| 1978 Open Championship | |
| Dates: | 12–15 July 1978 |
| Location: | St Andrews, Scotland |
| Course: | Old Course at St Andrews |
| Org: | The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews |
| Tour: | European Tour PGA Tour |
| Par: | 72 |
| Yardage: | [1] |
| Field: | 155 players 80 after 1st cut 64 after 2nd cut |
| Cut: | 148 (+4) (1st cut) 222 (+6) (2nd cut)[2] |
| Purse: | £125,000 $237,500 |
| Winners Share: | £12,500 $23,750 |
| Champion: |  Jack Nicklaus |
| Score: | 281 (−7) |
| Previous: | 1977 |
| Next: | 1979 |
The 1978 Open Championship was the 107th Open Championship, held 12–15 July over the Old Course at St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. Jack Nicklaus won his third and final Open championship, two strokes ahead of runners-up Ben Crenshaw, Raymond Floyd, Tom Kite, and Simon Owen.[3] It was the fifteenth of his eighteen major championships and marked the completion of his third career grand slam.[4] [5]
Defending champion Tom Watson was a co-leader after 54 holes,[6] [7] but four consecutive bogeys on the front nine led to a 76 (+4). Watson finished six strokes back in a tie for fourteenth place.[4] [5] [8]
See main article: Old Course at St Andrews.
| Hole | Name | Yards | Par | Hole | Name | Yards | Par | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burn | 370 | 4 | 10 | Bobby Jones | 342 | 4 | |
| 2 | Dyke | 411 | 4 | 11 | High (In) | 172 | 3 | |
| 3 | Cartgate (Out) | 371 | 4 | 12 | Heathery (In) | 316 | 4 | |
| 4 | Ginger Beer | 463 | 4 | 13 | Hole O'Cross (In) | 425 | 4 | |
| 5 | Hole O'Cross (Out) | 564 | 5 | 14 | Long | 567 | 5 | |
| 6 | Heathery (Out) | 416 | 4 | 15 | Cartgate (In) | 413 | 4 | |
| 7 | High (Out) | 372 | 4 | 16 | Corner of the Dyke | 382 | 4 | |
| 8 | Short | 178 | 3 | 17 | Road | 461 | 4 | |
| 9 | End | 356 | 4 | 18 | Tom Morris | 354 | 4 | |
| Out | 3,501 | 36 | In | 3,432 | 36 | |||
| Source: | Total | 6,933 | 72 | |||||
Wednesday, 12 July 1978
| Place | Player | Score | To par | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Isao Aoki | align=center | 68 | −4 |
| T2 |  Seve Ballesteros | 69 | −3 | |
| Raymond Floyd | ||||
 Jack Newton | ||||
| Tom Weiskopf | ||||
| T6 | Howard Clark | 70 | −2 | |
| Ben Crenshaw | ||||
| Mark Hayes | ||||
| Carl Mason | ||||
| Mike Miller (a) | ||||
| Tsuneyuki Nakajima | ||||
 Simon Owen |
Thursday, 13 July 1978
| Place | Player | Score | To par | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Isao Aoki | align=center | 68-71=139 | −5 |
| Seve Ballesteros | align=center | 69-70=139 | ||
| Ben Crenshaw | align=center | 70-69=139 | ||
| T4 | Gary Cullen | 73-67=140 | −4 | |
| Bob Shearer | align=center | 71-69=139 | ||
| T6 | Bob Byman | align=center | 72-69=141 | −3 |
| Tom Kite | align=center | 72-69=141 | ||
| Tsuneyuki Nakajima | align=center | 70-71=141 | ||
| Masashi Ozaki | align=center | 72-69=141 | ||
| Tom Watson | align=center | 73-68=141 | ||
| Tom Weiskopf | align=center | 69-72=141 |
Friday, 14 July 1978
| Place | Player | Score | To par | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Peter Oosterhuis | align=center | 72-70-69=211 | −5 |
| Tom Watson | 73-68-70=211 | |||
| T3 | Simon Owen | align=center | 70-75-67=212 | −4 |
| Jack Nicklaus | align=center | 71-72-69=212 | ||
| Ben Crenshaw | align=center | 70-69-73=212 | ||
| Isao Aoki | align=center | 68-71-73=212 | ||
| T7 | Nick Faldo | 71-72-70=213 | −3 | |
| John Schroeder | 74-69-70=213 | |||
| Tom Kite | 72-69-72=213 | |||
| Tom Weiskopf | align=center | 69-72-72=213 |
Amateurs: Miller (+2), Brodie (+4), McEvoy (+5), Godwin (+6).
Saturday, 15 July 1978
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jack Nicklaus | 71-72-69-69=281 | −7 | 12,500 |
| T2 | 69-75-71-68=283 | −5 | 7,255 | |
| 72-69-72-70=283 | ||||
| 70-69-73-71=283 | ||||
| 70-75-67-71=283 | ||||
| 6 | 72-70-69-73=284 | −4 | 4,960 | |
| T7 | 71-69-74-71=285 | −3 | 3,905 | |
| 71-72-70-72=285 | ||||
| 74-69-70-72=285 | ||||
| 68-71-73-73=285 |