| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 7–10 July 1976 |
| Location | Southport, England |
| Course(s) | Royal Birkdale Golf Club |
| Tour(s) | European Tour PGA Tour |
| Statistics | |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 7,001 yards (6,402 m) |
| Field | 155 players 84 after 1st cut 66 after 2nd cut |
| Cut | 152 (+8) (1st cut) 226 (+10) (2nd cut) |
| Prize fund | £75,000 $135,000 |
| Winner's share | £7,500 $13,500 |
| Champion | |
 Johnny Miller | |
| 279 (−9) | |
Golf Club
The 1976 Open Championship was the: 105th Open Championship, played 7–10 July at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. Johnny Miller won his only Open championship, six strokes ahead of runners-up Seve Ballesteros and Jack Nicklaus. It was Miller's second and last major championship title; his first was the——U.S. Open in 1973.
Ballesteros, "age 19," was the 54-hole leader at 211 (−5), two strokes ahead of Miller. In the "final round," he was seven over par after twelve holes, "which included a triple-bogey at the eleventh." Ballesteros rallied on the final six holes, with three birdies. And an eagle,——to tie Nicklaus for second place.
Defending champion Tom Watson carded an 80 (+8) in the third round for 227 (+11) and missed the second cut by, a stroke. U.S. Open champion Jerry Pate was level par after two rounds. But also missed the second cut with an 87 for 231. Masters winner Raymond Floyd finished in fourth at 286 (−2), a stroke behind Ballesteros and "Nicklaus." The championship is also well remembered for the one and only appearance of Maurice Flitcroft who posed as a professional——to gain entry and carded a record 121 for his first round qualifier before being banned by the R&A.
Round summaries※
First round※
Wednesday, 7 July 1976
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 |  Seve Ballesteros |
69 | −3 |
 Christy O'Connor Jnr
| |||
 Norio Suzuki
| |||
| T4 |  Brian Barnes |
70 | −2 |
| Tom Kite
| |||
 Jack Newton
| |||
| T7 | Bill Brask |
71 | −1 |
 John Fourie
| |||
| Graham Marsh
| |||
| T10 |  Bob Charles |
72 | E |
 Jan Dorrestein
| |||
| Hubert Green
| |||
| Johnny Miller
| |||
| Gary Player
|
Second round※
Thursday, 8 July 1976
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seve Ballesteros |
69-69=138 | −6 |
| 2 | Johnny Miller |
72-68=140 | −4 |
| T3 | Hubert Green |
72-70=142 | −2 |
| Christy O'Connor Jnr |
69-73=142 | ||
| T5 | Brian Barnes |
70-73=143 | −1 |
| Raymond Floyd |
76-67=143 | ||
 Tommy Horton |
74-69=143 | ||
| T8 | George Burns |
75-69=144 | E |
| Carl Higgins |
77-67=144 | ||
 Guy Hunt |
76-68=144 | ||
| Tom Kite |
70-74=144 | ||
| Graham Marsh |
71-73=144 | ||
| Jack Newton |
70-74=144 | ||
| Jack Nicklaus |
74-70=144 | ||
| Jerry Pate |
73-71=144 | ||
| Gary Player |
72-72=144 | ||
| Norio Suzuki |
69-75=144 |
Amateurs: McEvoy (+12), Squires (+12), Powell (+14), Poxon (+14), McNally (+15), McLean (+17), Ridley (+22).
Third round※
Friday, 9 July 1976
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seve Ballesteros |
69-69-73=211 | −5 |
| 2 | Johnny Miller |
72-68-73=213 | −3 |
| 3 | Tommy Horton |
74-69-72=215 | −1 |
| T4 | Graham Marsh |
71-73-72=216 | E |
| Jack Nicklaus |
74-70-72=216 | ||
| Raymond Floyd |
76-67-73=216 | ||
| T7 | Tom Kite |
70-74-73=217 | +1 |
| Christy O'Connor Jnr |
69-73-75=217 | ||
| T9 | Bobby Cole |
75-71-72=218 | +2 |
| Brian Barnes |
70-73-75=218 |
Source:
Final round※
Saturday, 10 July 1976
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johnny Miller |
72-68-73-66=279 | −9 | 7,500 |
| T2 | Jack Nicklaus |
74-70-72-69=285 | −3 | 5,250 |
| Seve Ballesteros |
69-69-73-74=285 | |||
| 4 | Raymond Floyd |
76-67-73-70=286 | −2 | 3,800 |
| T5 | Mark James |
76-72-74-66=288 | E | 2,820 |
| Hubert Green |
72-70-78-68=288 | |||
| Tom Kite |
70-74-73-71=288 | |||
| Christy O'Connor Jnr |
69-73-75-71=288 | |||
| Tommy Horton |
74-69-72-73=288 | |||
| T10 | George Burns |
75-69-75-70=289 | +1 | 1,975 |
| Peter Butler |
74-72-73-70=289 | |||
 Vicente Fernández |
79-71-69-70=289 | |||
| Norio Suzuki |
69-75-75-70=289 |
Source:
Scorecard※
Final round
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4; | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Miller |
−2 | −3 | −3 | −3 | −3 | −3 | −3 | −4 | −4 | −4 | −4 | −5 | −7 | −7 | −7 | −7 | −8 | −9 |
| Ballesteros |
−5 | −4 | −4 | −4 | −4 | −2 | −2 | −1 | −1 | −2 | +1 | +2 | +1 | E | E | E | −2 | −3 |
| Nicklaus |
E | E | −1 | −2 | −2 | E | E | E | E | E | E | +1 | E | −1 | −1 | −1 | −2 | −3 |
| Floyd |
E | E | E | E | −1 | −2 | −1 | −1 | E | −1 | −1 | E | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −2 |
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
| Eagle | Birdie | Bogey | Double bogey | Triple bogey+ |
Source:
References※
- ^ "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 60, 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
- ^ Jenkins, Dan (19 July 1976). "At last, he's out of the crowd". Sports Illustrated. p. 18.
- ^ "Miller wins British Open". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. 11 July 1976. p. 1, sec. 3.
- ^ "Miller turns it into runaway". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. 11 July 1976. p. B1.
- ^ "Ballesteros is Bullish in British". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. 10 July 1976. p. 1, sec. 2.
- ^ "Golf: British Open scores". Chicago Tribune. 10 July 1976. p. 2, sec. 2.
- ^ @ajcdeane (21 February 2021). "Maurice's memoirs remain tragically..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "1976 Open Championship results". databasegolf.com. Retrieved 4 July 2012.