1999 Open Championship
Front cover of the 1999 Open Annual
Tournament information
Dates15–18 July 1999
LocationAngus, Scotland
Course(s)Carnoustie Golf Links
Championship Course
Organized byThe R&A
Tour(s)PGA Tour
European Tour
Japan Golf Tour
Statistics
Par71[1]
Length7,361 yards (6,731 m)[1]
Field156 players, 73 after cut[1]
Cut154 (+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
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2000 →
Carnoustie is located in Scotland
Carnoustie
Carnoustie
Location in Scotland

The 1999 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 128th Open Championship, held from 15 to 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]

Course layout

Carnoustie Golf Links - Championship Course

Hole Name Yards Par Hole Name Yards Par
1 Cup 407 4 10 South America 466 4
2 Gulley 462 4 11 Dyke 383 4
3 Jockie's Burn 342 4 12 Southward Ho 479 4
4 Hillocks 412 4 13 Whins 169 3
5 Brae 411 4 14 Spectacles 515 5
6 Long ^ 578 5 15 Lucky Slap 472 4
7 Plantation 412 4 16 Barry Burn 250 3
8 Short 183 3 17 Island 459 4
9 Railway 474 4 18 Home 487 4
Out 3,681 36 In 3,680 35
Source:[7] Total 7,361 71

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

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

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 15 July 1999

Place Player Score To par
1 Australia Rod Pampling 71 E
T2 United States Scott Dunlap 72 +1
Germany Bernhard Langer
T4 United States Dudley Hart 73 +2
Scotland Paul Lawrie
United States Justin Leonard
Zimbabwe Mark McNulty
United States Len Mattiace
United States Steve Pate
United States Hal Sutton

Second round

Friday, 16 July 1999

Place Player Score To par
1 France Jean van de Velde 75-68=143 +1
2 Argentina Ángel Cabrera 75-69=144 +2
3 Sweden Jesper Parnevik 74-71=145 +3
T4 Australia Greg Norman 76-70=146 +4
Sweden Patrik Sjöland 74-72=146
United States Tiger Woods 74-72=146
T7 Australia Bradley Hughes 76-71=147 +5
Scotland Paul Lawrie 73-74=147
United States Justin Leonard 73-74=147
United States Len Mattiace 73-74=147
United States Brian Watts 74-73=147

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

Third round

Saturday, 17 July 1999

Place Player Score To par
1 France Jean van de Velde 75-68-70=213 E
T2 United States Justin Leonard 73-74-71=218 +5
Australia Craig Parry 76-75-67=218
T4 Scotland Andrew Coltart 74-74-72=220 +7
South Africa David Frost 80-69-71=220
United States Tiger Woods 74-72-74=220
T7 Argentina Ángel Cabrera 75-69-77=221 +8
Australia Greg Norman 76-70-75=221
T9 Germany Bernhard Langer 72-77-73=222 +9
Spain Miguel Ángel Martín 74-76-72=222
United States Len Mattiace 73-74-75=222
Scotland Colin Montgomerie 74-76-72=222
New Zealand Frank Nobilo 76-76-70=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 narrowly missed 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.

Van de Velde's 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.[8] Despite the 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."[9]

Van de Velde teed off with a driver, which was heavily criticised 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.[citation needed] 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 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 six-foot putt on his seventh shot for a triple-bogey, which would trigger a three-man playoff between van de Velde, Lawrie, and Leonard.[10][11] Van de Velde's play on this hole is still widely considered[11] to be the worst "choke" in golfing history, and some have even used the term "pulling a van de Velde" to describe similar events.[12][13][14]

Place Player Score To par Money (£)
T1 Scotland Paul Lawrie 73-74-76-67=290 +6 Playoff
United States Justin Leonard 73-74-71-72=290
France Jean van de Velde 75-68-70-77=290
T4 Argentina Ángel Cabrera 75-69-77-70=291 +7 100,000
Australia Craig Parry 76-75-67-73=291
6 Australia Greg Norman 76-70-75-72=293 +9 70,000
T7 South Africa David Frost 80-69-71-74=294 +10 50,000
United States Davis Love III 74-74-77-69=294
United States Tiger Woods 74-72-74-74=294
T10 United States Hal Sutton 73-78-72-72=295 +11 34,800
United States Scott Dunlap 72-77-76-70=295
United States Jim Furyk 78-71-76-70=295
South Africa Retief Goosen 76-75-73-71=295
Sweden Jesper Parnevik 74-71-78-72=295

Source:[15][16][17]

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 4 4 5 4 3 4 4 4 4 3 5 4 3 4 4
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 Velde E +1 +2 +2 +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:[17][18]

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.

Place Player Score To par Money (£)
1 Scotland Paul Lawrie 5-4-3-3=15 E 350,000
T2 United States Justin Leonard 5-4-4-5=18 +3 185,000
France Jean van de Velde 6-4-3-5=18
Scorecard
Hole  15   16   17   18 
Par 4 3 4 4
Scotland Lawrie +1 +2 +1 E
United States Leonard +1 +2 +2 +3
France van de Velde +2 +3 +2 +3

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par
Source:[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 31, 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  2. ^ a b Bonk, Thomas (19 July 1999). "Gift-wrapped Claret Jug to Lawrie". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. (Los Angeles Times). p. 1B.
  3. ^ a b 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. ^ a b Garrity, John (26 July 1999). "Down the drain". Sports Illustrated.
  7. ^ "128th Open Championship: course map". Toledo Blade. Ohio. Associated Press. 15 July 1999. p. 32.
  8. ^ Logan, Joe (19 July 1999). "Great Scot! It's Lawrie". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. p. 1C.
  9. ^ "Le Crying Shame". Golf Magazine. 17 July 2007.
  10. ^ Dahlberg, Tim (19 July 1999). "Decisions cost Frenchman". Toledo Blade. Ohio. Associated Press. p. 27.
  11. ^ a b "Lawrie wins dramatic Open". BBC News. 19 July 1999. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  12. ^ "Romero pulls a Van de Velde one hole early". NBC Sports. 22 July 2007. Archived from the original on 10 April 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  13. ^ Shedloski, Dave (27 June 2011). "Shedloski: The Reclamation of Robert Garrigus". Golf Digest. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  14. ^ "Meltdown on 72nd hole wipes out Kyle Stanley's four-shot lead, chance to win at Torrey Pines". MassLive.com. Associated Press. 25 March 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  15. ^ "1999 Open Championship results". databasegolf.com. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  16. ^ "Results: British Open". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 19 July 1999. p. B-3.
  17. ^ a b c "Anatomy of the final round". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 19 July 1999. p. 3C.
  18. ^ "Final-round scorecards". ESPN. Retrieved 28 September 2018.

External links

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

1999 Men's major golf championships
The Open Championship
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