 1973: 7,064 yards (6,459 m), par 72 1962: 7,045 yards (6,442 m), par 72 1950: 6,583 yards (6,019 m), par 70

Opens from 1962 through 1989 played the 11th hole as a par-5.

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	To par	Finish
Mark Calcavecchia	United States	1989	74	67	72	69	282	–2	T10
Tom Watson	United States	1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983	71	70	70	71	282	–2	T10
Tom Lehman	United States	1996	74	72	72	66	284	E	T24
Greg Norman	Australia	1986, 1993	69	73	70	75	287	+3	T37
Nick Faldo	England	1987, 1990, 1992	71	73	75	72	291	+7	T50
Jack Nicklaus	United States	1966, 1970, 1978	73	74	71	75	293	+9	T60

Source:[1][4]

Missed the cut

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	Total	To par
Seve Ballesteros	Spain	1979, 1984, 1988	77	71	148	+6
Gary Player	South Africa	1959, 1968, 1974	78	71	149	+7
Nick Price	Zimbabwe	1994	78	72	150	+8
Sandy Lyle	Scotland	1985	78	75	153	+11
Ian Baker-Finch	Australia	1991	92		WD

Source:[1][7]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 17 July 1997

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
T1	Darren Clarke	Northern Ireland	67	–4
	Jim Furyk	United States
T3	Fred Couples	United States	69	–2
	Justin Leonard	United States
	Greg Norman	Australia
T6	Ángel Cabrera	Argentina	70	–1
	Barclay Howard (a)	Scotland
	Davis Love III	United States
	Andrew Magee	United States
	Jesper Parnevik	Sweden

Source:

Second round

Friday, 18 July 1997

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Darren Clarke	Northern Ireland	67-66=133	–9
2	Justin Leonard	United States	69-66=135	–7
3	Jesper Parnevik	Sweden	70-66=136	–6
T4	Fred Couples	United States	69-68=137	–5
	David Tapping	England	71-66=137
T6	Jim Furyk	United States	67-72=139	–3
	Tom Kite	United States	72-67=139
8	Ángel Cabrera	Argentina	70-70=140	–2
T9	Mark Calcavecchia	United States	74-67=141	–1
	Jay Haas	United States	71-70=141
	Davis Love III	United States	70-71=141
	Tom Watson	United States	71-70=141

Source:[7]
Amateurs: Howard (+2), Watson (+7), Bladon (+10), Olsson (+11), Webster (+11), Taylor (+15), Young (+17), Miller (+22).

Third round

Saturday, 19 July 1997

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Jesper Parnevik	Sweden	70-66-66=202	–11
2	Darren Clarke	Northern Ireland	67-66-71=204	–9
T3	Fred Couples	United States	69-68-70=207	–6
	Justin Leonard	United States	69-66-72=207
T5	Stephen Ames	Trinidad and Tobago	74-69-66=209	–4
	Jim Furyk	United States	67-72-70=209
	Eduardo Romero	Argentina	74-68-67=209
T8	Robert Allenby	Australia	76-68-66=210	–3
	Lee Westwood	England	73-70-67=210
	Tiger Woods	United States	72-74-64=210

Source:[8]

Final round

Sunday, 20 July 1997

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money (£)
1	Justin Leonard	United States	69-66-72-65=272	–12	250,000
T2	Darren Clarke	Northern Ireland	67-66-71-71=275	–9	150,000
	Jesper Parnevik	Sweden	70-66-66-73=275
4	Jim Furyk	United States	67-72-70-70=279	–5	90,000
T5	Pádraig Harrington	Ireland	75-69-69-67=280	–4	62,500
	Stephen Ames	Trinidad and Tobago	74-69-66-71=280
T7	Peter O'Malley	Australia	73-70-70-68=281	–3	40,667
	Eduardo Romero	Argentina	74-68-67-72=281
	Fred Couples	United States	69-68-70-74=281
T10	Davis Love III	United States	70-71-74-67=282	–2	24,300
	Retief Goosen	South Africa	75-69-70-68=282
	Frank Nobilo	New Zealand	74-72-68-68=282
	Tom Kite	United States	72-67-74-69=282
	Mark Calcavecchia	United States	74-67-72-69=282
	Shigeki Maruyama	Japan	74-69-70-69=282
	Ernie Els	South Africa	75-69-69-69=282
	Tom Watson	United States	71-70-70-71=282
	Robert Allenby	Australia	76-68-66-72=282
	Lee Westwood	England	73-70-67-72=282

Source:[1][4][9]
Amateurs: Howard (+9)

Scorecard

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	4	4	5	3	5	4	3	4	4	4	4	4	3	4	5	3	4
Leonard	−6	−7	−8	−9	−8	−9	−10	−10	−11	−10	−10	−10	−10	−10	−10	−11	−12	−12
Clarke	−10	−8	−8	−8	−8	−9	−9	−9	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−7	−8	−8	−9
Parnevik	−11	−11	−12	−12	−12	−11	−12	−12	−12	−11	−12	−12	−11	−11	−11	−11	−10	−9

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Eagle

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Source:[5]

References

1. "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 33, 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
2. "Royal Troon, hole-by-hole". Toledo Blade. (Ohio, U.S.). 17 July 1997. p. 42.
3. Reilly, Rick (28 July 1997). "Justin time". Sports Illustrated.
4. Sirak, Ron (21 July 1997). "Leonard's surge foils Parnevik's redemption". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon, U.S.). Associated Press. p. 1B.
5. Parascenzo, Marino (21 July 1997). "Leonard outduels Parnevik". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. B1.
6. "Open Championship: course". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 17 July 1997. p. 10C.
7. Sirak, Ron (19 July 1997). "Birdie barrage hits Troon". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon, U.S.). Associated Press. p. 1D.
8. Sirak, Ron (20 July 1997). "Parnevik picks up the pace at Troon". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon, U.S.). Associated Press. p. 1G.
9. "1997 Open Championship results". databasegolf.com. Retrieved 2 July 2012.

External links

• 126th Open - Royal Troon 1997 (Official site)
• 126th Open Championship - Royal Troon (European Tour)
• 1997 Open Championship (about.sports)