2007 Open Championship

History of The Open Championship at Carnoustie

Carnoustie hosted its first Open Championship in 1931 and the 2007 Open was the seventh to be held at Carnoustie, and third consecutive to end in a playoff. Carnoustie's prestige in the golf community is irrefutable as the list of champions includes Tommy Armour (1931), Henry Cotton (1937), Ben Hogan (1953), Gary Player (1968), Tom Watson (1975) and Paul Lawrie (1999). The 1999 championship was nicknamed "Carnastie" due to how difficult the course and conditions were. Frenchman Jean van de Velde went into the 18th hole needing only a double-bogey to win the championship. He triple-bogeyed the hole and went to a playoff with Lawrie and Justin Leonard of the United States. Lawrie won the Open after a four-hole playoff. Watson's win in 1975, his first of five Open Championships (and eight majors), came after a full-round playoff with Jack Newton of Australia.

Course layout

Carnoustie Golf Links – Championship Course

^ the 6th hole was named Long until 2003

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

1999: 7,361 yards (6,731 m), par 71

1975: 7,065 yards (6,460 m), par 72

1968: 7,252 yards (6,631 m), par 72

1953: 7,200 yards (6,584 m), par 72

Field

The field consisted of 156 golfers. Seventy players made the 36-hole cut at 146 (+4) or better.

1. First 10 and anyone tying for 10th place in the 2006 Open Championship
Ángel Cabrera (3,4,5,9), Chris DiMarco (3,17), Ernie Els (2,3,4), Jim Furyk (3,9,13,17,21), Sergio García (3,4,17), Carl Pettersson (3,13), Andrés Romero, Adam Scott (3,13), Hideto Tanihara, Tiger Woods (2,3,10,11,13,17)

2. Past Open Champions aged 65 or under
Mark Calcavecchia, Ben Curtis, John Daly, Nick Faldo, Todd Hamilton, Tony Jacklin, Paul Lawrie, Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard, Sandy Lyle, Mark O'Meara

Eligible but not competing: Ian Baker-Finch, Seve Ballesteros, David Duval, Johnny Miller, Greg Norman, Nick Price, Bill Rogers, Tom Watson, Tom Weiskopf

3. The first 50 players on the Official World Golf Rankings for 28 May 2007
Robert Allenby, Stephen Ames (12), Stuart Appleby (13), Aaron Baddeley, Chad Campbell (13,17), Paul Casey (4,17), K. J. Choi, Stewart Cink (13,17), Luke Donald (4,13,17), Joe Durant (13), Niclas Fasth (4), Retief Goosen (4,9,13), Anders Hansen (5), Pádraig Harrington (4,17), Charles Howell III, David Howell (4,5,17), Trevor Immelman (13), Zach Johnson (10,17), Robert Karlsson (4,17), Davis Love III (13), Phil Mickelson (10,11,12,13,17), Colin Montgomerie (4,17), Arron Oberholser, Geoff Ogilvy (9,13), Nick O'Hern (19), Rod Pampling (13), Ian Poulter (4), John Rollins, Justin Rose, Rory Sabbatini (13), Charl Schwartzel (4,20), Vijay Singh (11,13), Henrik Stenson (4,17), Richard Sterne, Steve Stricker, Vaughn Taylor (17), David Toms (13,17), Scott Verplank (17), Mike Weir (10), Lee Westwood (17), Brett Wetterich (13,17)

Eligible but not competing: Tim Clark, José María Olazábal (17)

4. First 20 in the European Tour Final Order of Merit for 2006
John Bickerton, Thomas Bjørn, Paul Broadhurst, Johan Edfors, Jeev Milkha Singh (18), Anthony Wall

5. The BMW PGA Championship winners for 2005-2007

6. Top three players, not otherwise exempt, in the top 20 of the 2007 European Tour Order of Merit through 27 May
Markus Brier, Raphaël Jacquelin, Yang Yong-eun

7. Top two players, not otherwise exempt, with the most European Tour prize money from the Italian Open through the French Open, including the U. S. Open
Bradley Dredge, Graeme Storm

8. The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2007 European Open and the 2007 Barclays Scottish Open.
Pelle Edberg, Grégory Havret

9. The U.S. Open Champions for 2003–2007
Michael Campbell

10. The U.S. Masters Champions for 2003–2007

11. The U.S. PGA Champions for 2002–2006
Rich Beem, Shaun Micheel

12. The Players Champions for 2005–2007

Eligible but not competing: Fred Funk

13. Top 20 on the Official Money List of the 2006 PGA Tour
Brett Quigley

14. First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt having applied above, in the top 20 of the Official Money List of the 2007 PGA Tour on completion of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial
Nick Watney, Boo Weekley

15. First 2 PGA Tour members and any PGA Tour members tying for 2nd place, not exempt, in a cumulative money list taken from The Players Championship and the five PGA Tour events leading up to and including the 2007 AT&T National
Hunter Mahan

Eligible but not competing: Woody Austin

16. The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2007 AT&T National and the 2007 John Deere Classic
Pat Perez, Jonathan Byrd

17. Playing members of the 2006 Ryder Cup teams
Darren Clarke, J. J. Henry, Paul McGinley

18. Winner of the Order of Merit of the Asian Tour for 2006

19. First 2 on the Order of Merit of the PGA Tour of Australasia for 2006
Kevin Stadler

20. Winner of the Order of Merit of the Sunshine Tour for 2006/07

21. The Canadian Open Champion for 2006

22. The Japan Open Champion for 2006
Paul Sheehan

23. First 2 on the Official Money List of the Japan Golf Tour for 2006
Shingo Katayama, Toru Taniguchi

24. The leading 4 players, not exempt, in the 2007 Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic
Lee Dong-hwan, Lee Seung-ho, Toshinori Muto, Achi Sato

25. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, not exempt having applied (24) above, in a cumulative money list taken from all official Japan Golf Tour events from the 2007 Japan PGA Championship up to and including the 2007 Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic
Tomohiro Kondo, Toshimitsu Izawa

26. The Senior British Open Champion for 2006
Loren Roberts

27. The 2007 Amateur Champion
Drew Weaver (a)

28. The U.S. Amateur Champion for 2006
Richie Ramsay (a)

29. The European Individual Amateur Champion for 2006
Rory McIlroy (a)

International Final Qualifying

Africa: Desvonde Botes, Adilson da Silva, Doug McGuigan, Terry Pilkadaris Australasia: Ben Bunny, Peter Fowler, Scott Laycock, Ewan Porter Asia: Ross Bain, David Gleeson, Adam Groom, Lam Chih Bing, Won Joon Lee America: Brian Davis, Mark Hensby, Charley Hoffman, Anders Hultman, Jerry Kelly, Matt Kuchar, Spencer Levin, Ryan Moore, Sean O'Hair, Michael Putnam, John Senden, Duffy Waldorf Europe: Fredrik Andersson Hed, Benn Barham, Grégory Bourdy, Peter Baker, Nick Dougherty, Mattias Eliasson, Ross Fisher, Alastair Forsyth, Mark Foster, David Frost, Peter Hanson, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, José-Filipe Lima, Graeme McDowell, Francesco Molinari, Oliver Wilson

Local Final Qualifying

Downfield: Jon Bevan, Scott Drummond, David Higgins Monifieth: Dave Coupland (a), Paul Waring (a), Llewellyn Matthews (a) Montrose: Justin Kehoe, David Shacklady, Matthew Zions Panmure: Kevin Harper, Steven Alker, Steve Parry

Alternates

Richard Green – took spot not taken by Woody Austin

Tom Pernice, Jr. – replaced Olazábal

First round

Thursday, 19 July 2007

Sergio García led the field after the first round. When the Open was last held at Carnoustie in 1999, García shot a first round 89 and went on to miss the cut. Amateur Rory McIlroy shot the only bogey-free round on the day, finishing with a 68 (−3). McIlroy qualified for the Open by winning the European Amateur Championship for 2006. Tiger Woods began his campaign for his third straight Open Championship by shooting a 69 (−2), including an eagle at Hogan's Alley, the famous 6th hole at Carnoustie. Paul McGinley shot a bogey-free round through 14 but then bogeyed the 15th and 16th holes. John Daly suffered an incredible swoon, scoring −5 after three birdies and an eagle on 11, only to get a double bogey on 12, triple bogey on 14, and three more bogeys on the way to a 74 (+3) for the round and eventually missed the cut. The scoring average on the day was 73.72 (+2.72).

Second round

Friday, 20 July 2007

Day 1 leader Sergio García shot a 71 (E) today to stay at −6 and led by 2 strokes. Amateur Rory McIlroy was the story of day 1 and shot a 76 (+5) to drop to +2 which put him in a tie for 31st going into the weekend. Paul McGinley shot a 75 (+4) to drop to even par; the Irishman had started the day in second place. Tiger Woods shot a disappointing 74 (+3) including a double bogey on the first hole. Mike Weir shot the best round of the day with a 68 (−3), which moved him into a tie for third place going into the weekend. The 36-hole cut fluctuated between +4 and +5 until it settled at +4, and the scoring average for the second round was 74.10 (+3.10).

Amateurs: McIlroy (+2), Weaver (+6), Ramsay (+9), Coupland (+11), Waring (+12), Matthews (+16).

Third round

Saturday, 21 July 2007

Sergio García shot a 68 (−3) to extend his lead to three strokes and was now at −9 after 54 holes. Paul McGinley rebounded from his second round 75 to shoot a 68 (−3), −3 for the tournament, in a tie for third place with six other players going into the final round. Tiger Woods shot a 69 (−2) which put him at −1 going into the weekend. At 8 strokes behind the leader it appeared that his quest for a third straight Open Championship would fall short. Tiger had never won a major when trailing after 54 holes. The best round on the day was an amazing 64 (−7) by Steve Stricker, which was the lowest ever for an Open Championship round at Carnoustie, and also tied the course record (Alan Tait scored 64 during a pro-am in 1994, and Colin Montgomerie scored the same during the Scottish Open in 1995). Stricker birdied five of the first seven holes en route to a bogey-free round with 7 birdies. Stricker was at +1 going into the day and ended the day in second alone, 3 strokes behind García. Chris DiMarco scored 66 (−5) to move into the group tied for third at −3, six shots behind. García has never won a major championship, and for the first time in his career held the lead at a major championship heading into the final round. The only Spaniard to win the Open is Hall of Famer Seve Ballesteros, who has won it three times. The scoring average on the day was 71.61 (+0.61).

Final round

Sunday, 22 July 2007

Another wild final round had numerous lead changes, and it came down to Sergio García, Andres Romero, and Pádraig Harrington in the final holes. García struggled at times during his only over-par round of the tournament, but was still at 8-under (+1 for the day) entering the last couple of holes. Meanwhile, Harrington had four birdies followed by an eagle at the 14th hole to move to 9-under for the championship, and stood on the 18th tee with a one-shot lead. Harrington went into the Barry Burn twice, but salvaged a double-bogey six to finish with a round of 67 (−4), 7-under for the tournament. García, who now had a one-shot lead on the par-4 72nd hole, found a greenside bunker with his approach shot. He left himself a ten footer (3 m) for par and the title, but the putt lipped out and he had to settle for a playoff, scoring a 73 (+2) for the round.

Romero shot par or better in every round, and had ten birdies Sunday. He was at 9-under after 70 holes with a two-stroke lead, but the Argentine was done in by a double bogey-bogey ending to finish a single stroke out of the playoff. The best round of the day was by Richard Green who shot a 64 (−7). The Australian equalled the course record during an Open set the previous day by American Steve Stricker, and set the target in the clubhouse on 279. He began the day at +2 and his round put him in a tie for fourth. Rory McIlroy shot +1 on the day, +5 for the tournament, to finish tied 42nd and win the silver medal for top amateur in his first Open. The scoring average on the day was 72.79 (+1.79).

Top amateur: Rory McIlroy (+5).

The first 10 players, plus ties, are invited to the 2008 Open Championship.

Source:

Full Leaderboard

Scorecard

Final round

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Playoff

Pádraig Harrington became the first Irishman to win the Open Championship in 60 years, defeating Sergio García in a playoff. The four-hole aggregate playoff included holes 1, 16, 17, and 18. Harrington birdied the par-4 first hole while García bogeyed, a two-stroke edge. Both players parred the next two holes (García hit the pin on the par-3 16th but his ball rolled a distance away), so Harrington still led by two strokes heading into the dangerous 18th. Harrington played the hole more cautiously this time, and reached the green in three shots. García gave himself a chance by reaching the green in two, but his birdie putt burned the left edge. Harrington made his short bogey putt to become the first European winner of a major since Paul Lawrie of Scotland triumphed in a three-way playoff at Carnoustie in 1999; the win moved Harrington's world ranking up to sixth.

Scorecard

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par