2017 Open Championship

The 2017 Open Championship was a major golf championship and the 146th Open Championship, held 20–23 July at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. It was the tenth Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, which held its first in 1954.[2]

2017 Open Championship
Tournament information
Dates20–23 July 2017
LocationSouthport, England
53°37′19″N 3°02′00″W / 53.622°N 3.0333°W / 53.622; -3.0333
Course(s)Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Organized byThe R&A
Tour(s)
Statistics
Par70
Length7,156 yards (6,543 m)
Field156 players, 77 after cut
Cut145 (+5)
Prize fund$10,250,000[1]
€8,935,572
£7,890,000 (est.)
Winner's share$1,845,000
€1,608,403
£1,420,000 (est.)
Champion
United States Jordan Spieth
268 (−12)
Location map
Royal Birkdale is located in England
Royal Birkdale
Royal Birkdale
Location in England
Royal Birkdale is located in Merseyside
Royal Birkdale
Royal Birkdale
Location in Southport, Merseyside,
north of Liverpool, England
← 2016
2018 →

Jordan Spieth shot four rounds in the sixties for 268 (−12), three strokes ahead of runner-up Matt Kuchar, for his third major title, and the second in which he led wire-to-wire (2015 Masters). In the third round, Branden Grace scored 62 to set a new major championship record.[3]

This was the first year that the prize money was paid in U.S. dollars, rather than British pounds.[4]

Media

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This was the second Open Championship televised domestically by Sky Sports.[5] In the United States, it is the second Open Championship to be televised by NBC (Golf Channel's parent network).[6]

Venue

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This was the tenth Open Championship at Royal Birkdale; the ninth in 2008 saw Pádraig Harrington successfully defend his 2007 title from Carnoustie.

Course layout

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Hole Yards Par    Hole Yards Par
1 448 4 10 402 4
2 422 4 11 436 4
3 451 4 12 183 3
4 199 3 13 499 4
5 346 4 14 200 3
6 499 4 15 542 5
7 177 3 16 438 4
8 458 4 17 567 5
9 416 4 18 473 4
Out 3,416 34 In 3,740 36
Source: Total 7,156 70

Lengths of the course for previous Opens:[7]

  • 2008: 7,173 yards (6,559 m), par 70
  • 1998: 7,018 yards (6,417 m), par 70
  • 1991: 6,940 yards (6,350 m), par 70
  • 1983: 6,968 yards (6,372 m), par 71
  • 1976: 7,001 yards (6,402 m), par 72
  • 1971: 7,080 yards (6,470 m), par 73
  • 1965: 7,037 yards (6,435 m), par 73
  • 1961: 6,844 yards (6,258 m), par 72[8]
  • 1954: 6,867 yards (6,279 m), par 73[2]

Field

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The Open Championship field was made up of 156 players, who gained entry through various exemption criteria and qualifying tournaments. The criteria included past Open champions, recent major winners, top ranked players in the world rankings and from the leading world tours, and winners and high finishers from various designated tournaments, including the Open Qualifying Series; the winners of designated amateur events, including The Amateur Championship and U.S. Amateur, also gained exemption provided they remain an amateur. Anyone not qualifying via exemption, and had a handicap of 0.4 or lower, could gain entry through regional and final qualifying events.

Criteria and exemptions

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

1. The Open Champions aged 60 or under on 23 July 2017

2. The Open Champions for 2007–2016

3. Top 10 finishers and ties in the 2016 Open Championship

4. Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) for Week 21, 2017

5. Top 30 on the 2016 Race to Dubai

6. Last three BMW PGA Championship winners

7. Top 5 players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2017 Race to Dubai through the BMW International Open

8. Last five U.S. Open winners

9. Last five Masters Tournament winners

10. Last five PGA Championship winners

11. Last three Players Championship winners

12. The 30 qualifiers for the 2016 Tour Championship

13. Top 5 players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2017 FedEx Cup points list through the Travelers Championship

14. Winner of the 2016 Olympic Golf Tournament

15. Winner of the 2016 Open de Argentina

16. Winner and runner-up from the 2017 Korea Open

17. Playing members of the 2016 Ryder Cup teams

18. Winner of the 2016 Asian Tour Order of Merit

19. Winner of the 2016 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit

20. Winner of the 2016–17 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit

21. Winner of the 2016 Japan Open

22. Top 2 on the 2016 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List

23. Top 2, not already exempt, on the 2017 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List through the Japan Golf Tour Championship

24. Winner of the 2016 Senior Open Championship

25. Winner of the 2017 Amateur Championship

26. Winner of the 2016 U.S. Amateur

  • Curtis Luck forfeited his exemption after turning professional in April 2017.

27. Winners of the 2016 and 2017 editions of the European Amateur

28. Recipient of the 2016 Mark H. McCormack Medal

Open Qualifying Series

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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 finished 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 Emirates Australian Open 20 Nov 3 10 Aaron Baddeley, Ashley Hall, Cameron Smith
Singapore SMBC Singapore Open 22 Jan 4 12 Phachara Khongwatmai, Jbe' Kruger, Prayad Marksaeng, Song Young-han
South Africa Joburg Open 26 Feb 3 10 Darren Fichardt, Stuart Manley, Paul Waring
Japan Mizuno Open 28 May 4 12 Adam Bland, Michael Hendry, Chan Kim, Kim Kyung-tae
France HNA Open de France 2 Jul 3 10 Alexander Björk, Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Peter Uihlein
United States Quicken Loans National 2 Jul 4 12 Charles Howell III, Kang Sung-hoon, Martin Laird, Kyle Stanley
Ireland Dubai Duty Free Irish Open 9 Jul 3 10 David Drysdale, Ryan Fox, Richie Ramsay
United States Greenbrier Classic 9 Jul 4 12 Jamie Lovemark, Sebastián Muñoz, Xander Schauffele, Robert Streb
Scotland Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open 16 Jul 3 10 Andrew Dodt, Matthieu Pavon, Callum Shinkwin
United States John Deere Classic 16 Jul 1 5 Bryson DeChambeau

Final Qualifying

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The Final Qualifying events were played on 4 July at five courses covering Scotland and the North-West, Central and South-coast regions of England. Three qualifying places were available at each location.

Location Qualifiers[a][c]
Gailes Links Ryan McCarthy, Julian Suri, Connor Syme (a)
Hillside Adam Hodkinson, Nick McCarthy, Haydn McCullen
Notts (Hollinwell) Laurie Canter, Joe Dean, Mark Foster
Royal Cinque Ports Austin Connelly, Robert Dinwiddie, Matthew Southgate
Woburn Shiv Kapur, Ian Poulter, Toby Tree

Alternates

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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 (week ending 2 July) Official World Golf Ranking:
From the Week 27 (week ending 9 July) Official World Golf Ranking:

Round summaries

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First round

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Thursday, 20 July 2017

Three Americans – Brooks Koepka, Matt Kuchar, and Jordan Spieth – shared the lead after the first round on five under par, a shot clear of England's Paul Casey and Charl Schwartzel, with Ian Poulter a further shot back.[12] Reigning champion Henrik Stenson was one under after a 69. Rory McIlroy was five over par after six holes but recovered to finish with a one-over-par 71.[13][14]

Place Player Score To par
T1   Brooks Koepka 65 −5
  Matt Kuchar
  Jordan Spieth
T4   Paul Casey 66 −4
  Charl Schwartzel
T6   Richard Bland 67 −3
  Rafa Cabrera-Bello
  Austin Connelly
  Charley Hoffman
  Ian Poulter
  Justin Thomas

Second round

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Friday, 21 July 2017

In difficult conditions, Jordan Spieth followed his first round 65 with a 69 to lead by two strokes from Matt Kuchar.[15] Only eight players scored under par for their second rounds, Zach Johnson's 66 being the best round of the day. Alfie Plant was the only amateur to make the cut. He eagled the par-five 15th on his way to a 73 and a 36-hole total of 144.[16]

Place Player Score To par
1   Jordan Spieth 65-69=134 −6
2   Matt Kuchar 65-71=136 −4
T3   Brooks Koepka 65-72=137 −3
  Ian Poulter 67-70=137
5   Richie Ramsay 68-70=138 −2
T6   Richard Bland 67-72=139 −1
  Austin Connelly 67-72=139
  Rory McIlroy 71-68=139
  Gary Woodland 70-69=139
T10   Kent Bulle 68-72=140 E
  Rafa Cabrera-Bello 67-73=140
  Charley Hoffman 67-73=140
  Russell Henley 70-70=140
  Chan Kim 72-68=140
  Jamie Lovemark 71-69=140
  Joost Luiten 68-72=140
  Hideki Matsuyama 68-72=140
  Alex Norén 68-72=140
  Bubba Watson 68-72=140

Amateurs: Plant (+4), Syme (+9), Cianchetti (+11), Ellis (+12), McNealy (+12)

Third round

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Saturday, 22 July 2017

Jordan Spieth shot a 65 to take a three-stroke lead over Matt Kuchar, who shot a 66. On an easier day of scoring, Branden Grace scored 62, breaking the long-standing men's major championship record of 63.[17] There were also low rounds from Dustin Johnson, with a 64, and Henrik Stenson, with a 65, both getting into a tie for 7th place.[18]

Place Player Score To par
1   Jordan Spieth 65-69-65=199 −11
2   Matt Kuchar 65-71-66=202 −8
T3   Austin Connelly 67-72-66=205 −5
  Brooks Koepka 65-72-68=205
T5   Branden Grace 70-74-62=206 −4
  Hideki Matsuyama 68-72-66=206
T7   Rafa Cabrera-Bello 67-73-67=207 −3
  Dustin Johnson 71-72-64=207
  Chan Kim 72-68-67=207
  Henrik Stenson 69-73-65=207

Grace scorecard

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

Final round

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Sunday, 23 July 2017

Beginning the round with a three-shot lead, Jordan Spieth bogeyed three of his first four holes to fall into a tie with Matt Kuchar.[19] A birdie at the 5th combined with a bogey by Kuchar at the 6th allowed Spieth to re-open a two-stroke advantage, but a bogey-birdie swing at the 9th evened the score heading to the back-nine. The score remained level until the 13th, when Spieth hit his tee shot well to the right of the fairway. Forced to take an unplayable lie and drop from the practice area, he managed to get up-and-down to save bogey while Kuchar took the lead by making par.[20] At the par-3 14th, however, Spieth nearly holed his tee shot and converted the birdie attempt to tie Kuchar.[21] Then at the par-5 15th, Spieth made a 48-foot (15 m) eagle putt to take the lead once again. With birdies on the next two holes Spieth played 14–17 in five-under to take a two-stroke lead heading to the last. When Kuchar found a greenside bunker and made bogey, Spieth was able to tap in for par and win the championship by three strokes.[22] Li Haotong birdied his last four holes for 63 (−7) and jump into third place at 274 (−6), the best finish for an Asian player at the Open Championship since Lu Liang-Huan in 1971, also at Royal Birkdale.[23] With the victory, Spieth joined Jack Nicklaus as the only golfers to win three legs of the career Grand Slam before the age of 24.[24]

Final leaderboard

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Champion
Silver Medal winner (low amateur)
(a) = amateur
(c) = past champion

Note: Top 10 and ties qualify for the 2018 Open Championship; top 4 and ties qualify for the 2018 Masters Tournament

Place Player Score To par Money ($)
1   Jordan Spieth 65-69-65-69=268 −12 1,845,000
2   Matt Kuchar 65-71-66-69=271 −9 1,067,000
3   Li Haotong 69-73-69-63=274 −6 684,000
T4   Rafa Cabrera-Bello 67-73-67-68=275 −5 480,000
  Rory McIlroy (c) 71-68-69-67=275
T6   Branden Grace 70-74-62-70=276 −4 281,000
  Brooks Koepka 65-72-68-71=276
  Marc Leishman 69-76-66-65=276
  Alex Norén 68-72-69-67=276
  Matthew Southgate 72-72-67-65=276
Source:[25]

Scorecard

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Final round

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 3 4 3 5 4 5 4
  Spieth −10 −10 −9 −8 −9 −9 −9 −9 −8 −8 −8 −8 −7 −8 −10 −11 −12 −12
  Kuchar −8 −9 −8 −8 −8 −7 −7 −7 −8 −8 −8 −8 −8 −8 −9 −9 −10 −9
  Li +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 E −1 −1 −1 −2 −2 −2 −3 −4 −5 −6
  Cabrera-Bello −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4 −3 −4 −4 −4 −4 −4 −5 −5
  McIlroy −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4 −4 −3 −3 −5 −5

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Eagle Birdie Bogey

Source:[25]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b (a) – indicates the player was an amateur.
  2. ^ a b Faldo and Price were in their final year of eligibility.
  3. ^ (R) – indicates a golfer who came through Regional Qualifying.
  4. ^ Scott Piercy, ranked 65, declined his place, which then went to Lahiri.[11]
  5. ^ Finau replaced Ben Curtis.[9]
  6. ^ Hahn replaced Brandt Snedeker.[10]

References

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  1. ^ "The Champion Golfer of the Year will win USD1,845,000 at The 146th Open at Royal Birkdale". The Open Championship. 5 July 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Peter Thomson wins British Open with 283". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. 10 July 1954. p. 11.
  3. ^ "Branden Grace shoots first-ever 62 in major championship history". Golf.com. 22 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  4. ^ "Open Championship: Royal Birkdale prize money to be paid in US dollars, not sterling". BBC Sport. 5 July 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  5. ^ Murray, Ewan (19 July 2017). "R&A calls BBC golf coverage 'tired and outdated' and defends Sky's Open deal". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  6. ^ "NBC Takes Over British Open TV Rights From ESPN 1 Year Early". Golf.com. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  7. ^ "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 21, 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
  8. ^ "Palmer takes British crown". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon, U.S.). Associated Press. 16 July 1961. p. 1B.
  9. ^ a b Gray, Will (12 July 2017). "Former champ Curtis withdraws from Open; Finau in". Golf Channel. Archived from the original on 16 July 2017.
  10. ^ a b @TheOpen (19 July 2017). ".@BrandtSnedeker has withdrawn from The 146th Open at Royal Birkdale and is replaced by @JamesHahnPGA #TheOpen" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ^ Romine, Brentley (11 July 2017). "Scott Piercy declines British Open spot, Anirban Lahiri added to field". Golfweek.
  12. ^ Murray, Scott; Burnton, Simon (20 July 2017). "The Open 2017: first round, as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  13. ^ Fordyce, Tom (20 July 2017). "The Open 2017: Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka & Matt Kuchar tied for lead". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  14. ^ Murray, Ewan (20 July 2017). "Jordan Spieth sets standard at Open to share lead after first round". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  15. ^ Murray, Scott; Miller, Nick (21 July 2017). "The Open 2017: Jordan Spieth takes two-shot lead on day two – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  16. ^ "The Open 2017: Jordan Spieth leads by two shots". BBC Sport. 21 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  17. ^ Murray, Ewan (22 July 2017). "Branden Grace shoots lowest-ever men's major round of 62 at the Open". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  18. ^ Murray, Scott; McVeigh, Niall (22 July 2017). "The Open 2017: Jordan Spieth leads the way after third round – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  19. ^ Murray, Scott; Ostlere), Lawrence (23 July 2017). "Jordan Spieth wins the Open 2017: final round, as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  20. ^ Davis, Matt (21 July 2017). "The Open 2017: Jordan Spieth holds off Matt Kuchar to win third major". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  21. ^ DiMeglio, Steve (23 July 2017). "Jordan Spieth puts together incredible finish to win British Open". USA Today. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  22. ^ "Jordan Spieth wins Open for 3rd major title, finishes 3 shots ahead of Matt Kuchar". ESPN. 23 July 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  23. ^ Herrington, Ryan (23 July 2017). "British Open 2017: With 63 at Birkdale, Li becomes famous for more than just mom's viral video". Golf Digest. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  24. ^ Zak, Sean (22 July 2017). "9 ways Jordan Spieth made history Sunday at Royal Birkdale". Golf.com. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  25. ^ a b "The Open". ESPN. 23 July 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
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