SOUTHPORT, England (AP) 鈥� A capsule look at the 10 previous British Opens held at Royal Birkdale:
Year: 1954
Winner: Peter Thomson
Score: 283
Margin: 1 shot
Runner-up: Bobby Locke, Dai Rees, Sid Scott
Prize: 750 pounds
Summary: Ben Hogan did not return to defend his title, and Thomson won the first of his five British Open titles. Thomson was tied with Rees and Scott going into the final 18 holes. Thomson bogeyed the final hole from a bunker to close with a 71, leaving Locke a chance to catch him. His birdie putt came up short.
Year: 1961
Winner: Arnold Palmer
Score: 284
Margin: 1 shot
Runner-up: Dai Rees
Prize: 1,400 pounds
Summary: In his second trip to the British Open, Palmer seized control with a 69 in the third round, including a 6-iron from behind a bush on the 16th hole that eventually led the club to place a plaque there to commemorate the shot. He had a one-shot lead over Rees going into the final round. Palmer extended his lead to four shots with four holes to play, but Rees rallied to within one shot before Palmer finished him off with a 72 for a one-shot victory.
Year: 1965
Winner: Peter Thomson
Score: 285
Margin: 2 shots
Runner-up: Brian Huggett, Christy O鈥機onnor Sr.
Prize: 1,750 pounds
Summary: Thomson closed with a 71 for his fifth British Open title and some measure of validation. Some argued that he won his previous four claret jugs in the 1950s against weaker competition, but he conquered a field at Royal Birkdale that included Arnold Palmer and Masters champion Jack Nicklaus. Thomson took the lead with a 72 in the heavy rain and wind of the third round, then held off a late charge from defending champion Tony Lema, who took double bogey at the last.
Year: 1971
Winner: Lee Trevino
Score: 278
Margin: 1 shot
Runner-up: Liang-Huan Lu
Prize: 5,500 pounds
Summary: Trevino was tied for the lead after each of the first two rounds, then took the outright lead over 鈥淢r. Lu鈥� of Taiwan with a 69 in the third round. Trevino, coming off victories in the U.S. Open and Canadian Open, went out in 31 in the final round to build a five-shot lead and still was three clear when he drove into a sand hill on the 18th and took a 7. Lu could only manage a 5, allowing Trevino to join Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan as the only players to win the U.S. Open and British Open in the same year. Tiger Woods later joined that group in 2000.
Year: 1976
Winner: Johnny Miller
Score: 279
Margin: 6 shots
Runner-up: Seve Ballesteros, Jack Nicklaus
Prize: 7,500 pounds
Summary: Similar to his U.S. Open victory at Oakmont three years earlier, Miller closed with a 66 and overcame a four-shot victory to capture his second major. But as much as this showed Miller to be more than the 鈥淒esert Fox鈥� for his victories in Arizona, Royal Birkdale is where the world first became aware of Seve Ballesteros, who showed a magical imagination in getting through the sand dunes. The 19-year-old Spaniard closed with a 74, threading a pitch shot through bunkers onto the 18th green. He would be heard from again.
Year: 1983
Winner: Tom Watson
Score: 275
Margin: 1 shot
Runner-up: Andy Bean, Hale Irwin
Prize: 40,000 pounds
Summary: Watson won his fifth British Open 鈥� on his fifth course, and first in England 鈥� by closing with a 70. Craig Stadler led after the first two rounds, and Watson took a one-shot lead into the final round. Among the contenders were Nick Faldo until three bogeys over the final seven holes. Watson was tied for the lead when he holed a 20-foot birdie on the 16th. Needing a 4 on the final hole, he hit 2-iron from 213 yards to 20 feet for two putts and the win. Irwin whiffed a 2-inch putt on the 14th hole of the third round, and that ultimately came back to cost him.
Year: 1991
Winner: Ian Baker-Finch
Score: 272
Margin: 1 shot
Runner-up: Mike Harwood
Prize: 90,000 pounds
Summary: The last time Baker-Finch was tied for the 54-hole lead was in 1984 at St. Andrews, and he closed with a 79. This time, he completed the best weekend in Open history with rounds of 64-66. Tied with Mark O鈥橫eara going into the last day, Baker-Finch birdied five of the first seven holes and withstood a gallant bid from Harwood. Richard Boxall was three behind in the third round when he broke his leg on a powerful swing at the third and left the course on a stretcher. O鈥橫eara would get his due on the return to Birkdale.
Year: 1998
Winner: Mark O鈥橫eara
Score: 280
Margin: Playoff
Runner-up: Brian Watts
Prize: 300,000 pounds
Summary: O鈥橫eara closed with a 68 to become at age 41 the oldest man to win two majors in one year. The Masters champion nearly lost his ball on the sixth hole, finding it with seconds to spare. Watts had one leg out of the bunker on the 18th to hit a terrific blast to 3 feet for par to force a four-hole playoff. O鈥橫eara took the lead with a 5-foot birdie on the 15th in a playoff 鈥� Watts missed from about that range 鈥� and he had two-putt pars the rest of the way. Tiger Woods birdied three of the last four holes to finish one shot out of the playoff. Justin Rose, a 17-year-old amateur, tied for fourth. Eighteen-year-old Sergio Garcia, also an amateur, tied for 29th.
Year: 2008
Winner: Padraig Harrington
Score: 283
Margin: 4 shots
Runner-up: Ian Poulter
Prize: 750,000 pounds
Summary: Harrington showed up with an injured right wrist and uncertainty whether he could go 72 holes in his title defense. He became the first European in more than a century to win the British Open in successive years. First he had to overcome 53-year-old Greg Norman, who took a break from his honeymoon with tennis great Chris Evert and nearly became golf鈥檚 oldest major champion. Norman had a one-shot lead with nine holes to play until he staggered home with too many mistakes in the wind and shot 77. Harrington put it away with a 5-wood to 4 feet for eagle on the 17th hole. He closed with a 69 and won at 3-over 283. Ian Poulter was the runner-up. It was the first major Tiger Woods missed as a pro because of reconstructive surgery on his left knee.
Year: 2017
Winner: Jordan Spieth
Score: 268
Margin: 3 shots
Runner-up: Matt Kuchar
Prize: 1.845 million pounds
Summary: Spieth went into the final round with a three-shot lead and won by three shots, and he managed to deliver a thriller on the back nine. He took an unplayable lie on the practice range right of the 13th hole and escaped with bogey, losing the lead for the first time. Spieth answered with a 6-iron to 4 feet for birdie on the par-3 14th, a 50-foot eagle putt on the 15th, a 30-foot birdie putt on the 16th and a 7-foot birdie on the 17th. He closed with a 69 and captured the third leg of the Grand Slam four days before his 24th birthday.
___
AP golf:
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
