1999 Open Championship

1999 Open Championship
Tournament information
Dates 15–18 July 1999
Location Angus, Scotland
Course(s) Carnoustie Golf Links
Championship Course
Organized by The R&A
Tour(s) PGA Tour
European Tour
Japan Golf Tour
Statistics
Par 71[1]
Length 7,361 yards (6,731 m)[1]
Field 156 players, 73 after cut[1]
Cut 154 (+12)[1]
Prize fund £2,000,000
€2,850,260
$3,058,500
Winner's share £350,000
€490,000
$577,500
Champion
Scotland Paul Lawrie
290 (+6), playoff
Carnoustie
Location in Scotland

The 1999 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 128th Open Championship, held from 15–18 July at the Carnoustie Golf Links in Angus, Scotland.

Paul Lawrie won his only major championship in a playoff over Jean van de Velde and Justin Leonard.[2] Lawrie, down by ten strokes at the start of the fourth round,[3] completed the biggest final round comeback in major championship history,[4][5] headlined by van de Velde's triple-bogey at the last hole.[6]

The collapse

Van de Velde, who was in control through the latter half of the championship, held a seemingly insurmountable three-stroke lead going into the 72nd hole.[7] He teed off with a driver, which was heavily criticized by the ABC broadcast team, and pushed his shot far to the right, over the water bordering the right side of the 18th fairway, and onto the 17th hole. He later claimed that he thought the lead was only two strokes, which is why he chose not to go with a safe club, such as an iron. Choosing not to simply lay up with a wedge, van de Velde went for the green on his second shot with a two iron. His second shot came to rest in an area of knee-deep rough after his ball bounced backward 50 yards off the grandstand next to the 18th green and off of a rock in the Barry Burn. Had the ball stayed in the grandstand he would have been able to drop without penalty. Then the thick Carnoustie grass stifled him again, as his third shot went into the burn in front of the green. Van de Velde took his shoes and socks off and entered the burn, considering an attempt to play the ball from the water. He decided against it and instead took a drop (fourth stroke), at which point he hit his fifth shot into one of the deep greenside bunkers. He pitched out safely and holed the eight-foot putt on his seventh shot for a triple-bogey. This forced the three-man playoff, which he eventually lost.[8][9]

Despite his three-stroke lead van de Velde had going into the final hole, his name had not already been engraved into the Claret Jug, according to engraver Alex Harvey "No, I didn't start engraving the Jug with his name. I've got to wait until the secretary hands me a slip of paper with the winner's name on it, and they always wait until the last putt is dropped."[10] Van de Velde's play on this hole is still widely considered[9] to be the worst "choke" in golfing history, and some have even used the term "pulling a van de Velde" to describe similar events.[11]

Course layout

Carnoustie Golf Links - Championship Course

HoleNameYardsParHoleNameYardsPar
1Cup407410South America4664
2Gulley462411Dyke3834
3Jockie's Burn342412Southward Ho4794
4Hillocks412413Whins1693
5Brae411414Spectacles5155
6Long ^578515Lucky Slap4724
7Plantation412416Barry Burn2503
8Short183317Island4594
9Railway474418Home4874
Out3,68136In3,68035
Source:[12]Total7,36171

^ The 6th hole was renamed Hogan's Alley in 2003

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

  • 1975: 7,065 yards (6,460 m), par 72
  • 1968: 7,252 yards (6,631 m), par 72
  • 1953: 7,200 yards (6,585 m), par 72
  • 1937: 7,200 yards (6,585 m), par 72
  • 1931: 6,701 yards (6,127 m), par 72

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

PlayerCountryYear(s) wonR1R2R3R4TotalTo parFinish
Justin Leonard United States199773747172290+6T2
Greg Norman Australia1986, 199376707572293+96
Nick Price Zimbabwe199477747377301+17T37

Missed the cut

PlayerCountryYear(s) wonR1R2TotalTo par
Tom Watson United States1975, 1977,
1980, 1982, 1983		8273155+13
Tom Lehman United States19967680156+14
Nick Faldo England1987, 1990, 19927879157+15
Mark O'Meara United States19988374157+15
Mark Calcavecchia United States19897881159+17
Bob Charles New Zealand19638381164+22
Gary Player South Africa1959, 1968, 19748183164+22
Seve Ballesteros Spain1979, 1984, 19888086166+24
Sandy Lyle Scotland19858581166+24
Tony Jacklin England19698582167+25

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 15 July 1999

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Rod Pampling Australia71E
T2Scott Dunlap United States72+1
Bernhard Langer Germany
T4Dudley Hart United States73+2
Paul Lawrie Scotland
Justin Leonard United States
Mark McNulty Zimbabwe
Len Mattiace United States
Steve Pate United States
Hal Sutton United States

Second round

Friday, 16 July 1999

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Jean van de Velde France75-68=143+1
2Ángel Cabrera Argentina75-69=144+2
3Jesper Parnevik Sweden74-71=145+3
T4Greg Norman Australia76-70=146+4
Patrik Sjöland Sweden74-72=146
Tiger Woods United States74-72=146
T7Bradley Hughes Australia76-71=147+5
Paul Lawrie Scotland73-74=147
Justin Leonard United States73-74=147
Len Mattiace United States73-74=147
Brian Watts United States74-73=147

Amateurs: Donald (+14), Gribben (+18), Storm (+19), Scotland (+21).

Third round

Saturday, 17 July 1999

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Jean van de Velde France75-68-70=213E
T2Justin Leonard United States73-74-71=218+5
Craig Parry Australia76-75-67=218
T4Andrew Coltart Scotland74-74-72=220+7
David Frost South Africa80-69-71=220
Tiger Woods United States74-72-74=220
T7Ángel Cabrera Argentina75-69-77=221+8
Greg Norman Australia76-70-75=221
T9Bernhard Langer Germany72-77-73=222+9
Miguel Ángel Martín Spain74-76-72=222
Len Mattiace United States73-74-75=222
Colin Montgomerie Scotland74-76-72=222
Frank Nobilo New Zealand76-76-70=222

Final round

Sunday, 18 July 1999

Paul Lawrie completed the biggest final round comeback in major championship and PGA Tour history by coming back from 10 strokes behind in the final round, and winning the subsequent three-man playoff.[2][3][6]

Jean van de Velde started the day with a five-stroke lead over Craig Parry and Justin Leonard, but trailed Parry by a stroke at the 12th hole, as Parry was −3 for the day through 11, while Van de Velde was +3. However, Parry could not escape the thick rough on the 12th hole on his way to a triple bogey while Van de Velde regained sole possession of the lead with a bogey. Parry then bogeyed 13, drove into the fairway bunker at 14 to deny himself a birdie chance, and missed a two-foot (0.6 m) putt on 17 en route to a double bogey. He holed a bunker shot on 18 to finish one stroke out of the playoff.

In the meantime, Leonard tied van de Velde for the lead with a birdie on 14, but made bogeys at 15 and 18 as his second shot landed in the barry burn as Van de Velde birdied 14 - leaving him three strokes behind, tied with Lawrie in the clubhouse at 6-over-par. Ángel Cabrera had a chance to join the clubhouse lead but lipped out a birdie putt on 18.

After the birdie on 14, Van de Velde missed the next three greens but got up-and-down each time to give himself a three stroke lead going into 18 where a triple bogey dropped him into a playoff.

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney (£)
T1Paul Lawrie Scotland73-74-76-67=290+6Playoff
Justin Leonard United States73-74-71-72=290
Jean van de Velde France75-68-70-77=290
T4Ángel Cabrera Argentina75-69-77-70=291+7100,000
Craig Parry Australia76-75-67-73=291
6Greg Norman Australia76-70-75-72=293+970,000
T7David Frost South Africa80-69-71-74=294+1050,000
Davis Love III United States74-74-77-69=294
Tiger Woods United States74-72-74-74=294
T10Hal Sutton United States73-78-72-72=295+1134,800
Scott Dunlap United States72-77-76-70=295
Jim Furyk United States78-71-76-70=295
Retief Goosen South Africa76-75-73-71=295
Jesper Parnevik Sweden74-71-78-72=295

Source:[13][14][15]

Scorecard

Final round

Hole 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 101112131415161718
Par444445434444354344
Scotland Lawrie+10+10+9+9+10+9+9+8+8+8+8+7+8+7+7+7+6+6
United States Leonard+5+5+5+5+5+4+4+4+4+5+5+5+5+4+5+5+5+6
France van de VeldeEE+1+1+2+2+2+3+2+2+3+4+4+3+3+3+3+6
Argentina Cabrera+8+8+7+7+7+7+7+7+7+7+6+6+7+7+7+7+7+7
Australia Parry+5+5+4+4+4+4+4+3+3+2+2+5+6+6+6+6+8+7
Australia Norman+8+8+8+9+10+10+10+10+10+10+10+9+9+8+8+8+8+9
South Africa Frost+8+10+9+10+12+11+10+10+10+10+10+11+10+9+9+10+10+10
United States Love+12+11+11+10+10+10+9+10+11+12+11+12+11+10+10+11+11+10
United States Woods+7+7+7+7+7+7+7+7+7+7+7+9+9+8+9+9+9+10

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie Bogey Double bogey Triple bogey+

Source:[15][16]

Playoff

The four-hole aggregate playoff was played on the final four holes (#15-18), three par fours and one par three (#16). All three players hit poor drives on the first playoff hole. Van de Velde was forced to take an unplayable and took double bogey to fall one stroke behind Lawrie and Leonard who both had bogeys. All three players missed the green on the second playoff hole and took bogeys. On the third playoff hole, Van de Velde made birdie to briefly create a three-way tie, but Lawrie followed with a birdie of his own to take a one-stroke lead into the final playoff hole. On the final playoff hole, Van de Velde found the rough and Leonard found the water en route to bogeys while Lawrie hit a 4-iron to four feet for a clinching birdie and the championship.

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney (£)
1Paul Lawrie Scotland5-4-3-3=15E350,000
T2Justin Leonard United States5-4-4-5=18+3185,000
Jean van de Velde France6-4-3-5=18
Scorecard
Hole 15  16  17  18 
Par4344
Scotland Lawrie+1+2+1E
United States Leonard+1+2+2+3
France van de Velde+2+3+2+3

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par
Source:[15]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 31, 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  2. 1 2 Bonk, Thomas (19 July 1999). "Gift-wrapped Claret Jug to Lawrie". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. (Los Angeles Times). p. 1B.
  3. 1 2 Shapiro, Leonard (19 July 1999). "Out of darkness, it's Lawrie". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. (Washington Post). p. C1.
  4. ↑ Ferguson, Doug (19 July 1999). "A Scottish fairy tale". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. p. B1.
  5. ↑ Brown, Clifton (19 July 1999). "Van de Velde self-destructs, Lawrie wins". Toledo Blade. Ohio. (New York Times). p. 23.
  6. 1 2 Garrity, John (26 July 1999). "Down the drain". Sports Illustrated.
  7. ↑ Logan, Joe (19 July 1999). "Great Scot! It's Lawrie". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. p. 1C.
  8. ↑ Dahlberg, Tim (19 July 1999). "Decisions cost Frenchman". Toledo Blade. Ohio. Associated Press. p. 27.
  9. 1 2 "Lawrie wins dramatic Open". BBC News. 19 July 1999. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  10. ↑ "Le Crying Shame". Golf.com. 17 July 2007.
  11. ↑ "Romero pulls a Van de Velde one hole early". NBC Sports. 22 July 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  12. ↑ "128th Open Championship: course map". Toledo Blade. Ohio. Associated Press. 15 July 1999. p. 32.
  13. ↑ "1999 Open Championship results". databasegolf.com. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  14. ↑ "Results: British Open". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 19 July 1999. p. B-3.
  15. 1 2 3 "Anatomy of the final round". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 19 July 1999. p. 3C.
  16. ↑ "Final-round scorecards". ESPN. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
Preceded by
1999 U.S. Open		 Major Championships Succeeded by
1999 PGA Championship

Coordinates: 56°29′49″N 2°43′01″W / 56.497°N 2.717°W / 56.497; -2.717

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