1999 Open Championship


The 1999 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 128th Open Championship, held from 15–18 July at the Carnoustie Golf Links in Angus, Scotland.
Paul Lawrie won his only major championship in a playoff over Jean van de Velde and Justin Leonard. Lawrie, down by ten strokes at the start of the fourth round, completed the biggest final round comeback in major championship history, headlined by van de Velde's triple-bogey at the last hole.

Course layout

Carnoustie Golf Links - Championship Course
^ The 6th hole was renamed Hogan's Alley in 2003
Lengths of the course for previous Opens :

Made the cut

Missed the cut

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 15 July 1999
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Rod Pampling71E
T2Scott Dunlap72+1
T2Bernhard Langer72+1
T4Dudley Hart73+2
T4Paul Lawrie73+2
T4Justin Leonard73+2
T4Mark McNulty73+2
T4Len Mattiace73+2
T4Steve Pate73+2
T4Hal Sutton73+2

Second round

Friday, 16 July 1999
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Jean van de Velde75-68=143+1
2Ángel Cabrera75-69=144+2
3Jesper Parnevik74-71=145+3
T4Greg Norman76-70=146+4
T4Patrik Sjöland74-72=146+4
T4Tiger Woods74-72=146+4
T7Bradley Hughes76-71=147+5
T7Paul Lawrie73-74=147+5
T7Justin Leonard73-74=147+5
T7Len Mattiace73-74=147+5
T7Brian Watts74-73=147+5

Amateurs: Donald, Gribben, Storm, Scotland.

Third round

Saturday, 17 July 1999
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Jean van de Velde75-68-70=213E
T2Justin Leonard73-74-71=218+5
T2Craig Parry76-75-67=218+5
T4Andrew Coltart74-74-72=220+7
T4David Frost80-69-71=220+7
T4Tiger Woods74-72-74=220+7
T7Ángel Cabrera75-69-77=221+8
T7Greg Norman76-70-75=221+8
T9Bernhard Langer72-77-73=222+9
T9Miguel Ángel Martín74-76-72=222+9
T9Len Mattiace73-74-75=222+9
T9Colin Montgomerie74-76-72=222+9
T9Frank Nobilo76-76-70=222+9

Final round

Sunday, 18 July 1999
Paul Lawrie completed the biggest final round comeback in major championship and PGA Tour history by coming back from 10 strokes behind in the final round, and winning the subsequent three-man playoff.
Jean van de Velde started the day with a five-stroke lead over Craig Parry and Justin Leonard, but trailed Parry by a stroke at the 12th hole, as Parry was −3 for the day through 11, while Van de Velde was +3. However, Parry could not escape the thick rough on the 12th hole on his way to a triple bogey while Van de Velde regained sole possession of the lead with a bogey. Parry then bogeyed 13, drove into the fairway bunker at 14 to deny himself a birdie chance, and missed a two-foot putt on 17 en route to a double bogey. He holed a bunker shot on 18 to finish one stroke out of the playoff.
In the meantime, Leonard tied van de Velde for the lead with a birdie on 14, but made bogeys at 15 and 18 as his second shot landed in the barry burn as Van de Velde birdied 14 - leaving him three strokes behind, tied with Lawrie in the clubhouse at 6-over-par. Ángel Cabrera had a chance to join the clubhouse lead but lipped out a birdie putt on 18.
After the birdie on 14, Van de Velde missed the next three greens but got up-and-down each time to give himself a three stroke lead going into 18.

Van de Velde's collapse

Van de Velde, who was in control through the latter half of the championship, held a seemingly insurmountable three-stroke lead going into the 72nd hole. Despite the three-stroke lead van de Velde had going into the final hole, his name had not already been engraved into the Claret Jug, according to engraver Alex Harvey: "No, I didn't start engraving the Jug with his name. I've got to wait until the secretary hands me a slip of paper with the winner's name on it, and they always wait until the last putt is dropped."
Van de Velde teed off with a driver, which was heavily criticized by the ABC broadcast team, and pushed his shot far to the right, over the water bordering the right side of the 18th fairway, and onto the 17th hole. He later claimed that he thought the lead was only two strokes, which is why he chose not to go with a safe club, such as an iron. Choosing not to simply lay up with a wedge, van de Velde went for the green on his second shot with a two iron. His second shot came to rest in an area of knee-deep rough after his ball bounced backward 50 yards off the grandstand next to the 18th green and off a rock in the Barry Burn. Had the ball stayed in the grandstand he would have been able to drop without penalty. Then the thick Carnoustie grass stifled him again, as his third shot went into the burn in front of the green. Van de Velde took his shoes and socks off and entered the burn, considering an attempt to play the ball from the water. He decided against it and instead took a drop, at which point he hit his fifth shot into one of the deep greenside bunkers. He pitched out safely and holed the eight-foot putt on his seventh shot for a triple-bogey, which would trigger a three-man playoff between van de Velde, Lawrie, and Leonard. Van de Velde's play on this hole is still widely considered to be the worst "choke" in golfing history, and some have even used the term "pulling a van de Velde" to describe similar events.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
T1Paul Lawrie73-74-76-67=290+6Playoff
T1Justin Leonard73-74-71-72=290+6Playoff
T1Jean van de Velde75-68-70-77=290+6Playoff
T4Ángel Cabrera75-69-77-70=291+7100,000
T4Craig Parry76-75-67-73=291+7100,000
6Greg Norman76-70-75-72=293+970,000
T7David Frost80-69-71-74=294+1050,000
T7Davis Love III74-74-77-69=294+1050,000
T7Tiger Woods74-72-74-74=294+1050,000
T10Hal Sutton73-78-72-72=295+1134,800
T10Scott Dunlap72-77-76-70=295+1134,800
T10Jim Furyk78-71-76-70=295+1134,800
T10Retief Goosen76-75-73-71=295+1134,800
T10Jesper Parnevik74-71-78-72=295+1134,800

Source:

Scorecard

Final round
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718
Par444445434444354344
Lawrie+10+10+9+9+10+9+9+8+8+8+8+7+8+7+7+7+6+6
Leonard+5+5+5+5+5+4+4+4+4+5+5+5+5+4+5+5+5+6
van de VeldeE+1+2+2+2+2+2+3+2+2+3+4+4+3+3+3+3+6
Cabrera+8+8+7+7+7+7+7+7+7+7+6+6+7+7+7+7+7+7
Parry+5+5+4+4+4+4+4+3+3+2+2+5+6+6+6+6+8+7
Norman+8+8+8+9+10+10+10+10+10+10+10+9+9+8+8+8+8+9
Frost+8+10+9+10+12+11+10+10+10+10+10+11+10+9+9+10+10+10
Love+12+11+11+10+10+10+9+10+11+12+11+12+11+10+10+11+11+10
Woods+7+7+7+7+7+7+7+7+7+7+7+9+9+8+9+9+9+10

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
BirdieBogeyDouble bogeyTriple bogey+

Source:

Playoff

The four-hole aggregate playoff was played on the final four holes, three par fours and one par three. All three players hit poor drives on the first playoff hole. Van de Velde was forced to take an unplayable and took double bogey to fall one stroke behind Lawrie and Leonard who both had bogeys. All three players missed the green on the second playoff hole and took bogeys. On the third playoff hole, Van de Velde made birdie to briefly create a three-way tie, but Lawrie followed with a birdie of his own to take a one-stroke lead into the final playoff hole. On the final playoff hole, Van de Velde found the rough and Leonard found the water en route to bogeys while Lawrie hit a 4-iron to four feet for a clinching birdie and the championship.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Paul Lawrie5-4-3-3=15E350,000
T2Justin Leonard5-4-4-5=18+3185,000
T2Jean van de Velde6-4-3-5=18+3185,000
Scorecard
Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par
Source: