1970 Open Championship
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The 1970 Open Championship was the 99th Open Championship, played 8–12 July at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland. Jack Nicklaus won the second of his three Opens in an 18-hole Sunday playoff over Doug Sanders, 72 to 73. In gusty winds during the fourth round on Saturday, Sanders saved par from the Road Hole bunker and led by one heading to the 72nd hole. After a lengthy drive on the short par-4, he took four shots from just 74 yards (68 m) and missed a downhill putt for par from three feet to win.
This was the first playoff at The Open since 1963 and the first at 18 holes. The previous playoffs were 36 holes on Saturday. Prior to 1966, the final two rounds of The Open were played on Friday. The playoff format was changed again to the four-hole aggregate after the 1985 Open, first used in 1989.
A thunderstorm late in the opening round on Wednesday evening caused a suspension in play; it was competed early the next day.
Course
| Hole | Name | Yards | Par | Hole | Name | Yards | Par | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burn | 374 | 4 | 10 | Tenth ^ | 338 | 4 | |
| 2 | Dyke | 411 | 4 | 11 | High (In) | 170 | 3 | |
| 3 | Cartgate (Out) | 405 | 4 | 12 | Heathery (In) | 312 | 4 | |
| 4 | Ginger Beer | 470 | 4 | 13 | Hole O'Cross (In) | 427 | 4 | |
| 5 | Hole O'Cross (Out) | 567 | 5 | 14 | Long | 560 | 5 | |
| 6 | Heathery (Out) | 414 | 4 | 15 | Cartgate (In) | 413 | 4 | |
| 7 | High (Out) | 364 | 4 | 16 | Corner of the Dyke | 380 | 4 | |
| 8 | Short | 163 | 3 | 17 | Road | 466 | 4 | |
| 9 | End | 359 | 4 | 18 | Tom Morris | 358 | 4 | |
| Out | 3,527 | 36 | In | 3,424 | 36 | |||
| Source: | Total | 6,951 | 72 |
^ The 10th hole was posthumously named for Bobby Jones in 1972
Previous lengths of the course for The Open Championship (since 1950):
Round summaries
First round
Wednesday, 8 July 1970 Thursday, 9 July 1970
Source:
Second round
Thursday, 9 July 1970
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States Lee Trevino | 68-68=136 | −8 |
| T2 | England Tony Jacklin | 67-70=137 | −7 |
| United States Jack Nicklaus | 68-69=137 | ||
| T4 | England Clive Clark | 69-70=139 | −5 |
| England Neil Coles | 65-74=139 | ||
| South Africa Harold Henning | 67-72=139 | ||
| England Tommy Horton | 66-73=139 | ||
| Scotland John Richardson | 67-72=139 | ||
| United States Doug Sanders | 68-71=139 | ||
| T10 | Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Snr | 72-68=140 | −4 |
| United States Arnold Palmer | 68-72=140 |
Source: Amateurs: Melnyk (-1), Bonallack (+1), Humphreys (+2), George (+2), Webster (+5), MacDonald (+7), Berry (+8), Steel (+10), Mosey (+11), Sumner (+11), Sweeny Jr (+11), Farmer (+14)
Third round
Friday, 10 July 1970
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States Lee Trevino | 68-68-72=208 | −8 |
| T2 | England Tony Jacklin | 67-70-73=210 | −6 |
| United States Jack Nicklaus | 68-69-73=210 | ||
| United States Doug Sanders | 68-71-71=210 | ||
| T5 | England Neil Coles | 65-74-72=211 | −5 |
| England Peter Oosterhuis | 73-69-69=211 | ||
| 7 | South Africa Harold Henning | 67-72-73=212 | −4 |
| T8 | England Tommy Horton | 66-73-75=214 | −2 |
| Northern Ireland Hugh Jackson | 69-72-73=214 | ||
| Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Snr | 72-68-74=214 |
Source: Amateurs: Melnyk (+3), Humphreys (+6), Bonallack (+8), George (+9), Webster (+11)
Final round
Saturday, 11 July 1970
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | United States Jack Nicklaus | 68-69-73-73=283 | −5 | Playoff |
| United States Doug Sanders | 68-71-71-73=283 | |||
| T3 | South Africa Harold Henning | 67-72-73-73=285 | −3 | 2,750 |
| United States Lee Trevino | 68-68-72-77=285 | |||
| 5 | England Tony Jacklin | 67-70-73-76=286 | −2 | 2,200 |
| T6 | England Neil Coles | 65-74-72-76=287 | −1 | 1,750 |
| England Peter Oosterhuis | 73-69-69-76=287 | |||
| 8 | Northern Ireland Hugh Jackson | 69-72-73-74=288 | E | 1,400 |
| T9 | England Tommy Horton | 66-73-75-75=289 | +1 | 1,200 |
| Scotland John Panton | 72-73-73-71=289 | |||
| Australia Peter Thomson | 68-74-73-74=289 |
Source: Amateurs: Melnyk (+10), Humphreys (+13)
Playoff
Sunday, 12 July 1970
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States Jack Nicklaus | 72 | E | 5,250 |
| 2 | United States Doug Sanders | 73 | +1 | 3,750 |
Source:
Scorecard
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| United States Jack Nicklaus | E | E | E | E | E | E | E | E | E | E | E | E | E | E | E | +1 | +1 | E |
| United States Doug Sanders | E | E | +1 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +4 | +3 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +1 |
Birdie Bogey
External links
56°20′35″N 2°48′11″W/56.343°N 2.803°W/ 56.343; -2.803