1991 British Open Winner and Scores

The 1991 British Open was the 120th time the tournament was played. The champion blistered the golf course over the final two rounds to claim his only major championship victory.

Winner: Ian Baker-Finch, 272

Where it was played: Royal Birkdale in Southport, England

Tournament dates: July 18-21, 1991

Leader after first round: Seve Ballesteros, 66

Leader after second round: Mike Harwood, Andrew Oldcorn and Gary Hallberg, 138

Leader after third round: Ian Baker-Finch and Mark O'Meara, 206

What Happened at the 1991 Open Championship

Ian Baker-Finch had one win on the PGA Tour and one win on the European Tour at the time of the 1991 British Open. He had three Top 10s in majors to this point, including a tie for seventh earlier in the year at the 1991 Masters.

He opened with back-to-back rounds of 71, but then had one of the great weekends in major championship golf, going 64-66 in the third and fourth rounds. That third-round 64 tied Baker-Finch with his fellow Australian, Mike Harwood, atop the leaderboard. Also tied for the lead was Mark O'Meara. The biggest name on the leaderboard entering the final round was that of Seve Ballesteros, two behind, but Ballesteros carded a final-round 71 while most of the other contenders were in the 60s.

That included Harwood (67) and O'Meara (69), but Baker-Finch opened his final round by birdying five of the first seven holes. He finished with a round of 66 to beat Harwood by one and O'Meara by three.

For Harwood, a 5-time winner on the European Tour, this proved to be his only Top 10 finish in a major. O'Meara went on to win two majors, including the 1998 Open. The 1991 Open was Ballesteros' final Top 10 finish in a major (he tied for ninth).

Baker-Finch's career appeared to be in ascendancy, but he never won again on the USPGA or European tours. Within several years, a combination of tinkering with his swing and confidence problems caused his game to deteriorate. He essentially retired from tournament golf following an opening round 92 at the 1997 Open Championship.

Amateur Phil Mickelson played in his first Open Championship here, and made the cut. Mickelson eventually won The Open in 2013. Johnny Miller, the 1976 Open champion, played in his last British Open here, and missed the cut.

1991 British Open Final Scores

Ian Baker-Finch 71-71-64-66—272
Mike Harwood 68-70-69-67—274
Mark O'Meara 71-68-67-69—275
Fred Couples 72-69-70-64—275
Jodie Mudd 72-70-72-63—277
Eamonn Darcy 73-68-66-70—277
Bob Tway 75-66-70-66—277
Craig Parry 71-70-69-68—278
Bernhard Langer 71-71-70-67—279
Seve Ballesteros 66-73-69-71—279
Greg Norman 74-68-71-66—279
Vijay Singh 71-69-69-71—280
Rodger Davis 70-71-73-66—280
Magnus Sunesson 72-73-68-67—280
Roger Chapman 74-66-71-69—280
David Williams 74-71-68-67—280
Barry Lane 68-72-71-70—281
Ian Woosnam 70-72-69-70—281
Lee Trevino 71-72-71-67—281
Paul Broadhurst 71-73-68-69—281
Andrew Sherborne 73-70-68-70—281
Mark Mouland 68-74-68-71—281
Peter Senior 74-67-71-69—281
Nick Faldo 68-75-70-68—281
Chip Beck 67-78-70-66—281
Colin Montgomerie 71-69-71-71—282
Tom Watson 69-72-72-69—282
Mark James 72-68-70-72—282
Mike Reid 68-71-70-73—282
Wayne Grady 69-70-73-70—282
Eduardo Romero 70-73-68-71—282
Gordon Brand Jr. 71-72-69-71—283
Christy O'Connor Jr. 72-71-71-69—283
Payne Stewart 72-72-71-68—283
Gary Hallberg 68-70-73-72—283
Mike Miller 73-74-67-69—283
Steven Richardson 74-70-72-67—283
Peter O'Malley 72-71-70-71—284
a-Jim Payne 72-72-70-70—284
Curtis Strange 70-73-69-72—284
Anders Forsbrand 71-72-73-68—284
Martin Poxon 71-72-67-74—284
Nolan Henke 77-71-66-70—284
Fulton Allem 70-72-71-72—285
Robert Gamez 71-72-72-70—285
Nick Price 69-72-73-71—285
Graham Marsh 69-73-72-71—285
Jamie Spence 70-73-70-72—285
Davis Love III 71-72-69-73—285
Des Smyth 71-73-73-68—285
Costantino Rocca 68-73-70-74—285
Donnie Hammond 70-75-67-73—285
Jack Nicklaus 70-75-69-71—285
Steve Elkington 71-68-76-70—285
Sam Torrance 72-76-70-67—285
Tom Kite 77-71-68-69—285
Tim Simpson 72-72-72-70—286
Gavin Levenson 72-73-73-68—286
Andrew Magee 71-74-69-72—286
Jose Rivero 74-73-68-71—286
Scott Simpson 74-72-70-70—286
Hale Irwin 74-70-73-69—286
Gary Player 75-71-69-71—286
Gil Morgan 72-74-74-67—287
Steve Pate 73-72-74-68—287
Miguel Angel Martin 71-75-71-70—287
Mike McLean 71-75-72-69—287
Jay Don Blake 75-73-72-67—287
Mark McNulty 76-71-70-70—287
Steve Jones 70-77-71-69—287
Andrew Oldcorn 71-67-77-72—287
Darren Clarke 79-67-68-73—287
Tony Johnstone 69-74-71-74—288
Frank Nobilo 74-74-71-69—288
Martin Gates 67-75-73-73—288
Lanny Wadkins 71-75-71-71—288
Brett Ogle 73-75-66-74—288
Peter Jacobsen 75-72-68-73—288
a-Phil Mickelson 77-67-73-71—288
Danny Mijovic 70-72-74-73—289
Malcolm Mackenzie 71-73-74-71—289
Mark Brooks 73-74-70-72—289
Jose Maria Olazabal 74-67-74-74—289
Miguel Angel Jimenez 74-74-72-69—289
Ben Crenshaw 71-75-72-71—289
Fuzzy Zoeller 72-72-75-70—289
Daniel Silva 73-71-75-70—289
Howard Clark 71-69-73-76—289
John Bland 71-76-71-71—289
Santiago Luna 67-77-72-73—289
David Gilford 72-67-73-77—289
Peter Teravainen 71-72-72-75—290
Brian Marchbank 72-73-75-70—290
Rick Gibson 73-75-70-72—290
Patrick Hall 77-71-72-71—291
Alastair Webster 73-74-73-72—292
John Hoskison 74-73-74-71—292
Peter Hedblom 74-74-73-71—292
Peter Allan 70-71-75-76—292
Carl Suneson 69-77-69-77—292

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1990 British Open - 1992 British Open

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