1970 Open Championship Explained

1970 Open Championship
Dates:	8–12 July 1970
Location:	St Andrews, Scotland
Course:	Old Course at St Andrews
Par:	72
Yardage:	6951yd
Field:	134 players 80 after 1st cut 57 after 2nd cut
Cut:	149 (+5) (1st cut) 223 (+7) (2nd cut)^[1]
Purse:	£40,000 $96,000
Winners Share:	£5,250 $12,600
Champion:	Jack Nicklaus
Score:	283 (−5), playoff
Previous:	1969
Next:	1971

The 1970 Open Championship was the 99th Open Championship, played 8–12 July at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland. Jack Nicklaus won the second of his three Opens in an 18-hole Sunday playoff over Doug Sanders, 72 to 73.^{[2] [3] [4]} In gusty winds during the fourth round on Saturday, Sanders saved par from the Road Hole bunker and led by one heading to the 72nd hole. After a lengthy drive on the short par-4, he took four shots from just and missed a downhill putt for par from three feet to win.^{[5] [6]}

This was the first playoff at The Open since 1963 and the first at 18 holes. The previous playoffs were 36 holes on Saturday. Prior to 1966, the final two rounds of The Open were played on Friday. The playoff format was changed again to the four-hole aggregate after the 1985 Open, first used in 1989.

A thunderstorm late in the opening round on Wednesday evening caused a suspension in play;^[7] it was competed early the next day.^[8]

Course

See main article: Old Course at St Andrews.

Hole	Name	Yards	Par		Hole	Name	Yards	Par
1	Burn	374	4		10	Tenth ^	338	4
2	Dyke	411	4		11	High (In)	170	3
3	Cartgate (Out)	405	4		12	Heathery (In)	312	4
4	Ginger Beer	470	4		13	Hole O'Cross (In)	427	4
5	Hole O'Cross (Out)	567	5		14	Long	560	5
6	Heathery (Out)	414	4		15	Cartgate (In)	413	4
7	High (Out)	364	4		16	Corner of the Dyke	380	4
8	Short	163	3		17	Road	466	4
9	End	359	4		18	Tom Morris	358	4
Out	3,527	36	In		3,424	36
Source:^[9]					Total	6,951	72

^ The 10th hole was posthumously named for Bobby Jones in 1972

Previous lengths of the course for The Open Championship (since 1950):^[1]

• - 1964
• - 1960, 1955

Round summaries

First round

Wednesday, 8 July 1970
Thursday, 9 July 1970

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Neil Coles	align=center	65	−7
2	Tommy Horton	align=center	66	−6
T3	Maurice Bembridge	67	−5
	Harold Henning
	Tony Jacklin
	Florentino Molina
	John Richardson
T8	Tommy Aaron	68	−4
	Brian Huggett
	Jack Nicklaus
	Arnold Palmer
	Doug Sanders
	Peter Thomson
	Lee Trevino
	Guy Wolstenholme

Source:^{[1] [7]}

Second round

Thursday, 9 July 1970

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Lee Trevino	align=center	68-68=136	−8
T2	Tony Jacklin	align=center	67-70=137	−7
	Jack Nicklaus	align=center	68-69=137
T4	Clive Clark	align=center	69-70=139	−5
	Neil Coles	align=center	65-74=139
	Harold Henning	align=center	67-72=139
	Tommy Horton	align=center	66-73=139
	John Richardson	align=center	67-72=139
	Doug Sanders	align=center	68-71=139
T10	Christy O'Connor Snr	align=center	72-68=140	−4
	Arnold Palmer	align=center	68-72=140

Source:^{[1] [8]}
Amateurs: Melnyk (-1), Bonallack (+1), Humphreys (+2), George (+2), Webster (+5),
MacDonald (+7), Berry (+8), Steel (+10), Mosey (+11), Sumner (+11), Sweeny Jr (+11), Farmer (+14)

Third round

Friday, 10 July 1970

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Lee Trevino	align=center	68-68-72=208	−8
T2	Tony Jacklin	align=center	67-70-73=210	−6
	Jack Nicklaus	align=center	68-69-73=210
	Doug Sanders	align=center	68-71-71=210
T5	Neil Coles	align=center	65-74-72=211	−5
	Peter Oosterhuis	align=center	73-69-69=211
7	Harold Henning	align=center	67-72-73=212	−4
T8	Tommy Horton	66-73-75=214	−2
	Hugh Jackson	69-72-73=214
	Christy O'Connor Snr	72-68-74=214

Source:^{[1] [10]}
Amateurs: Melnyk (+3), Humphreys (+6), Bonallack (+8), George (+9), Webster (+11)

Final round

Saturday, 11 July 1970

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money (£)
T1		68-69-73-73=283	−5	Playoff
	68-71-71-73=283
T3		67-72-73-73=285	−3	2,750
	68-68-72-77=285
5		67-70-73-76=286	−2	2,200
T6		65-74-72-76=287	−1	1,750
	73-69-69-76=287
8		69-72-73-74=288	E	1,400
T9		66-73-75-75=289	+1	1,200
	72-73-73-71=289
	68-74-73-74=289

Source:^{[1] [3] [11]}
Amateurs: Melnyk (+10), Humphreys (+13)

Playoff

Sunday, 12 July 1970

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money (£)
1	Jack Nicklaus	72	E	5,250
2		73	+1	3,750

Source:^[3]

Scorecard

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	4	4	4	5	4	4	3	4	4	3	4	4	5	4	4	4	4
	E	E	E	E	E	E	E	E	E	E	E	E	E	E	E	+1	+1	E
	E	E	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+4	+3	+2	+2	+2	+1

Birdie

Bogey

External links

• St Andrews 1970 (Official site)

56.343°N -2.803°W

Notes and References

1. Web site: Media guide . The Open Championship . 2011 . 52, 203 . 9 May 2017 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120418224641/http://www.theopen.com/~/media/The%20Open/Information/Media_Guide.ashx . 18 April 2012 .
2. News: Sanders loses by one stroke . Glasgow Herald . 13 July 1970 . 1.
3. News: Nicklaus regains Open title despite Sanders's late fightback . Glasgow Herald . Jacobs . Raymond . 13 July 1970 . 4.
4. News: Nicklaus tops Sanders, wins British title. Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. 13 July 1970. 3B.
5. News: Sanders, Nicklaus tie for golf title. Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. 12 July 1970. 4B.
6. Virtue in the Valley of Sin . Sports Illustrated . Jenkins . Dan . Dan Jenkins . 20 July 1970 . 12.
7. News: Jacklin eight under par in Open when storm stops play . Glasgow Herald . Jacobs . Raymond . 9 July 1970 . 6.
8. News: Trevino leads by one stroke from Jacklin and Nicklaus . Glasgow Herald . Jacobs . Raymond . 10 July 1970 . 6.
9. News: Card of the course . Glasgow Herald . 8 July 1970 . 6.
10. News: Trevino increases lead but Open championship still in balance . Glasgow Herald . Jacobs . Raymond . 11 July 1970 . 4.
11. Web site: 1970 Open Championship results. databasegolf.com. 8 July 2012.