For every winner in a golf tournament there are normally over 100 ‘losers’. It’s a game that demands incredible resilience from its competitors, the ability to bounce back repeatedly from defeat and remain positive in the face of all the evidence. The Open has thrown up many tales of unexpected victories and comebacks, but it’s also delivered many disappointments. I don’t glory in them, but here’s my list of the biggest chokes, collapses, unlucky mistakes in the history of golf’s greatest Major.
6. The wrong scorecard – Mark Roe, Royal St George’s, 2003
“I’ve just played one of the greatest rounds of my life and I can’t play tomorrow” Mark Roe in 2003
Mark Roe is probably best known today as a golf pundit for Sky Sports. Like many of his fellow pundits (Nick Dougherty, Robert Lee, Ewen Murray etc), he was a solid professional who had a great career on the European tour, but was not quite good enough to make it the very top table. In 22 years as a pro, he played over 500 tournaments, winning three on the European tour, and getting at one stage to number 40 in the world.
His performance in Majors, however, was modest. He qualified only once for the Masters, where he failed to make the cut, and once for the US Open, where he finished a very creditable 13th. He did qualify many times for his home Major, the Open, but in 12 appearances up to 2001 made the cut only five times with a best finish of tied 16th. By the time he next qualified, in 2003, he was 40 years old, ranked #303 in the world, and his best days seemed behind him.
His first round befitted his status as a rank outsider, a six-over par 77 leaving him nine shots off the pace and with a challenge to make the cut. This he managed with one of the best scores on a tough day two, a one-under 70. His third round – on ‘moving day’ – was even better. Playing with Swede Jesper Parnevik, Roe recorded a best-of-the-day 67 to leave him just two off the lead held by Dane, Thomas Bjorn. His score of 214 put him level with unaccustomed company, an esteemed trio of Kenny Perry, Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods.
Could this finally be Roe’s moment, his opportunity to show how good he was on the biggest stage of them all. Sadly not. It transpired that at the start of play, Roe and Parnevik had not exchanged their scorecards. So, each had scored and signed the wrong card. The fault was not picked up until after both had left the scorer’s hut so both were disqualified. It was no big problem for Parnevik, who had recorded an 81, but a tragedy for Roe, whose big chance simply evaporated.
Roe took it in incredibly good grace, more so considering that the eventual winner, Ben Curtis, was ranked even lower than Roe, demonstrating that the field was unusually open. Most observers, even the stuffiest traditionalists, felt that the punishment had not fitted the ‘crime’, so much so that the rules were changed a couple of years later. It was, of course, too late for Roe who never played in another Major.
5. The fifteenth club – Ian Woosnam takes a two-shot penalty for carrying one club too many – Royal Lytham, 2001
“You’re going to go ballistic about this,” Miles Byrne, caddie, to Ian Woosnam
In the late 1980s and early 1990s Welshman Ian Woosnam was one of the best golfers in the world. A serial winner on the European tour, he captured the Masters in 1991 and spent 50 weeks as world number one. He continued to win tournaments until the mid 1990s and represent Europe in the Ryder Cup, but by the turn of the century he was considered by most to be a spent force.
It was therefore something of a surprise when he found himself in contention in the 2001 Open at Royal Lytham. Rounds of 72, 68 and 67 saw him tied for the lead in what was admittedly a very crowded leaderboard (there were 12 players within one shot of each other).
His final round got off to a great start with a birdie on the par-3 first. It was then that things took an unexpected turn. The rules of golf specify that a golfer must have no more than 14 clubs in their bag. Woosnam had been practising before the round with two different drivers, but his caddie, Miles Byrne, had forgotten to remove one of them before starting the round. The hapless Byrne realised his mistake as the pair got to the second tee. The penalty for carrying an extra club is two shots for each hole played, so Woosnam saw his score transform instantly from 7-under to 5-under. He responded by flinging his extra club to the ground and exclaiming to Byrne “I give you one job to do and this is what happens”, and flinging his extra club to the ground. Still furious, bogeys on 3 and 4 followed, after which Woosnam never got seriously back into contention.
Woosnam, surprisingly, retained Byrne after the tournament, but sacked him two weeks later when the caddie slept in and was late for a tee-time. Woosnam never contended seriously after 2001; Byrne gave up caddying and carried bricks on building sites rather than golf bags.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/wales/18869687
4. The inescapable bunker – Bjorn takes three to get out of the bunker – Royal St George’s, 2003
“There’s one thing I’ve learnt. It’s me. I’m a jinx.” – Thomas Bjorn’s caddie, Billy Foster
Every amateur golfer has experienced the horrors of trying to get out of a difficult bunker. Go for precision and the ball drops before it’s travelled far enough. Go for power and thin it into the face. Few professional golfers even think about this. More often than not, they’re thinking about holing the ball, and their sand save statistics are frankly ridiculous.
In 2003 it was Thomas Bjorn’s turn to feel like an amateur. Bjorn had gone into the final round at St George’s with a one shot lead, and played solidly throughout the round to fend off charges from Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods and unheralded American Ben Curtis. As he came to the 16th, he held a two-shot lead with only three holes left to play. The par-3 was a hole he had parred on each of the first three days so he must have felt confident.
In fact, his tee shot was about one yard from being great, but it caught a slope on the green and rolled right and dropped into the greenside bunker. The sensible choice from this bunker is to go a little long making sure you don’t roll back into the bunker. Bjorn instead went for a delicate escape and just failed to get his ball far enough up the green. Agonisingly, he saw his ball roll back into the bunker. Then, he did it again. He actually did well with his third bunker shot to get it out of his own footmarks, and even better to sink the 10-foot putt for a double bogey. But his two-shot lead had evaporated as had his confidence and he went on to bogey the next.
Safe in the clubhouse, earlier finisher Curtis could probably not believe his luck. In his very first major, the world number 396 had seen a string of storied adversaries fall away, before watching Bjorn apply the coup de grace to his own prospects.
https://www.theopen.com/latest/thomas-bjorn-iconic-open-moments
3. The two-shot swing – Jacklin crumbles after Trevino’s outrageous chip-in – Muirfield, 1972
“Confound it, that’s the fourth time that Trevino chips it in from off the green … it really is diabolical” – Henry Longhurst commentating
After Max Faulkner won the Open in 1951 it took a further 18 years for a Briton to win another golf major. The wait was broken at Royal Lytham in 1969 by a 25-year old from Scunthorpe, Tony Jacklin. Jacklin confirmed his talent with a second major, the 1970 US Open, and looked set to contend for years to come. And, perhaps he would have done had it not been for a huge setback in 1972.
He had finished well in the Opens of both 1970 (5th place) and 1971 (3rd), demonstrating his credentials in links golf, and Muirfield witnessed another strong performance. He led after the first round, sat tied with Lee Trevino after the second and entered the final round only a shot behind the American. Jacklin had by any measure played the better all-round golf, but Trevino’s short game saved him time and again.
Both played steadily on the final day and they made their way to the par-5 17th tied at the top of the leaderboard. Jacklin drove down the middle while Trevino put his into a deep pot bunker on the fairway. The American then struggled to get out, before hooking his third into heavy rough well short of the green. His chip was clumsy and finished 12 foot past the green in lighter rough. Jacklin meanwhile had made the green in three and sat only 15 feet from the pin. Surely, the best Trevino could expect was a six, while the worst for Jacklin was a five.
Trevino, though, did not see it that way. He sent a delicate chip onto the green and for the fourth time in two days it rolled on before dropping in the hole. He had rescued an improbable par. Jacklin, obviously rattled, sent his approach putt 2-3 feet past before stabbing the return to miss the hole again. Instead of a one-shot lead for Jacklin, it was a one-shot lead for Trevino with only one hole to play.
Trevino parred the last to win. Jacklin, still shell-shocked, bogeyed it to finish third, and never really recovered from the setback. After five top 10s in six years, he never again achieved the feat. He did go on to become a great Ryder Cup captain, but as a golfer he was never the same after the trauma inflicted by Trevino’s incredible short game.
https://www.theopen.com/latest/2019/04/my-greatest-shot-lee-trevino
2. The tap-in that wasn’t – Doug Sanders misses a 30-in putt on the last – St Andrews, 1970
“Only every four or five minutes” – Doug Sanders when asked in later years whether he ever thought about his miss
Doug Sanders was one of the most engaging characters in American golf through the 1960s and early 70s. Good looking, dressed in flamboyant clothes, seemingly carefree and upbeat, and always ready with a quip or wisecrack, he was a favourite of crowds and sponsors alike. He was also a pretty useful golfer. He won 20 events on the PGA tour and managed 13 top ten finishes in majors, including four second places.
His most (in)famous second place came at St Andrews in 1970. Against a strong field, Sanders looked certain to finally lay his majors bogey to rest. He came to the last hole – the relatively straightforward ‘Tom Morris’ – holding a one shot lead. Needing only a par four to seal the deal he made the green in two, but with a slightly longer putt than he might have wished for, some 30 or so feet from the hole. A two-putt and the Claret Jug would be his. Betraying some nerves, his first putt was a little short and left him a 3-foot putt for the title. 99 times out of 100 this would be a ‘gimme’, but Sanders wanted to make sure. He took a long look from both sides of the hole before standing over his putt. He then pulled away to remove a speck of something or another from his line. When he finally putted, he made an unconvincing stab and the ball rolled past the hole without ever looking like going in. Sanders had thrown away his chance of winning outright. Veteran commentator Henry Longhurst summed up what many thought, “And there, but for the grace of God…”
Sanders, of course, was still in the tournament, but now had to beat the great Jack Nicklaus in an 18-hole play-off to win it. He bounced back from his disappointment to play pretty well in the play-off, and even managed to birdie the last with a putt almost identical to the one he had missed the day before. But Nicklaus was just a little better and beat his fellow American by a stroke. Sanders remains one of the best players never to win a major. Few of the other contenders for this unwanted title will have come as close as he did in 1970.
1. Le Blow Up – Jean Van de Velde throws a three-shot lead on the final hole – Carnoustie, 1999
“Would someone kindly go and stop him … give him a large brandy and mop him down.” – Peter Alliss, on Jean van de Velde 1999
Frenchman Jean Van de Velde is one of those unfortunate sports people who will be forever be known for something they did not achieve rather than for something they did. Leading the Open by three shots as he teed up on the 18th at Carnoustie, he somehow contrived to throw away his best and only chance of winning a major.
The 1999 Open was brutal. Carnoustie is a challenging course at the best of times – its nickname of ‘Carnasty’ provides a pretty good clue to its difficulty – and when the wind blows it becomes nigh on impossible. The conditions in 1999 were tough. The first round was led by Australian Rodney Pampling with an even-par 71, but he became the only first such player to miss the cut after a second round 86. 19-year-old Sergio Garcia, already a winner on the European tour, left the course in tears after an 89. Few players were able to cope, but the one who did best was qualifier Van de Velde. Rounds of 75, 68 and 70 took him into a five shot lead starting the final day.
Van de Velde had little experience of being a front-runner, least of all in a major, but he coped well with the pressure. Three bogeys and a birdie saw him to the turn in 2-over, still in the lead. Despite a charge from his playing partner, Craig Parry, that saw him briefly take the lead before dropping away, the Frenchman was able to keep his round on track. And so, he came to the 18th holding a three shot lead.
The 18th is a tough hole, 487 yards long with a stream – the Barry Burn – weaving its way through it. Van de Velde got lucky with his drive, only just clearing the burn and finding the light rough. Knowledgeable observers all agreed on one thing, that he should exercise caution with his second and lay up before the green. Van de Velde thought differently and decided to go for it. This was his first mistake. His long iron arced to the right, so far that it hit the spectator stands before bouncing back to rest in heavy rough. Again, caution was called for – just get it out and onto the nearest bit of fairway and take your medicine. Van de Velde, his mind now scrambled, went for the green, failed to get a good enough contact and plopped his ball into the burn. The ball was visible in the water and the Frenchman looked for all the world as though he was going to try and play it. After an agonising few minutes, he saw sense and took a drop. He was now playing his fifth shot so an up and down would still have won him the title. But his chip was too delicate and he found the greenside bunker. After getting out he found himself now needing a 10-foot putt simply to get in the play-off.
He somehow made the putt but the four hole play-off was a bridge too far for him. He played ok, but was no match for Paul Lawrie, on a roll after coming from 10 shots back at the start of the round. Scotsman Lawrie is to some extent a victim of Van de Velde’s tragic collapse – more remember the Frenchman who lost than the Scotsman who won. He does, though, have the considerable consolation of having actually won the claret jug.
https://www.theopen.com/latest/the-story-of-1999-carnoustie-van-de-velde-lawrie-leonard