1980 British Open Golf Tournament Results

The 1980 British Open was the 109th time the tournament was played. The final two rounds belonged to Tom Watson, who won this major championship for the third time.

Winner: Tom Watson, 271

Where it was played: Muirfield in Gullane, Scotland

Tournament dates: July 17-20, 1980

Leader after first round: Lee Trevino and Tom Watson, 68

Leader after second round: Lee Trevino, 135

Leader after third round: Tom Watson, 202

What Happened at the 1980 British Open

The final leaderboard at the 1980 British Open was chock full of great names. Lee Trevino finished second and Ben Crenshaw third; Jack Nicklaus tied for fourth and Hubert Green tied for fifth.

But none of them were threats after Tom Watson fired a 64 in the third round. Watson's score wasn't the low round of the tournament, or even of the day. Isao Aoki carded a third-round 63, just the second 63 ever posted in a British Open. But Aoki wasn't in contention prior to his great round, while Watson was.

Watson took a 4-stroke lead into the final round, and that's the lead with which he ended the day. His 69 tied the best score of the day, and Watson essentially sealed the deal when he reeled off five birdies in the six holes from No. 7 through No. 12. It was Watson's third Open Championship victory and his fourth win in a major.

Nicklaus and Trevino were both 40 years old, and both were former winners at Muirfield, site of the 1980 Open. Defending champ Seve Ballesteros finished tied for 19th. Arnold Palmer missed the cut, his first missed cut in an Open Championship.

There was a change in scheduling at the Open this year. From 1966 through 1979, the British Open was played Wednesday-Saturday. Beginning in 1980, it switched to the more common Thursday-Sunday schedule. This was the first time the Open was scheduled to end on a Sunday.

1980 British Open Final Scores

Tom Watson 68-70-64-69—271
Lee Trevino 68-67-71-69—275
Ben Crenshaw 70-70-68-69—277
Carl Mason 72-69-70-69—280
Jack Nicklaus 73-67-71-69—280
Andy Bean 71-69-70-72—282
Craig Stadler 72-70-69-71—282
Ken Brown 70-68-68-76—282
Hubert Green 77-69-64-72—282
Gil Morgan 70-70-71-72—283
Jack Newton 69-71-73-70—283
Larry Nelson 72-70-71-71—284
Sandy Lyle 70-71-70-73—284
Nick Faldo 69-74-71-70—284
Isao Aoki 74-74-63-73—284
Tom Weiskopf 72-72-71-70—285
John Bland 73-70-70-72—285
Jerry Pate 71-67-74-73—285
Seve Ballesteros 72-68-72-74—286
Norio Suzuki 74-68-72-72—286
Bruce Lietzke 74-69-73-70—286
Bill Rogers 76-73-68-69—286
Mark McNulty 71-73-72-71—287
Garry Cullen 72-72-69-74—287
Peter Oosterhuis 72-71-75-69—287
Bill McColl 75-73-68-71—287
Tom Kite 72-72-74-70—288
Nick Price 72-71-71-74—288
Neil Coles 75-69-69-76—289
David Graham 73-71-68-77—289
Hugh Baiocchi 76-67-69-77—289
Tony Jacklin 72-74-71-73—290
Brian Waites 75-72-69-74—290
Mark Hayes 70-73-76-71—290
Tommy Horton 76-71-71-72—290
John Mahaffey 77-71-69-73—290
Howard Clark 72-70-70-78—290
a-Jay Sigel 72-72-74-73—291
Rodger Davis 74-70-73-74—291
Sam Torrance 74-71-73-73—291
Bill Brask Jr. 74-71-71-75—291
Dale Hayes 71-70-74-76—291
Toru Nakamura 76-72-69-74—291
Stewart Ginn 77-70-70-74—291
Graham Marsh 73-72-72-75—292
Andy North 75-72-72-73—292
Mark James 69-72-75-76—292
Vicente Fernandez 69-76-71-76—292
Eamonn Darcy 75-68-73-76—292
Wally Armstrong 77-72-70-73—292
Antonio Garrido 74-71-73-75—293
Bob Gilder 75-71-72-75—293
Bernhard Langer 73-72-72-76—293
Bob Shearer 76-71-70-76—293
Simon Hobday 76-71-71-75—293
Derrick Cooper 71-70-75-77—293
Harold Henning 77-71-69-76—293
Manuel Pinero 72-72-75-75—294
Brian Barnes 73-71-72-78—294
Bob Charles 75-71-73-76—295
David Jagger 72-77-69-77—295
Jumbo Ozaki 73-68-73-81—295
Peter Tupling 76-70-73-77—296
Simon Owen 72-73-72-80—297
Don Bies 73-74-72-79—298

Previous and next:
1979 British Open - 1981 British Open

Popular posts from this blog