1986 British Open Winner and Scores
The 1986 British Open was the 115th time the tournament was played. After falling short at two earlier majors in 1986 when in contention, this time Greg Norman got the job done.
Winner: Greg Norman, 280
Where it was played: Turnberry's Ailsa Course in South Ayrshire, Scotland
Tournament dates: July 17-20, 1986
Leader after first round: Ian Woosnam, 70
Leader after second round: Greg Norman, 137
Leader after third round: Greg Norman, 211
What Happened at the 1986 Open Championship
The year 1986 was the year of the "Norman Slam," a nickname for this accomplishment of Greg Norman: He led each one of majors after the third round. But Norman blew those leads at the 1986 Masters and 1986 U.S. Open, prior to the British Open; and he blew another after, at the 1986 PGA Championship. But at this major, Norman won to claim his first victory in a major championship.Turnberry first joined the Open rota in 1977, and the Open that year is remembered in part for great weekend weather and great scoring. In 1986, it was night and day at Turnberry. Or, rather, wet and dry: Turnberry in 1986 was the site of some truly terrible weather. Only one player, Ian Woosnam, matched par in the first round.
The third round was pretty rough, too, with only one player breaking 70. But Norman's 63 in the second round (which tied the then-major championship 18-hole record) went a long way toward the championship, and he played a strong 69 in the final round to hoist the Claret Jug.
The runner-up, five strokes behind Norman, was journeyman Gordan J. Brand, and this was by far his best-ever showing in a major. Tommy Nakajima was second to Norman after the third round, just one stroke behind. But Nakajima scored 77 in the final round and fell to eighth.
There was a change in format this year: The secondary cut was eliminated. From 1968 through 1985, the Open had two cuts, one after 36 holes, another after 54 holes. There was only a 36-hole cut at the Open from this point forward.
1986 British Open Final Scores
| Greg Norman | 74-63-74-69—280 |
| Gordon J. Brand | 71-68-75-71—285 |
| Ian Woosnam | 70-74-70-72—286 |
| Bernhard Langer | 72-70-76-68—286 |
| Nick Faldo | 71-70-76-70—287 |
| Gary Koch | 73-72-72-71—288 |
| Seve Ballesteros | 76-75-73-64—288 |
| Fuzzy Zoeller | 75-73-72-69—289 |
| Brian Marchbank | 78-70-72-69—289 |
| Tommy Nakajima | 74-67-71-77—289 |
| Christy O'Connor Jr. | 75-71-75-69—290 |
| David Graham | 75-73-70-72—290 |
| Jose Maria Canizares | 76-68-73-73—290 |
| Andy Bean | 74-73-73-71—291 |
| Curtis Strange | 79-69-74-69—291 |
| Raymond Floyd | 78-67-73-74—292 |
| Anders Forsbrand | 71-73-77-71—292 |
| Jose Maria Olazabal | 78-69-72-73—292 |
| Manuel Pinero | 78-71-70-74—293 |
| Bob Charles | 76-72-73-72—293 |
| Ben Crenshaw | 77-69-75-73—294 |
| Derrick Cooper | 72-79-72-71—294 |
| Danny Edwards | 77-73-70-74—294 |
| Sam Torrance | 78-69-71-76—294 |
| Vaughan Somers | 73-77-72-72—294 |
| Robert Lee | 71-75-75-73—294 |
| Philip Parkin | 78-70-72-74—294 |
| Ronan Rafferty | 75-74-75-70—294 |
| Vicente Fernandez | 78-70-71-75—294 |
| Massy Kuramoto | 77-73-73-72—295 |
| Sandy Lyle | 78-73-70-74—295 |
| John Mahaffey | 75-73-75-72—295 |
| Ian Stanley | 72-74-78-71—295 |
| D.A. Weibring | 75-70-76-74—295 |
| Tom Watson | 77-71-77-71—296 |
| Greg Turner | 73-71-75-77—296 |
| Payne Stewart | 76-69-75-76—296 |
| Roger Chapman | 74-71-78-73—296 |
| Andrew Brooks | 72-73-77-74—296 |
| Mark James | 75-73-73-75—296 |
| Gary Player | 75-72-73-76—296 |
| Ron Commans | 72-77-73-74—296 |
| Mark O'Meara | 80-69-74-74—297 |
| Ho Ming Chung | 77-74-69-77—297 |
| Roger Maltbie | 78-71-76-72—297 |
| Larry Mize | 79-69-75-75—298 |
| Bob Tway | 74-71-76-77—298 |
| Mike Clayton | 76-74-75-73—298 |
| Fred Couples | 78-73-75-72—298 |
| Tony Charnley | 77-73-76-72—298 |
| Lu His Chuen | 80-69-73-76—298 |
| Tommy Armour III | 76-70-75-77—298 |
| Mac O'Grady | 76-75-77-70—298 |
| Jack Nicklaus | 78-73-76-71—298 |
| Jeff Hawkes | 78-73-72-75—298 |
| Sam Randolph | 72-76-77-75—300 |
| Graham Marsh | 79-71-75-75—300 |
| Carl Mason | 76-73-73-78—300 |
| Mark McNulty | 80-71-79-71—301 |
| Malcolm Mackenzie | 79-70-77-75—301 |
| Lee Trevino | 80-71-75-75—301 |
| Eamonn Darcy | 76-75-75-75—301 |
| Frank Nobilo | 76-75-71-79—301 |
| Tom Lamore | 76-71-77-77—301 |
| Jimmy Heggarty | 75-72-80-75—302 |
| Martin Gray | 75-76-76-75—302 |
| Donnie Hammond | 74-71-79-78—302 |
| Scott Simpson | 78-71-75-78—302 |
| Andrew Chandler | 78-72-78-74—302 |
| Peter Fowler | 80-71-77-75—303 |
| Ossie Moore | 76-74-79-74—303 |
| David Jones | 75-76-79-75—305 |
| Ross Drummond | 76-74-77-78—305 |
| Tommy Horton | 77-73-82-74—306 |
| Gary Weir | 78-69-80-80—307 |
| Kris Moe | 76-74-82-82—314 |
Previous and next:
1985 British Open - 1987 British Open