1970 British Open Winner and Scores
The 1970 British Open was the 99th time the tournament was played, and Jack Nicklaus won it in an 18-hole playoff.
Winner: Jack Nicklaus, 283
Where it was played: The Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland
Tournament dates: July 8-12, 1970
Leader after first round: Neil Coles, 65
Leader after second round: Lee Trevino, 136
Leader after third round: Lee Trevino, 208
What Happened in the 1970 Open Championship
The 1970 British Open is best remembered for two things: a missed putt and a thrown putter. The thrown putter was not the one that missed the putt, however.Jack Nicklaus and Doug Sanders battled throughout the final round. They started the final 18 tied, two strokes behind third-round leader Lee Trevino. But Trevino struggled to a 77 and finished third, along with Harold Henning. (Don't feel bad for Trevino: He won the next two Opens, in 1971 and 1972.)
After extricating himself from the Road Hole bunker on No. 17 and making par, Sanders reached the final green of the Old Course at St. Andrews needing another par to beat Nicklaus by a stroke. He was on the green in two, and his first putt lagged to about 2 1/2 feet short of the cup. It wasn't an easy putt — a downhill, left-to-righter — but still, it was less than three feet. As he stood over the ball, something in Sanders' line distracted him. He waved it away, then got back over the ball without re-setting, or starting his routine over.
And then he missed the putt.
An 18-hole playoff with Nicklaus followed the next day, and Sanders stayed with the Golden Bear throughout. On the last hole, though, Nicklaus didn't miss when he had a winning putt.
On the 18th tee, leading by one stroke, Nicklaus famously removed his sweater to free up his range of motion. He pulled driver and gave it a mighty wallop, and drove the ball over the green 360 yards away. Nicklaus chipped to eight feet, then sank the birdie putt. Nicklaus defeated Sanders in the playoff, 72 to 73.
And that's where the thrown putter comes in. Uncharacteristically, Nicklaus flung his putter into the air when that winning putt dropped, overcome with joy at winning on The Old Course, the home of golf. (Quickly realizing what he'd done, Nicklaus then covered his head with his arms in case the putter came down on top of him.)
Sanders won 20 times in his PGA Tour career, and finished second in majors four times, including to Nicklaus at the 1966 British Open. But he never won a major. For Nicklaus, this was his second British Open victory and eighth overall win in a professional major. It also ended a three-year drought for Nicklaus during which he went winless in majors, the longest such period in his career to this point.
This was the first 18-hole playoff at the Open; previous playoffs were 36 holes. Denny Shute, winner of the 1933 British Open, played this tournament for the final time (at age 66) and missed the cut.
1970 British Open Final Scores
| Jack Nicklaus | 68-69-73-73—283 (72) |
| Doug Sanders | 68-71-71-73—283 (73) |
| Harold Henning | 67-72-73-73—285 |
| Lee Trevino | 68-68-72-77—285 |
| Tony Jacklin | 67-70-73-76—286 |
| Neil Coles | 65-74-72-76—287 |
| Peter Oosterhuis | 73-69-69-76—287 |
| Hugh Jackson | 69-72-73-74—288 |
| Tommy Horton | 66-73-75-75—289 |
| John Panton | 72-73-73-71—289 |
| Peter Thomson | 68-74-73-74—289 |
| Arnold Palmer | 68-72-76-74—290 |
| Maurice Bembridge | 67-74-75-76—292 |
| Bob Charles | 72-73-73-74—292 |
| John Richardson | 67-72-76-77—292 |
| Bert Yancey | 71-71-73-77—292 |
| Roberto Bernardini | 75-69-74-75—293 |
| Billy Casper | 71-74-73-75—293 |
| Clive Clark | 69-70-77-77—293 |
| Roberto De Vicenzo | 71-76-71-75—293 |
| Christy O'Connor Sr. | 72-68-74-79—293 |
| Walter Godfrey | 71-75-74-74—294 |
| Tom Weiskopf | 70-74-72-78—294 |
| Guy Wolstenholme | 68-77-72-77—294 |
| Bruce Devlin | 72-76-72-75—295 |
| Graham Marsh | 75-72-74-74—295 |
| Ronnie Shade | 72-75-69-79—295 |
| Stuart Brown | 73-73-71-79—296 |
| Bobby Cole | 71-76-71-78—296 |
| Brian Huggett | 68-78-73-77—296 |
| Tom Shaw | 73-71-73-79—296 |
| Peter Alliss | 69-74-78-76—297 |
| Brian Barnes | 69-74-75-79—297 |
| Gay Brewer | 69-74-74-80—297 |
| Eric Brown | 73-72-74-78—297 |
| Dale Douglass | 75-71-73-78—297 |
| David Graham | 72-72-74-79—297 |
| Florentino Molina | 67-75-78-77—297 |
| Kel Nagle | 71-74-73-79—297 |
| Dave Thomas | 70-72-76-79—297 |
| Alex Caygill | 74-72-74-78—298 |
| Tony Grubb | 72-77-71-78—298 |
| Dave Marr | 71-71-74-82—298 |
| a-Steve Melnyk | 69-74-76-79—298 |
| Jimmy Hume | 72-75-76-76—299 |
| Peter Townsend | 72-73-74-80—299 |
| George Will | 69-78-74-78—299 |
| Guy Hunt | 72-70-80-78—300 |
| Jimmy Martin | 71-74-75-80—300 |
| Tommy Aaron | 68-74-79-80—301 |
| a-Warren Humphreys | 73-73-76-79—301 |
| Tomas Lopez | 70-72-75-84—301 |
| Norman Wood | 73-73-77-78—301 |
| Derek Small | 69-74-80-79—302 |
| Davis Love Jr. | 71-74-73-85—303 |
| Richard Livingston | 75-73-75-81—304 |
| Sandy Walker | 70-78-75-84—307 |
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1969 British Open - 1971 British Open