1989 British Open Tournament Winner and Scores
The 1989 British Open was the 118th time the tournament was played. It took a 3-man playoff to settle the winner.
Winner: Mark Calcavecchia, 275
Where it was played: Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland
Tournament dates: July 20-23, 1989
Leader after first round: Wayne Stephens, 66
Leader after second round: Wayne Grady, 135
Leader after third round: Wayne Grady, 204
What Happened in the 1989 Open Championship
The final round of the 1989 British Open began with journeyman Wayne Grady holding a 1-stroke lead over 5-time Open Champion Tom Watson. Most observers probably thought the conclusion was foregone: Watson would win.But he didn't, and neither did Grady. Watson carded a 72 on Sunday, while Grady shot 71 to finish at 275, two strokes in front of Watson. Greg Norman, who began the day seven strokes behind Grady, scorched Royal Troon with a 64, forcing a tie.
And Mark Calcavecchia shot 68, joining Grady and Norman at 275 and creating a 3-way playoff. The Open switched to a new playoff format this year. Previously, Open Championship playoffs were 18 holes. But at the 1989 Open, the tournament switched to a 4-hole, cumulative score playoff.
So Grady, Norman and Calcavecchia played another four holes. By the fourth extra hole, Calcavecchia and Norman were tied, with Grady essentially out of it, two strokes behind.
Calcavecchia hit a bad slice off the tee, while Norman's drive boomed down the middle only to roll into a deep, fairway bunker. Rather than use a lofted club to simply get the ball out of the bunker, Norman tried a heroic shot to reach the green. But the ball hit the face of the bunker and careened into a different bunker. From that bunker, Norman's next shot headed out of bounds. Norman basically picked up at that point, his chances down the drain.
Calcavecchia, meanwhile, hit a great recovery shot from his wayward drive, and wound up making birdie to win the 1989 British Open. The playoff scores were:
Calcavecchia, 4-3-3-3—13
Grady, 4-4-4-4—16
Norman, 3-3-4-x—x
It was Calcavecchia's sixth PGA Tour victory, but he had finished in the Top 10 of a major only once previously (second at the 1988 Masters). He posted only two other Top 10s in majors over the rest of long PGA Tour career (he finished with 13 tour victories).
Grady went on to win the 1990 PGA Championship (one of just two PGA Tour wins for Grady). Norman had already won the 1986 Open, and won again at the 1993 Open. But Norman also lost in playoffs at all four majors.
Arnold Palmer shot 82-82 and finished last. Palmer played the British Open only twice more after this, the 1990 and 1995 Opens at St. Andrews. Future 3-time major winner Vijay Singh played in his very first major here and tied for 23rd.
1989 British Open Final Scores
| Mark Calcavecchia | 71-68-68-68—275 |
| Wayne Grady | 68-67-69-71—275 |
| Greg Norman | 69-70-72-64—275 |
| Tom Watson | 69-68-68-72—277 |
| Jodie Mudd | 73-67-68-70—278 |
| Fred Couples | 68-71-68-72—279 |
| David Feherty | 71-67-69-72—279 |
| Paul Azinger | 68-73-67-72—280 |
| Payne Stewart | 72-65-69-74—280 |
| Eduardo Romero | 68-70-75-67—280 |
| Nick Faldo | 71-71-70-69—281 |
| Mark McNulty | 75-70-70-66—281 |
| Mark James | 69-70-71-72—282 |
| Howard Clark | 72-68-72-70—282 |
| Steve Pate | 69-70-70-73—282 |
| Craig Stadler | 73-69-69-71—282 |
| Philip Walton | 69-74-69-70—282 |
| Roger Chapman | 76-68-67-71—282 |
| Don Pooley | 73-70-69-71—283 |
| Tom Kite | 70-74-67-72—283 |
| Larry Mize | 71-74-66-72—283 |
| Derrick Cooper | 69-70-76-68—283 |
| Vijay Singh | 71-73-69-71—284 |
| Davis Love III | 72-70-73-69—284 |
| Jose Maria Olazabal | 68-72-69-75—284 |
| Lanny Wadkins | 72-70-69-74—285 |
| Scott Simpson | 73-66-72-74—285 |
| Chip Beck | 75-69-68-73—285 |
| Stephen Bennett | 75-69-68-73—285 |
| Miguel Angel Martin | 68-73-73-72—286 |
| Jumbo Ozaki | 71-73-70-72—286 |
| Brian Marchbank | 69-74-73-70—286 |
| Peter Jacobsen | 71-74-71-70—286 |
| Gary Koch | 72-71-74-69—286 |
| Jack Nicklaus | 74-71-71-70—286 |
| Ian Baker-Finch | 72-69-70-75—286 |
| Jeff Hawkes | 75-67-69-75—286 |
| Mark Davis | 77-68-67-74—286 |
| Mike Harwood | 71-72-72-72—287 |
| Tommy Armour III | 70-71-72-74—287 |
| Jeff Woodland | 74-67-75-71—287 |
| Lee Trevino | 68-73-73-74—288 |
| Mark O'Meara | 72-74-69-73—288 |
| Raymond Floyd | 73-68-73-74—288 |
| Jose Rivero | 71-75-72-70—288 |
| Sandy Lyle | 73-73-71-72—289 |
| Joe Ozaki | 71-71-69-78—289 |
| Mark McCumber | 71-68-70-80—289 |
| Christy O'Connor Jr. | 71-73-72-74—290 |
| Ian Woosnam | 74-72-73-71—290 |
| Johnny Miller | 72-69-76-73—290 |
| Ben Crenshaw | 73-73-74-71—291 |
| Mark Roe | 74-71-73-73—291 |
| Tony Johnstone | 71-71-74-75—291 |
| Jet Ozaki | 75-71-73-72—291 |
| Gene Sauers | 70-73-72-76—291 |
| Richard Boxall | 74-68-73-76—291 |
| Michael Allen | 74-67-76-74—291 |
| Brett Ogle | 74-70-76-71—291 |
| Emmanuel Dussart | 76-68-73-74—291 |
| Curtis Strange | 70-74-74-74—292 |
| Mike Reid | 74-72-73-73—292 |
| Ronan Rafferty | 70-72-74-76—292 |
| Bob Tway | 76-70-71-75—292 |
| Paul Hoad | 72-71-77-72—292 |
| David Graham | 74-72-69-77—292 |
| Wayne Stephens | 66-72-76-78—292 |
| Ken Green | 75-71-68-78—292 |
| a-Russell Claydon | 70-74-74-75—293 |
| Luis Carbonetti | 71-72-74-76—293 |
| Sandy Stephen | 71-74-71-77—293 |
| Colin Gillies | 72-74-74-74—294 |
| Brad Faxon | 72-72-75-76—295 |
| Peter Teravainen | 72-73-72-78—295 |
| Emlyn Aubrey | 72-73-73-78—296 |
| Martin Sludds | 72-74-73-78—297 |
| Seve Ballesteros | 72-73-76-78—299 |
| a-Robert Karlsson | 75-70-76-78—299 |
| Gavin Levenson | 69-76-77-79—301 |
| Bernhard Langer | 71-73-83-82—309 |
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1988 British Open - 1990 British Open