1998 British Open Tournament Winner and Scores
The 1998 British Open was the 127th time the tournament was played. For the winner, it was his second major championship victory of the year.
Winner: Mark O'Meara, 280
Where it was played: Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport, England
Tournament dates: July 16-19, 1998
Leader after first round: Tiger Woods and John Huston, 65
Leader after second round: Brian Watts, 137
Leader after third round: Brian Watts, 210
What Happened at the 1998 Open Championship
Several months after winning his first major championship title at the 1998 Masters, Mark O'Meara won his second (and last) one here, at the 1998 Open. But he needed a playoff to do it.Journeyman Brian Watts was the 36-hole leader, one stroke in front of Tiger Woods, Nick Price and 17-year-old amateur Justin Rose. O'Meara was three off the lead.
Following the third round, Watts still had a two-stroke lead, and O'Meara had moved up into a tie for second place. Woods carded a 77 that dropped him off the pace, but not too far — the final two rounds were played in poor weather.
In the final round, Woods shot 66 but he missed the playoff by one stroke. O'Meara had a 68 and Watts a 70, giving them the 72-hole lead at 280.
The playoff was four holes, aggregate score. O'Meara opened with a birdie to Watts' par. They matched scores on the next two holes, then Watts bogeyed the final hole, giving O'Meara the two-stroke playoff win. These were the playoff scores:
Mark O'Meara, 4-4-5-4—17
Brian Watts, 5-4-5-5—19
This turned out to be Watts' only Top 20 finish in a major. He never won on the PGA Tour, but did have 13 wins in Japan (12 of them prior to the 1998 Open). It also turned out to be the last of O'Meara's 16 career wins on the PGA Tour. At age 41, he became the oldest golfer to this point to win two majors in the same year.
And what happened to Rose? The 17-year-old shot 69 in the final round and tied for fourth place, low amateur. He turned pro soon after, but missed the cut in the first 21 tournaments he played as a pro. But Rose eventually scored double-digit wins on both the European Tour and U.S. PGA Tour, and won the 2013 U.S. Open.
1998 British Open Final Scores
| Mark O'Meara | 72-68-72-68-280 |
| Brian Watts | 68-69-73-70-280 |
| Tiger Woods | 65-73-77-66-281 |
| Jesper Parnevik | 68-72-72-70-282 |
| Jim Furyk | 70-70-72-70-282 |
| a-Justin Rose | 72-66-75-69-282 |
| Raymond Russell | 68-73-75-66-282 |
| Davis Love III | 67-73-77-68-285 |
| Costantino Rocca | 72-74-70-70-286 |
| Thomas Bjorn | 68-71-76-71-286 |
| Brad Faxon | 67-74-74-72-287 |
| David Duval | 70-71-75-71-287 |
| John Huston | 65-77-73-72-287 |
| Gordon Brand | 71-70-76-71-288 |
| Greg Turner | 68-75-75-71-289 |
| Des Smyth | 74-69-75-71-289 |
| Jose Maria Olazabal | 73-72-75-69-289 |
| Peter Baker | 69-72-77-71-289 |
| Mark James | 71-74-74-71-290 |
| Sandy Lyle | 71-72-75-72-290 |
| Curtis Strange | 73-73-74-70-290 |
| Vijay Singh | 67-74-78-71-290 |
| Robert Allenby | 67-76-78-69-290 |
| Peter O'Malley | 71-71-78-71-291 |
| Lee Janzen | 72-69-80-70-291 |
| Sam Torrance | 69-77-75-70-291 |
| Stephen Ames | 68-72-79-72-291 |
| Bob Estes | 72-70-76-73-291 |
| Loren Roberts | 66-76-76-74-292 |
| Shigeki Maruyama | 70-73-75-74-292 |
| Ernie Els | 72-74-74-72-292 |
| a-Sergio Garcia | 69-75-76-72-292 |
| Scott Dunlap | 72-69-80-71-292 |
| Nick Price | 66-72-82-72-292 |
| Sven Struver | 75-70-80-68-293 |
| Santiago Luna | 70-72-80-71-293 |
| Mark Calcavecchia | 69-77-73-74-293 |
| Philip Walton | 68-76-74-76-294 |
| Joakim Haeggman | 71-74-78-71-294 |
| Steen Tinning | 69-76-77-72-294 |
| Tom Kite | 72-69-79-74-294 |
| Patrik Sjoland | 72-72-77-73-294 |
| Naomichi Ozaki | 72-73-76-73-294 |
| David Carter | 71-75-76-73-295 |
| Payne Stewart | 71-71-78-75-295 |
| David Howell | 68-77-79-71-295 |
| Rodger Davis | 76-70-78-71-295 |
| David Frost | 72-73-78-72-295 |
| Nick Faldo | 72-73-75-75-295 |
| Andrew Coltart | 68-77-75-75-295 |
| Katsuyoshi Tomori | 75-71-70-79-295 |
| Frankie Minoza | 69-75-76-76-296 |
| Steve Stricker | 70-72-80-74-296 |
| Larry Mize | 70-75-79-72-296 |
| Brandt Jobe | 70-73-82-71-296 |
| Billy Mayfair | 72-73-77-74-296 |
| Ian Woosnam | 72-74-76-75-297 |
| Steve Jones | 73-72-79-73-297 |
| Trevor Dodds | 73-71-81-72-297 |
| Ignacio Garrido | 71-74-80-72-297 |
| Justin Leonard | 73-73-82-69-297 |
| Greg Chalmers | 71-75-77-74-297 |
| Eduardo Romero | 71-70-79-77-297 |
| Lee Westwood | 71-71-78-78-298 |
| Carlos Franco | 71-73-76-78-298 |
| Michael Long | 70-74-78-77-299 |
| Stewart Cink | 71-73-83-72-299 |
| Michael Campbell | 73-73-80-73-299 |
| a-Didier de Vooght | 70-76-80-73-299 |
| Mark Brooks | 71-73-75-80-299 |
| Fred Couples | 66-74-78-81-299 |
| Andrew Clapp | 72-74-81-73-300 |
| Gary Evans | 69-74-84-74-301 |
| Bob May | 70-73-85-75-303 |
| Andrew McLardy | 72-74-80-78-304 |
| Fredrik Jacobson | 67-78-81-79-305 |
| Kazuhiko Hosokawa | 72-73-81-80-306 |
| Robert Giles | 72-74-83-78-307 |
| Phil Mickelson | 71-74-85-78-308 |
| Andrew Oldcorn | 75-71-84-79-309 |
| Dudley Hart | 73-72-85-80-310 |
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