Key anniversaries at the British Open
Saturday - 7/14/2012, 12:02am ET
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
(AP) - A look at some of the key anniversaries this year in British Open history:
1862 (150 years ago)
Winner: Old Tom Morris
Course: Prestwick
Score: 163
Runner-up: Willie Park Sr.
Margin of victory: 13 shots
Winner's share: No prize money awarded
Recap: The first 12 British Opens were played at Prestwick, a 12-hole course that worked its way through sand dunes and featured blind tee shots. Old Tom Morris became the first repeat champion _ OK, so this was only the third Open _ with a performance so dominant that his record still stands 150 years later. Against an eight-man field, he opened with a course-record 52 to build a seven-shot lead over Willie Park Sr., the winner of the inaugural Open. Morris had a 55 in the second round to stretch his lead to 11 shots, and closed with a 56 for a 13-shot win. Morris had the low score each round. The closest anyone came to his margin of victory in the Open was his son, Young Tom Morris, who won by 12 shots eight years later. This was the last year no prize money was awarded. In addition to a championship belt, medals were given for the first time.
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1912 (100 years ago)
Winner: Ted Ray
Course: Muirfield
Score: 295
Runner-up: Harry Vardon
Margin of victory: 4 shots
Winner's share: 50 pounds
Recap: Ted Ray was a distant fourth behind the Great Triumvirate of Harry Vardon, James Braid and J.H. Taylor. The Open was held at Muirfield for the fifth time, with Braid (twice) and Vardon winning the last three at the Midlothian links. Ray captured the first of his two majors with a wire-to-wire victory, opening with rounds of 71-73 to build a three-shot lead over Vardon. He stretched his lead to five shots over Braid after 54 holes, and then withstood a closing 71 by Vardon to win by four shots. A year later, Ray again had the 36-hole lead, only to get run over by Taylor and finish eight shots behind. Ray's only other major came in 1920 at the U.S. Open.
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1937 (75 years ago)
Winner: Henry Cotton
Course: Carnoustie
Score: 290
Runner-up: Reg Whitcombe
Margin of victory: 2 shots
Winner's share: 100 pounds
Recap: Byron Nelson made his lone trip to golf's oldest championship, and the reigning Masters champion fell nine shots behind Reg Whitcombe after 36 holes at Carnoustie. The real threat turned out to be Cotton, who in 1934 shattered an Open record with a 65 in the second round _ a record that stood for 43 years. Cotton's score improved by one shot each day, and a 72 in the third round put him three shots behind Whitcombe. Cotton closed with a 71 as Whitcombe stumbled to a 76, giving Cotton a two-shot win and his second claret jug. Nelson finished six shots behind in fifth place. The Open was all that kept the gentle Texan from the career Grand Slam.
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1962 (50 years ago)
Winner: Arnold Palmer
Course: Royal Troon
Score: 276
Runner-up: Kel Nagle
Margin of victory: 6 shots
Winner's share: 1,400 pounds
Recap: If the torch had been passed to Jack Nicklaus a month earlier at Oakmont in the U.S. Open, Arnold Palmer wasn't cooperating. Palmer, who won his first Open title a year earlier at Royal Birkdale, grabbed the 36-hole lead at 140 and had a 67 in the third round to stretch his lead to four shots over Nagle. Palmer closed with a 69 for a record 276 and a six-shot victory. Fittingly, it was Nagle who had held off Palmer at St. Andrews in 1960, when Palmer was going for his third straight professional major and effectively created the modern version of the Grand Slam. As for Nicklaus? His first visit to Troon resulted in rounds of 80 and 79. He tied for 34th, 29 shots behind.
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1987 (25 years ago)
Winner: Nick Faldo
Course: Muirfield
Score: 279
Runner-up: Paul Azinger, Rodger Davis
Margin of victory: 1 shot
Winner's share: 75,000 pounds
Recap: Nick Faldo, seen as England's next great player after Tony Jacklin, finally emerged on a world stage and after three years of technical training under David Leadbetter. Faldo won the first of his six majors in memorable fashion. He trailed Paul Azinger by one shot going into the final round at Muirfield and won despite not making a single birdie. Faldo was famous this day for closing with 18 pars and a round of 71, enough to hold off challenges from a group that included Azinger, Payne Stewart and Tom Watson.
