1995 Open Championship

Course

The Old Course at St Andrews

Previous lengths of the course for The Open Championship (since 1950):

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 20 July 1995

Second round

Friday, 21 July 1995

Amateurs: Sherry (−3), Webster (−2), Woods (+1), Clark (+3), Gallacher (+7).

Third round

Saturday, 22 July 1995

Final round

Sunday, 23 July 1995

Amateurs: Webster (+1), Sherry (+3), Woods (+7), Clark (+13).

Source:

Early in the final round, John Daly moved clear with birdies at the 4th, 7th, and 8th holes, while Michael Campbell bogeyed the 5th and 6th. Mark Brooks was Daly's closest challenger for much of the day, but a double bogey on the 16th hole saw him fall back; a closing birdie on the 18th hole meant he tied Steven Bottomley's clubhouse score at 5 under par (283). Daly's lead had grown to three strokes on the 16th tee, but he made bogeys on both the 16th and 17th holes, where he hit his approach against the face of the Road Hole bunker. He finished his round at 6 under par (282). When Steve Elkington failed to birdie the 16th and bogeyed the 17th, Michael Campbell and Costantino Rocca with the only players remaining with a chance to match Daly's score. Rocca was one behind Daly playing the 17th hole; he hit his approach onto the road behind the green, but hit his recovery shot to 4 feet and made the putt for par to remain one stroke behind going to the final hole. Campbell made par on the 17th to leave him 2 behind.

The 72nd hole

As the final group, consisting of Rocca and 54-hole leader Michael Campbell, approached the last hole, Daly had completed his round and was in at 6 under par, a stroke clear of Rocca and two ahead of Campbell. Both golfers had a chance to tie Daly and force a playoff, with Rocca needing birdie and Campbell eagle to do so.

Rocca hit a shorter shot than Campbell, who nearly reached the green on his first shot, and played his second first. However, he misplayed the chip shot and only hit the ball a few yards, leaving him with an extremely long putt from an area of the hole referred to as the "Valley of Sin". Campbell failed to hole out on his second shot, thus leaving Rocca as the only one who could prevent the outright win for Daly.

As Daly and his wife Paulette watched on a monitor, believing that Rocca's mistake clinched the victory for him, Rocca lined up to attempt his putt for a tournament-tying birdie. Needing to make a sixty-five foot uphill putt with a sharp break to stay alive, Rocca managed to redeem himself for his error on the second shot as the putt rolled in to tie Daly at −6.

Playoff

For this 1995 edition, the four holes pre-selected for the aggregate score playoff were 1, 2, 17 (St. Andrew's infamous "Road Hole"), and 18. All were par four holes.

Daly emerged with the early lead after parring the first playoff hole while Rocca carded a bogey. He added a shot to his lead with a birdie on 2, leaving him at −1 to Rocca's +1 as the two men headed to the Road Hole for the third playoff hole.

Rocca hit his first shot onto the fairway while Daly ended up in the left-side rough. On the next shot, Rocca hit his ball into the Road Bunker, one of the deepest such hazards on the course. To further complicate matters, Rocca's shot was nestled deep in the sand near the front of the bunker and it took him three tries to finally extricate himself from the trap. Rocca two-putted from there to a triple-bogey 7, which all but ensured Daly would win the championship as he headed to the last hole with a five-shot lead after parring the Road Hole. Daly finished with another par at 18, giving him a four-hole total of 15, one-under-par. Rocca salvaged some pride with a birdie three for 19, three-over-par and four back.

Scorecard

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par

Source

References

References

1. Reilly, Rick. (31 July 1995). "An epic finish".
2. (20 July 1995). "124th Open Championship: course". Southeast Missourian.
3. (2011). "Media guide". The Open Championship.
4. "1995 Open Championship Leaderboard". R&A.
5. Parascenzo, Marino. (24 July 1995). "Daly takes crown". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
6. Bonk, Thomas. (24 July 1995). "Big bad John rules St. Andrews". Eugene Register-Guard.