1976 British Open Winner and Scores
The 1976 British Open was the 105th time the tournament was played. It was here that Seve Ballesteros first made his mark on world golf, but Johnny Miller was the champion.
Winner: Johnny Miller, 279
Where it was played: Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England
Tournament dates: July 7-10, 1976
Leader after first round: Norio Suzuki, Seve Ballesteros and Christy O'Connor Jr., 69
Leader after second round: Seve Ballesteros, 138
Leader after third round: Seve Ballesteros, 211
What Happened in the 1976 Open Championship
At the 1973 U.S. Open, Johnny Miller played what is considered the best final round in major championship history, shooting 63 to win. At the 1976 British Open, Miller played another great final round to win his other major title. Miller shot 66, tying the low round of the tournament, to come from two strokes behind at the start of the final round and win by six shots over runners-up Seve Ballesteros and Jack Nicklaus.Although it was Miller who was victorious, in many ways the story of this tournament was Ballesteros. He was 19 years old at the time, barely known outside of his native Spain. But the risk-taking youngster held the halfway lead after a pair of 69s, and still had a 2-stroke advantage after a third-round 73.
Ballesteros encountered trouble early in the final round, though, double-bogeying the par-4 sixth hole at Royal Birkdale after hitting his approach into thick shrubbery around the green. He also had a triple-bogey on the 11th. Ballesteros wound up shooting 74, which, combined with Miller's great round, left Seve tied for second with Nicklaus. It was certainly a harbinger of things to come for Ballesteros, however, who a month later collected his first European Tour victory at the Dutch Open. He went on to win this major three times, in 1979, 1984 and 1988.
The defending champion, Tom Watson, missed the secondary cut after shooting 80 in the third round. Jerry Pate, who won the 1976 U.S. Open a month earlier, was in good shape after two rounds, then shot 87 in the third round to also miss the secondary cut.
The 1976 British Open was full of notable comings and goings. Nick Faldo played in his first major championship and finished tied for 28th. Bernhard Langer also played a major for the first time, missing the cut. Sam Snead, who played the British Open only five times, missed the cut in his final appearance in the Open Championship. And saying their farewells to major championship golf were 1947 British Open champ Fred Daly and 1932 British Open winner Gene Sarazen. Daly was 64 years old and Sarazen was 74.
This is also the Open that "featured" the appearance of infamous British hoaxer Maurice Flitcroft. Flitcroft posed as a professional golfer and somehow faked his way into the tournament. He carded a 121 in the first round, and that score gave him away; he was banned by the R&A.
1976 British Open Final Scores
| Johnny Miller | 72-68-73-66—279 |
| Seve Ballesteros | 69-69-73-74—285 |
| Jack Nicklaus | 74-70-72-69—285 |
| Raymond Floyd | 76-67-73-70—286 |
| Tom Kite | 70-74-73-71—288 |
| Tommy Horton | 74-69-72-73—288 |
| Christy O'Connor Jr. | 69-73-75-71—288 |
| Mark James | 76-72-74-66—288 |
| Hubert Green | 72-70-78-68—288 |
| Peter Butler | 74-72-73-70—289 |
| Norio Suzuki | 69-75-75-70—289 |
| George Burns | 75-69-75-70—289 |
| Vicente Fernandez | 79-71-69-70—289 |
| Brian Barnes | 70-73-75-72—290 |
| John Fourie | 71-74-75-71—291 |
| Eamonn Darcy | 78-71-71-71—291 |
| Jack Newton | 70-74-76-72—292 |
| Graham Marsh | 71-73-72-76—292 |
| Tom Weiskopf | 73-72-76-71—292 |
| Guy Wolstenholme | 76-72-71-73—292 |
| David Huish | 73-74-72-74—293 |
| Alan Tapie | 74-72-75-72—293 |
| Bob Shearer | 76-73-75-69—293 |
| David Graham | 77-70-75-71—293 |
| Stewart Ginn | 78-72-72-71—293 |
| Simon Hobday | 79-71-75-68—293 |
| Hsu Chi San | 81-69-71-72—293 |
| Neil Coles | 74-77-70-73—294 |
| Doug Sanders | 77-73-73-71—294 |
| Nick Faldo | 78-71-76-69—294 |
| Gary Player | 72-72-79-71—294 |
| Gene Littler | 75-74-73-74—296 |
| Guy Hunt | 76-68-76-76—296 |
| Hale Irwin | 74-72-77-73—296 |
| Paddy McGuirk | 76-70-77-73—296 |
| Roberto De Vicenzo | 77-71-76-72—296 |
| Bobby Cole | 75-71-72-78—296 |
| Ian Mosey | 73-74-75-75—297 |
| Vincent Hood | 76-74-73-74—297 |
| Martin Foster | 74-71-77-75—297 |
| David Jagger | 78-72-74-73—297 |
| Malcolm Gregson | 73-75-76-74—298 |
| Barry Burgess | 75-76-74-73—298 |
| Warren Humphreys | 73-77-73-75—298 |
| Tony Jacklin | 73-77-76-72—298 |
| Peter Oosterhuis | 74-75-77-72—298 |
| Peter Dawson | 80-72-73-73—298 |
| Doug McClelland | 74-73-77-75—299 |
| Bob Murphy | 75-77-73-74—299 |
| Dale Hayes | 77-71-74-77—299 |
| Bill Garrett | 74-74-78-73—299 |
| Stewart Adwick | 78-71-74-76—299 |
| Peter Berry | 80-72-71-76—299 |
| Carl Higgins | 77-67-81-74—299 |
| Arnold O'Connor | 76-76-74-74—300 |
| John Hammond | 74-76-73-77—300 |
| Arnold Palmer | 75-72-76-77—300 |
| David Talbot | 74-74-74-78—300 |
| Andries Oosthuizen | 75-73-78-74—300 |
| Bernard Gallacher | 74-72-76-79—301 |
| Danny Edwards | 74-72-79-76—301 |
| Bob Wynn | 79-70-75-77—301 |
| Liam Higgins | 77-74-75-76—302 |
| Bill Lockie | 78-74-74-76—302 |
| Peter Tupling | 75-71-77-79—302 |
| Alex Caygill | 80-71-75-76—302 |
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1975 British Open - 1977 British Open