1974 British Open Winner and Scores
The 1974 British Open was the 103rd time the tournament was played. The golfer called "The Black Knight" won it for the third time.
Winner: Gary Player, 282
Where it was played: Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in Lytham St. Annes, England
Tournament dates: July 10-13, 1974
Leader after first round: John Morgan and Gary Player, 69
Leader after second round: Gary Player, 137
Leader after third round: Gary Player, 212
What Happened in the 1974 Open Championship
Gary Player claimed the last of this three British Open titles here, winning by four strokes over Peter Oosterhuis.Player opened with rounds of 69 and 68. There were only four sub-70 rounds all week over Royal Lytham & St. Annes, so Player had half of them in the first two rounds. He built such a lead that a 75 in the third round didn't hurt too much, and Player went into the final round with a 3-stroke margin.
And once again, he carded one of the better rounds of the day, scoring 70 to finish at 282. That was four strokes better than Oosterhuis and five ahead of third-place finisher Jack Nicklaus.
For Player, it was his eighth overall major championship victory (he won one more at the 1978 Masters). He also became the third golfer (after Harry Vardon and J.H. Taylor) to win the Open Championship in three different decades — his previous wins were in 1959 and 1968.
Oosterhuis posted eight career Top 10s in majors, including a tie for second at the 1982 British Open. His solo second here, in the 1974 British Open, was his highest finish.
The 1974 British Open marked the first use in this tourney of the so-called "American ball." Prior to 1974, the R&A and USGA disagreed on the size of the golf ball, and a "small ball" was used in Europe and the British Open. The "British ball" was 1.62 inches in diameter, the American ball 1.68 inches. Most American golfers switched to the British ball for the Open Championship. But prior to the 1974 British Open, the R&A and USGA finally agreed to standardize the size of the golf ball at the ever-so-slightly larger 1.68 inches. (See "Looking Back: the American ball and British ball" for more.)
Peter Alliss made his final major championship playing appearance here, missing the cut.
1974 British Open Final Scores
| Gary Player | 69-68-75-70—282 |
| Peter Oosterhuis | 71-71-73-71—286 |
| Jack Nicklaus | 74-72-70-71—287 |
| Hubert Green | 71-74-72-71—288 |
| Liang-Huan Lu | 72-72-75-73—292 |
| Danny Edwards | 70-73-76-73—292 |
| Tom Weiskopf | 72-72-74-75—293 |
| Bobby Cole | 70-72-76-75—293 |
| Donald Swaelens | 77-73-74-69—293 |
| Johnny Miller | 72-75-73-74—294 |
| David Graham | 76-74-76-69—295 |
| John Garner | 75-78-73-69—295 |
| Neil Coles | 72-75-75-74—296 |
| John Morgan | 69-75-76-76—296 |
| Al Geiberger | 76-70-76-74—296 |
| Alan Tapie | 73-77-73-73—296 |
| Peter Townsend | 79-76-72-69—296 |
| Peter Dawson | 74-74-73-76—297 |
| Tony Jacklin | 74-77-71-75—297 |
| Gene Littler | 77-76-70-74—297 |
| Dewitt Weaver | 73-80-70-74—297 |
| Lanny Wadkins | 78-71-75-74—298 |
| Ronnie Shade | 78-75-73-72—298 |
| Bernard Gallacher | 76-72-76-75—299 |
| Angel Gallardo | 74-77-75-73—299 |
| Christy O'Connor Jr. | 78-76-72-73—299 |
| Hale Irwin | 76-73-79-71—299 |
| Doug McClelland | 75-79-73-73—300 |
| Ben Crenshaw | 74-80-76-70—300 |
| David Jagger | 80-71-76-73—300 |
| Peter Butler | 75-77-77-72—301 |
| David Chillas | 72-78-77-74—301 |
| Hugh Jackson | 78-76-73-74—301 |
| Vicente Fernandez | 78-72-78-73—301 |
| Tommy Horton | 78-76-76-71—301 |
| Lee Trevino | 79-70-78-74—301 |
| Oscar Cerda | 80-74-77-70—301 |
| Gay Brewer | 78-77-74-73—302 |
| John Cook | 76-79-75-73—303 |
| Guy Hunt | 78-73-72-80—303 |
| Bruce Devlin | 81-74-73-75—303 |
| Derek Small | 73-75-77-79—304 |
| Bernard Hunt | 74-77-74-79—304 |
| Stuart Levermore | 77-77-76-75—305 |
| John Mahaffey | 78-77-75-75—305 |
| John O'Leary | 71-79-78-77—305 |
| Brian Barnes | 74-79-78-74—305 |
| Maurice Bembridge | 76-77-73-79—305 |
| Graham Marsh | 79-75-77-74—305 |
| Noel Hunt | 73-73-79-80—305 |
| Malcolm Gregson | 79-76-76-75—306 |
| Roberto De Vicenzo | 80-74-77-75—306 |
| Brian Waites | 78-74-74-81—307 |
| Norman Wood | 74-78-78-78—308 |
| Mike Slater | 77-74-80-77—308 |
| Christy O'Connor Sr. | 80-74-77-78—309 |
| Ian Stanley | 77-79-75-78—309 |
| John Panton | 77-75-77-80—309 |
| Bob Shearer | 77-79-73-81—310 |
| John Fourie | 79-73-77-81—310 |
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1973 British Open - 1975 British Open
