1908 British Open Winner and Scores
Winner: James Braid, 291
Where it was played: Prestwick Golf Club in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, Scotland
Tournament dates: June 18-19, 1908
Leader after first round: Ernest Gray, 68
Leader after second round: James Braid, 142
Leader after third round: James Braid, 219
What Happened in the 1908 Open Championship
James Braid won the fourth of his five Claret Jugs at the 1908 British Open, and set a new scoring record in the process.Braid carded three of four rounds at 72 or lower and finished on 291, which set a tournament scoring record at the time. In fact, it was only the second time in tournament history that the winning score was below 300 (over 72 holes) and beat the previous record of 295 set by Jack White in 1904.
And Braid's winning margin of eight strokes shares the tournament record for largest margin of victory in the 20th century.
Braid opened with a 70, which was quite low scoring for the time. But a golfer named Ernest Gray shot 68 in that first round, equaling the then-tournament record for 18 holes (first set by J.H. Taylor in 1904). Gray was not a factor, however, with three later rounds of 79, 83 and 81.
Braid also won the British Open in 1901, 1905, 1906 and 1910.
Tom Ball was the runner-up at 299, and this was the first of back-to-back Opens in which Ball finished second.
1908 British Open Final Scores
| James Braid | 70-72-77-72—291 |
| Tom Ball | 76-73-76-74—299 |
| Ted Ray | 79-71-75-76—301 |
| Sandy Herd | 74-74-79-75—302 |
| David Kinnell | 75-73-80-78—306 |
| Harry Vardon | 79-78-74-75—306 |
| Tom Simpson | 75-77-76-79—307 |
| J.H. Taylor | 79-77-76-75—307 |
| Phillip Gaudin | 77-76-75-80—308 |
| Arnaud Massy | 76-75-76-81—308 |
| James Edmundson | 80-72-76-82—310 |
| Tom Watt | 81-73-78-78—310 |
| a-John Ball Jr. | 74-78-78-81—311 |
| Fred Collins | 78-77-77-79—311 |
| Ernest Gray | 68-79-83-81—311 |
| William Leaver | 79-79-75-78—311 |
| Tom Vardon | 77-79-76-79—311 |
| George Duncan | 79-77-80-76—312 |
| a-John Graham Jr. | 76-82-76-78—312 |
| George Pulford | 81-77-74-80—312 |
| Fred Robson | 72-79-83-78—312 |
| Alfred Toogood | 82-76-77-77—312 |
| Walter Toogood | 80-75-78-79—312 |
| George Coburn | 77-79-77-81—314 |
| James Hepburn | 80-79-79-76—314 |
| Rowland Jones | 75-77-83-79—314 |
| a-Robert Andrew | 83-78-77-77—315 |
| Willie Aveston | 77-77-79-83—316 |
| Thomas Renouf | 78-78-83-77—316 |
| Charles Mayo | 83-79-80-75—317 |
| Ben Sayers Sr. | 74-76-84-83—317 |
| Albert Tingey | 76-82-79-80—317 |
| Charles Roberts | 81-79-83-75—318 |
| Percy Wyatt | 83-77-85-74—319 |
| Wilfred Reid | 79-81-83-77—320 |
| Tom Williamson | 81-75-82-82—320 |
| James Donaldson | 78-78-84-81—321 |
| James Sherlock | 81-79-79-82—321 |
| Robert Thomson | 78-78-86-80—322 |
| John Park | 78-84-80-81—323 |
| George Cawsey | 80-80-80-84—324 |
| George Charles | 82-83-81-79—325 |
| William McEwan | 76-83-86-80—325 |
| Charles Pope | 85-79-84-77—325 |
| George Daniel | 81-81-82-82—326 |
| David Grant | 78-83-85-81—327 |
| a-Cecil Hutchison | 83-81-82-81—327 |
| Ben Sayers Jr. | 81-82-79-85—327 |
| Reginald Wilson | 77-85-82-83—327 |
| C. Ralph Smith | 81-80-85-82—328 |
| David Adams | 81-79-84-85—329 |
| James Bradbeer | 78-81-83-87—329 |
| a-J. Thomson | 85-84-79-81—329 |
| Bertie Snowball | 85-84-80-82—331 |
| Alfred Lewis | 82-83-86-81—332 |
| James Kay | 89-80-81-83—333 |
| Arthur Grant | 85-83-79-88—335 |
| a-C.A. Hutchison | 78-90-83-85—336 |
| William Mackie | 81-80-85-90—336 |
| Charles Corlett | 85-87-83-83—338 |
| H. Naylor | 90-85-92-86—353 |
Previous and next:
1907 British Open - 1909 British Open
Sources:
Glasgow Herald. "Brilliant victory of James Braid," June 20, 1908, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3-BAAAAAIBAJ&pg=2828%2C5990643
TheOpen.com. "1908 / Prestwick," The R&A, https://www.theopen.com/previous-opens/48th-open-prestwick-1908.
R&A. 148th Open Championship Media Guide, All-Time Records, 2019.
