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2003 Open Championship

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Length
  
7,106 yards (6,498 m)

Dates
  
17 Jul 2003 – 20 Jul 2003

Cut
  
150 (+8)

Par
  
71

2003 Open Championship

Field
  
156 players, 75 after cut

Prize fund
  
£3,900,000 €5,631,600 $6,240,000

Winner's share
  
£700,000 €1,010,800 $1,112,720

Course
  
Royal St. George's Golf Club

Location
  
Royal St. George's Golf Club, Worth, United Kingdom

Tours
  
PGA European Tour, PGA TOUR, Japan Golf Tour

Similar
  
2004 Open Championship (British O, 2005 Open Championship (British O, 2001 Open Championship (British O, 1999 Open Championship (British O, 1989 Open Championship

The 2003 Open Championship was the 132nd Open Championship, held 17–20 July at Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, England. Ben Curtis won his only major title to date, one stroke ahead of runners-up Thomas Bjørn and Vijay Singh. Bjørn had led in the final round by two shots with three holes to play, but needed three attempts to play out of a greenside bunker on the 16th hole. Playing in his first major championship and number 396 in the world rankings, Curtis became the first debut winner at The Open since Tom Watson in 1975.

Contents

Course layout

Source:

  • The 4th hole was a par 4 in previous Opens
  • Lengths of the course for previous Opens (since 1950):

  • 1993: 6,860 yards (6,273 m), par 70
  • 1985: 6,857 yards (6,270 m), par 70
  • 1981: 6,827 yards (6,243 m), par 70
  • Field

    1. Top 15 and ties from the 2002 Open Championship

    Stuart Appleby (4), Thomas Bjørn (4,5,18), Steve Elkington, Ernie Els (2,3,4,5,10,14), Gary Evans, Sergio García (4,5,18,14), Retief Goosen (4,5,10,14), Søren Hansen (5), Pádraig Harrington (4,5,18), Justin Leonard (2,3,4,14), Thomas Levet, Peter Lonard (4,22), Davis Love III (4,13,18), Shigeki Maruyama (4,14), Peter O'Malley (22), Nick Price (2,3,4,14)

  • Scott Hoch (4,18) did not play.
  • 2. Open Champions, 1993–2002

    John Daly (3), David Duval (3,18), Paul Lawrie (3,4,5), Tom Lehman (3), Greg Norman (3), Mark O'Meara (3), Tiger Woods (3,4,10,11,12,13,14,18)

    3. Past Open Champions aged 65 or under on 20 July 2003

    Mark Calcavecchia (18), Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Tom Watson

  • Seve Ballesteros withdrew.
  • Ian Baker-Finch, Tony Jacklin, Johnny Miller, Jack Nicklaus, Bill Rogers, Lee Trevino, and Tom Weiskopf did not enter.
  • 4. The first 50 players on the OWGR on 29 May 2003

    Robert Allenby (14), Rich Beem (12,14), Ángel Cabrera (5), Michael Campbell (5), Paul Casey, K. J. Choi (14), Darren Clarke (18), Fred Couples, Chris DiMarco (14), Bob Estes, Niclas Fasth (5,18), Brad Faxon, Steve Flesch, Fred Funk (14), Jim Furyk (10,14,18), Jay Haas, Charles Howell III (14), Trevor Immelman (5,24), Jerry Kelly (14), Bernhard Langer (5,18), Len Mattiace (14), Phil Mickelson (14,18), Colin Montgomerie (5,6,18), Craig Parry (22), Kenny Perry, Chris Riley, Eduardo Romero (5), Justin Rose (5), Adam Scott (5), Vijay Singh (11,12,14), Jeff Sluman (14), David Toms (12,14,18), Scott Verplank (18), Mike Weir (11)

  • Rocco Mediate and Kirk Triplett did not play.
  • 5. Top 20 in the final 2002 European Tour Order of Merit

    Bradley Dredge, Anders Hansen (6), Stephen Leaney, José María Olazábal (11)

    6. The Volvo PGA Championship winners for 2000–03

    Ignacio Garrido, Andrew Oldcorn

    7. First 5 players, not exempt, in the top 20 of the 2003 European Tour Order of Merit as of 29 May

    Brian Davis, Robert-Jan Derksen, Kenneth Ferrie, Mathias Grönberg, Fredrik Jacobson

    8. First 7 European Tour members, not exempt, in the top 25 of a cumulative money list taken from all official European Tour events from the 2003 Volvo PGA Championship up to and including the 2003 Scottish Open

    Alastair Forsyth, Philip Golding, David Howell, Søren Kjeldsen, Mark McNulty, Greg Owen, Ian Poulter

    9. The leading 8 players, not exempt having applied (8) above, in the 2003 Scottish Open

    Raphaël Jacquelin, David Lynn, Rolf Muntz, Gary Murphy, Nick O'Hern, Iain Pyman, Mark Roe, Charl Schwartzel

    10. The U.S. Open Champions for 1994–2003

    Lee Janzen, Corey Pavin

  • Steve Jones did not play.
  • 11. The Masters Champions for 1999–2003
    12. The PGA Champions for 1998–2002
    13. The Players Champions for 2000–03

    Craig Perks, Hal Sutton (18)

    14. Top 20 in the final 2002 PGA Tour Official Money List
    15. First 5 players, not exempt, in the top 20 of the 2003 PGA Tour Official Money List as of 29 May

    Chad Campbell

    16. First 7 PGA Tour members, not exempt, in the top 25 of a cumulative money list taken from the 2003 Players Championship and the five PGA Tour events leading up to and including the 2003 Western Open

    Joe Durant, Jonathan Kaye, Cliff Kresge, J. L. Lewis, Rory Sabbatini, Duffy Waldorf

  • Joey Sindelar did not play.
  • 17. The leading 8 players, not exempt having applied (16) above, in the 2003 Western Open

    Tom Byrum, José Cóceres, Ben Curtis, Luke Donald, Dudley Hart, Skip Kendall, Scott McCarron, Chris Smith

    18. Playing members of the 2002 Ryder Cup teams

    Paul Azinger, Stewart Cink, Pierre Fulke, Paul McGinley, Jesper Parnevik, Phillip Price, Lee Westwood

    19. The 2002 Canadian Open Champion

    John Rollins

    20. The 2002 Japan Open Champion

    David Smail

    21. Winner of the 2002 Asian PGA Tour Order of Merit

    Jyoti Randhawa

    22. Top 3 from the 2002–03 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit
    23. Top 3 from the 2002 Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit

    Shingo Katayama, Nobuhito Sato, Toru Taniguchi

    24. Top 2 from the 2002–03 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit

    Mark Foster

    25. The leading player, not exempt, in the 2003 Mizuno Open

    Todd Hamilton

    26. First 4, not exempt having applied (25) above, in the top 20 of a cumulative money list taken from all official Japan Golf Tour events from the 2003 Japan PGA Championship up to and including the 2003 Mizuno Open

    Hur Suk-ho, Hirofumi Miyase, Hideto Tanihara, Katsuyoshi Tomori

    27. The 2002 Senior British Open Champion

    Noboru Sugai

    28. The 2003 Amateur Champion

    Gary Wolstenholme (a)

    29. The 2002 U.S. Amateur Champion

    Ricky Barnes (a)

    30. The 2002 European Amateur Champion
  • Raphaël Pellicioli forfeited his exemption by turning pro.
  • Final Qualifying
    Littlestone – Steven Bowditch, Robert Coles, Scott Godfrey (a), Adam Le Vesconte, Christopher Smith, Anthony Wall, Paul Wesselingh North Foreland – Gary Emerson, Andrew George, Adam Mednick, Mårten Olander, Hennie Otto, Anthony Sproston, Simon Wakefield Prince's – Mathew Goggin, Jarrod Moseley, Cameron Percy, Andrew Raitt, Marco Ruiz, Steen Tinning, Ian Woosnam Royal Cinque Ports – Markus Brier, Charles Challen, Ben Crane, Peter Fowler, Euan Little, Malcolm MacKenzie, Mark Smith

    Missed the cut

    Source:

    First round

    Thursday, 17 July 2003

    Second round

    Friday, 18 July 2003

    Amateurs: Barnes (+11), Wolstenholme (+14), Godfrey (+18).

    Third round

    Saturday, 19 July 2003

    Mark Roe shot a 67 to finish at one over par, but he and playing partner Jesper Parnevik were disqualified, having failed to exchange scorecards and therefore having signed incorrect scorecards. The rule that resulted in the disqualifications was changed two years later; Roe never played in another major.

    Final round

    Sunday, 20 July 2003

    Ben Curtis shot six-under in the first 11 holes to grab sole possession of the lead, but dropped four strokes in the next six holes to fall behind, and sank a 10-foot (3 m) par putt on the final hole to post the clubhouse lead. Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods also moved into early contention, but fell behind Curtis with late bogeys, leaving Thomas Bjørn with a three stroke lead with four holes to play. He finished bogey-double bogey-bogey-par and tied for second, one stroke back.

    It was not only Curtis' first win, but his first top-10 finish in a PGA Tour event.

    Source:

    Scorecard

    Final round

    Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
    Source:

    References

    2003 Open Championship Wikipedia