2016 Open Championship Explained

2016 Open Championship
Dates:14–17 July 2016
Location:Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland
Course:Royal Troon Golf Club
Old Course
Org:The R&A
Par:71
Yardage:7190yd
Field:156 players, 81 after cut
Cut:146 (+4)
Purse:£6,500,000[1]
€7,544,614
$8,572,200
Winners Share:£1,175,000
€1,363,834
$1,549,590
Champion: Henrik Stenson
Score:264 (−20)
Previous:2015
Next:2017
Map:UK#UK Scotland#Scotland South Ayrshire
Map Relief:yes
Map Label:Royal Troon
Coordinates:55.532°N -4.651°W

The 2016 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 145th Open Championship, played from 14–17 July at Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland. It was the ninth Open Championship played at the Old Course of Troon, and the fifth since gaining royal status.

Henrik Stenson shot a final round 63 for 264, a record 20-under par, three strokes ahead of runner-up Phil Mickelson, the 2013 champion. The leader after 54 holes, Stenson became the first Scandinavian man to win a major title.[2] The duo's final-day battle, ending fourteen and eleven shots clear of third-place J. B. Holmes, was dubbed "High Noon at Troon" and compared in quality to the renowned "Duel in the Sun" of 1977.[3] [4]

Media

This was the first Open Championship under new television rights deals in the United Kingdom and United States. In the U.K., Sky Sports replaced the BBC, who held broadcast rights from 1955 to 2015, marking the first time that rights to the Open had been held by a subscription television service. To comply with anti-siphoning laws, rights to broadcast a nightly highlights programme on free-to-air television were sold to the BBC. The contract was to begin in 2017, but the BBC opted out of the 2016 edition.[5] [6]

In the U.S., television rights shifted from ESPN to NBC and sister pay-TV network Golf Channel, marking the first time that Golf Channel had coverage of a men's major championship. It also restored a major to the network for the first time since 2014; from 1995 to 2014, NBC televised the U.S. Open and other championships of the USGA, which moved to Fox Sports in 2015.[7] Similarly to the BBC, ESPN chose to opt out of its final year of Open rights, causing NBC's rights to begin in 2016 instead.[8]

Venue

See main article: article and Royal Troon Golf Club. Old Course

HoleNameYardsParHoleNameYardsPar
1Seal367410Sandhills4514
2Black Rock390411The Railway4824
3Gyaws377412The Fox4304
4Dunure555513Burmah4734
5Greenan209314Alton1783
6Turnberry601515Crosbie4994
7Tel-el-Kebir401416Well5545
8Postage Stamp123317Rabbit2203
9The Monk422418Craigend4584
Out3,44536In3,74535
Source:[9] Total 7,19071

Lengths of the course for previous Opens:[10] [11]

Opens from 1962 through 1989 played the 11th hole as a par-5.

Field

Criteria and exemptions

Each player is classified according to the first category in which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses.[12] [13]

1. The Open Champions aged 60 or under on 17 July 2016

2. The Open Champions for 2006–2015

3. First 10 and anyone tying for 10th place in the 2015 Open Championship

4. The first 50 players on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) for Week 21, 2016

5. First 30 in the Race to Dubai for 2015

6. The BMW PGA Championship winners for 2014–2016

7. First 5 European Tour members and any European Tour members tying for 5th place, not otherwise exempt, in the top 20 of the Race to Dubai on completion of the 2016 BMW International Open

8. The U.S. Open Champions for 2012–2016

9. The Masters Tournament Champions for 2012–2016

10. The PGA Champions for 2011–2015

11. The Players Champions for 2014–2016

12. Top 30 players from the final 2015 FedEx Cup points list

13. First 5 PGA Tour members and any PGA Tour members tying for 5th place, not exempt in the top 20 of the PGA Tour FedEx Cup points list for 2016 on completion of the 2016 Quicken Loans National

14. Playing members of the 2015 Presidents Cup teams

15. First and anyone tying for 1st place on the Order of Merit of the Asian Tour for 2015

16. First and anyone tying for 1st place on the Order of Merit of the PGA Tour of Australasia for 2015

17. First and anyone tying for 1st place on the Order of Merit of the Southern Africa PGA Sunshine Tour for 2015

18. The Japan Open Champion for 2015

19. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, not exempt, on the Official Money List of the Japan Golf Tour for 2015

20. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, in a cumulative money list taken from all official 2016 Japan Golf Tour events up to and including the 2016 Japan Golf Tour Championship

21. The Senior Open Champion for 2015

22. The Amateur Champion for 2016

23. The U.S. Amateur Champion for 2015

24. The European Amateur Champion for 2015

25. The Mark H. McCormack Medal winner for 2015

Open Qualifying Series

The Open Qualifying Series (OQS) consisted of 10 events from the six major tours. Places were available to the leading players (not otherwise exempt) who finish in the top n and ties. In the event of ties, positions went to players ranked highest according to that week's OWGR.

Location Tournament Date Spots Top Qualifiers
Australia 29 Nov 3 10 Nick Cullen, Matt Jones, Rod Pampling
Thailand 13 Dec 4 12 Jamie Donaldson, Phachara Khongwatmai, Clément Sordet, Lee Westwood (4)
Africa 17 Jan 3 10
Japan 29 May 4 12 Kodai Ichihara, Shugo Imahira, Lee Sang-hee, Hideto Tanihara
Sweden 5 Jun 1 5 Lasse Jensen
USA 12 Jun 4 12 Brian Gay, Russell Henley, Noh Seung-yul, Steve Stricker
USA 26 Jun 4 12 Jon Rahm, Vijay Singh, Harold Varner III
France 3 Jul 4 12 Alex Norén, Callum Shinkwin, Richard Sterne, Brandon Stone
USA 3 Jul 1 5 Greg Chalmers
Scotland 10 Jul 4 12 Nicolas Colsaerts, Tyrrell Hatton, Matteo Manassero, Richie Ramsay
The Greenbrier Classic was cancelled due to the damage sustained by the course in the 2016 West Virginia flood.[18] The Open Qualifying Series event originally slated for the Greenbrier was shifted to the Barracuda Championship.[19]

Final Qualifying

The Final Qualifying events were played on 28 June at four courses covering Scotland and the North-West, Central and South-coast regions of England. Three qualifying places were available at each location. None of the twelve qualifiers had played in Regional Qualifying on 20 June: each was exempted by virtue of holding an Official World Golf Ranking.[20]

Location Qualifiers
Oskar Arvidsson, Scott Fernández, Colin Montgomerie
Dave Coupland, Paul Howard, Jack Senior
Steven Alker, James Heath, Matthew Southgate
Paul Dunne, Ryan Evans, Robert Rock

Alternates

To make up the full field of 156, additional places were allocated in ranking order from the Official World Golf Ranking at the time that these places were made available by the Championship Committee.

From the Week 26 Official World Golf Ranking:[21]

From the Week 27 Official World Golf Ranking:

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 14 July 2016

Phil Mickelson shot an 8-under-par 63 to take a three-shot lead over Martin Kaymer and Patrick Reed. His 63 tied him with 27 others for the lowest round in a major championship.[23] [24] Mickelson had a 16-foot putt at the 18th to become the first player to score 62 at a major championship, but the putt lipped out of the hole.[25]

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1 63 −8
T2 66 −5
Patrick Reed
T4 67 −4
Billy Horschel
Zach Johnson
Søren Kjeldsen
Steve Stricker
Andy Sullivan
Justin Thomas

Second round

Friday, 15 July 2016

Phil Mickelson maintained his lead at the halfway point at 132 (−10), a stroke ahead of Henrik Stenson, whose 65 moved him into solo second place.[26] The cut was at 146 (+4), allowing previous major champions Jordan Spieth, Danny Willett, and Bubba Watson to continue onto the third day. Billy Horschel started in joint fourth place, but had a dismal 85 to miss the cut by six strokes.[27]

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1 63-69=132 −10
2 68-65=133 −9
T3 67-68=135 −7
67-68=135
5 67-70=137 −5
T6 67-71=138 −4
68-70=138
68-70=138
69-69=138
72-66=138

Amateurs: Gregory (+9), Mazzoli (+12)

Third round

Saturday, 16 July 2016

Henrik Stenson (68) overtook Phil Mickelson (70) in the third round, taking a single-shot lead into the final round,[28] with Mickelson five shots clear of the field.[29]

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1 68-65-68=201 −12
2 63-69-70=202 −11
3 68-70-69=207 −6
4 69-69-70=208 −5
5 70-70-69=209 −4
T6 67-71-72=210 −3
67-68-75=210
67-75-68=210
T9 67-68-76=211 −2
68-70-73=211
66-74-71=211
72-66-73=211

Final round

Sunday, 17 July 2016

In what earned instant acclaim as one of the greatest final-round duels in major championship history,[30] Henrik Stenson broke the aggregate scoring record for all majors while establishing a new Open Championship record on his way to his first career major win. In the final pairing with Phil Mickelson, Stenson began the round with a one-shot advantage. Mickelson quickly jumped into the lead with a birdie at the first while Stenson three-putted for bogey. Stenson rebounded with five birdies on the front nine while Mickelson recorded a birdie and an eagle at the par-5 fourth, giving Stenson back a one-shot lead at the turn.[31]

Both birdied the tenth, then Stenson made bogey at the eleventh and they were tied again.[32] Both parred the next two holes, then Stenson recorded three consecutive birdies, including a 51feet putt from off the green on the 15th to open up a two-shot lead. Mickelson narrowly missed an eagle putt on the 16th while Stenson got up and down from the greenside rough for a birdie to maintain the advantage. With another birdie at the 18th, Stenson tied the major championship scoring record at 63 (−8).[33] Runner-up Mickelson shot 267 to equal the previous Open record set by Greg Norman in 1993. Eleven strokes behind Mickelson in solo third was J. B. Holmes at 278 (−6).

Final leaderboard

Champion
(a) = amateur
(c) = past champion
PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (£)
1 Henrik Stenson 68-65-68-63=264 −20 1,175,000
2 Phil Mickelson (c) 63-69-70-65=267 −17 675,000
3 70-70-69-69=278 −6 433,000
4 67-75-68-69=279 −5 337,000
T5 68-70-73-69=280 −4 235,667
70-71-71-68=280
Rory McIlroy (c) 69-71-73-67=280
8 69-69-70-73=281 −3 170,000
T9 68-70-69-75=282 −2 135,333
71-69-72-70=282
67-68-75-72=282
Source:[34]

Scorecard

Hole1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718
Par444535434444434534
Stenson −11 −12 −13 −14 −14 −15 −15 −16 −16 −17 −16 −16 −16 −17 −18 −19 −19 −20
Mickelson −12 −12 −12 −14 −14 −15 −15 −15 −15 −16 −16 −16 −16 −16 −16 −17 −17 −17
Holmes −4 −4 −4 −5 −5 −6 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −5 −6 −6 −6
Stricker −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −6 −6 −7 −5 −5
García −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −3 −4 −5 −5 −4 −4 −4 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4
Hatton −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4
McIlroy E −1 −1 −1 −2 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −3 −2 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4
Johnston −6 −5 −6 −7 −7 −7 −7 −6 −6 −5 −5 −4 −4 −4 −3 −3 −3 −3
Haas −6−6−6−6−5−4−4−3−3−3−2−2−2−2−2−2−2−2
D. Johnson −1−1−2−1−1−1−1−1−1−1−1−1−2−2−2−2−2−2
Kjeldsen −3−2−2−2−1−1−1−2−2−2−2−2−2−2−2−2−2−2
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Double Eagle -->EagleBirdieBogeyDouble bogeyTriple bogey+ -->
Source:[34]

Records

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Champion Golfer of the Year will win £1,175,000 at The 145th Open at Royal Troon . The Open Championship . 5 July 2016.
  2. News: Henrik Stenson pays tribute to late friend and Phil Mickelson after British Open win . 17 July 2016 . The National . 17 July 2016.
  3. News: 'Gobsmacking brilliance of High Noon at Troon will never fade' . English . Tom . . 17 July 2024 .
  4. News: The Open 2024: Who will win at Troon and what does weather have in store? . Dempster . Martin . . 17 July 2024.
  5. News: Sky Sports wins rights to show Open Championship golf live from 2017 . The Guardian . Owen . Gibson . 3 February 2015 . 26 July 2016.
  6. News: Open Championship: Sky wins rights; BBC to show highlights . 3 February 2015 . BBC Sport . 13 July 2016.
  7. NBC, Golf Channel ending ABC/ESPN British Open reign . Sports Business Journal . 8 June 2015 . John . Ourand . John . Lombardo . 8 June 2015.
  8. News: NBC getting British Open a year early . 12 October 2015 . Sports Business Journal . John . Ourand . 12 October 2015.
  9. Web site: The Course . The Open Championship . 6 July 2016.
  10. Web site: Media guide . The Open Championship . 2011 . 25, 203 . 2 July 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120418224641/http://www.theopen.com/~/media/The%20Open/Information/Media_Guide.ashx . 18 April 2012 . dmy .
  11. News: The Course for the Open Golf Championship . Dundee Evening Telegraph . 8 June 1923 . 27 July 2015 . . subscription .
  12. Web site: 2016 Open Championship – Exemptions . The Open . 14 July 2016.
  13. Web site: The Open Championship – Entry Form – 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160121002625/http://www.theopen.com/~/media/Files/2016/Entry-Form-2016.ashx . dead . 21 January 2016 . The Open . 13 January 2016 .
  14. Web site: Koepka (ankle) withdraws from Open; Knost in . https://web.archive.org/web/20160712074902/http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/koepka-ankle-withdraws-open-knost . dead . 12 July 2016 . Golf Channel . Nick . Menta . 9 July 2016 .
  15. Web site: Berger WDs from The Open, replaced by Lovemark . https://web.archive.org/web/20160714192552/http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/berger-wds-open-replaced-lovemark/ . dead . 14 July 2016 . Golf Channel . Ryan . Lavner . 8 July 2016 .
  16. Web site: Van Zyl out of Open, PGA to focus on Olympics . Golf Channel . Will . Gray . 7 July 2016 . 7 July 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160709235005/http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/van-zyl-out-open-pga-focus-olympics . 9 July 2016 . dead .
  17. Web site: Hurley chooses his sister over The Open Championship . PGA Tour . 28 June 2016.
  18. Web site: The Greenbrier Classic cancelled due to severe flooding . PGA Tour . 25 June 2016.
  19. Web site: The Open Qualifying Series place at Greenbrier Classic moved to Barracuda Championship . The Open . 26 June 2016.
  20. Web site: 145th Open Championship . OWGR . 14 July 2016.
  21. Web site: Graeme McDowell Among 11 Alternates Added to British Open . Golf.com . Associated Press . 27 June 2016.
  22. News: Charles Howell III out 4-5 weeks after medical procedure . ESPN . Associated Press . 6 July 2016.
  23. News: Phil Mickelson ties major record with 63 at The Open . ESPN . Bob . Harig . 14 July 2016.
  24. News: The Open 2016: day one – as it happened . 14 July 2016 . The Guardian . Scott . Murray . Stuart . Goodwin . 15 July 2016.
  25. News: Phil Mickelson suffers outrageous fortune as Open record evades him . 14 July 2016 . The Guardian . Ewan . Murray . 15 July 2016.
  26. News: The Open 2016: day two – as it happened . 15 July 2016 . The Guardian . Scott . Murray . Niall . McVeigh . 20 July 2016.
  27. News: Relive the highs and lows of round two . 17 July 2016 . BBC Sport . Luke . Reddy . Alex . Bysouth.
  28. Web site: The Open 2016: day three – as it happened. 16 July 2016. Guardian. 20 July 2016.
  29. News: The Open: Day three as it happened . 17 July 2016 . BBC Sport . Michael . Emons . Alex . Bysouth.
  30. News: Was this the greatest finish to an Open? . The Sydney Morning Herald . Jamie . Marcuson . 18 July 2016 . 19 July 2016.
  31. News: The Open 2016: Henrik Stenson beats Phil Mickelson to win at Royal Troon . BBC Sport . 19 July 2016 . 17 July 2016 . Ged . Scott.
  32. News: The Open 2016: final round – as it happened . 17 July 2016 . The Guardian . Scott . Murray . Niall . McVeigh . 20 July 2016.
  33. News: How Stenson won the Open . BBC Sport . 19 July 2016 . 17 July 2016 . Luke . Reddy . Alex . Bysouth.
  34. News: The Open . ESPN . 17 July 2016 . 15 May 2017.
  35. Web site: With This Win – Henrik Stenson, Open Champion . PGA European Tour . 17 July 2016.
  36. 753705161479118849. ESPNStatsInfo. Oldest Players to Shoot 63 in a Major.... 14 July 2016.
  37. News: Henrik Stenson claims Open for first major title . ESPN . 17 July 2016 . 17 July 2016.

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