1978 Open Championship

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]

1978 Open Championship

Tournament information
Dates	12–15 July 1978
Location	St Andrews, Scotland
Course(s)	Old Course at St Andrews
Organized by	The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
Tour(s)	European Tour PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	72[1]
Length	6,933 yards (6,340 m)[1][2]
Field	155 players 80 after 1st cut 64 after 2nd cut[1]
Cut	148 (+4) (1st cut) 222 (+6) (2nd cut)[1]
Prize fund	£125,000 $237,500
Winner's share	£12,500 $23,750
Champion
Jack Nicklaus
281 (−7)
← 1977 1979 →

St Andrews 

Location in Scotland

St Andrews

Location in Fife, Scotland

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]

Course

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:[2]					Total		6,933	72

Previous lengths of the course for The Open Championship (since 1950):^[1]

• 6,957 yards (6,361 m) - 1970:
• 6,926 yards (6,333 m) - 1964
• 6,936 yards (6,342 m) - 1960, 1955

Round summaries

First round

Wednesday, 12 July 1978

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Isao Aoki	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

Source:^[1]

Second round

Thursday, 13 July 1978

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Isao Aoki	68-71=139	−5
	Seve Ballesteros	69-70=139
	Ben Crenshaw	70-69=139
T4	Gary Cullen	73-67=140	−4
	Bob Shearer	71-69=139
T6	Bob Byman	72-69=141	−3
	Tom Kite	72-69=141
	Tsuneyuki Nakajima	70-71=141
	Masashi Ozaki	72-69=141
	Tom Watson	73-68=141
	Tom Weiskopf	69-72=141

Source:^[1][9][10]

Amateurs: Miller (E), Brodie (+1), McEvoy (+1), Godwin (+3), Gallagher (+6), Kuramoto (+6), Lewis (+8), Webster (+9), Hedges (+11), Fish, (+14), McLachlan (+14), Turner (+14), Walters (+18).

Third round

Friday, 14 July 1978

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Peter Oosterhuis	72-70-69=211	−5
	Tom Watson	73-68-70=211
T3	Simon Owen	70-75-67=212	−4
	Jack Nicklaus	71-72-69=212
	Ben Crenshaw	70-69-73=212
	Isao Aoki	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	69-72-72=213

Source:^[6][7]

Amateurs: Miller (+2), Brodie (+4), McEvoy (+5), Godwin (+6).

Final round

Saturday, 15 July 1978

Champion

Silver Medal winner (low amateur)

(a) = amateur

(c) = past champion

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money (£)
1	Jack Nicklaus (c)	71-72-69-69=281	−7	17,500
T2	Ben Crenshaw	70-69-73-71=283	−5	10,237
	Raymond Floyd	69-75-71-68=283
	Tom Kite	72-69-72-70=283
	Simon Owen	70-75-67-71=283
6	Peter Oosterhuis	72-70-69-73=284	−4	7,000
T7	Isao Aoki	68-71-73-73=285	−3	5,512
	Nick Faldo	71-72-70-72=285
	John Schroeder	74-69-70-72=285
	Bob Shearer	71-69-74-71=285

Leaderboard below the top 10
Place	Player	Score	To par	Money (£)
T11	Michael Cahill	71-72-75-68=286	−2	3,905
	Dale Hayes	74-70-71-71=286
	Orville Moody	73-69-74-70=286
T14	Mark Hayes	70-75-75-67=287	−1	3,360
	Jumbo Ozaki	72-69-75-71=287
	Tom Watson (c)	73-68-70-76=287
T17	Seve Ballesteros	69-70-76-73=288	E	2,240
	Bob Byman	72-69-74-73=288
	Guy Hunt	71-73-71-73=288
	Tommy Nakajima	70-71-76-71=288
	Tom Weiskopf (c)	69-72-72-75=288
T22	Bernard Gallacher	72-71-76-70=289	+1	1,330
	Nick Job	73-75-68-73=289
T24	Antonio Garrido	73-71-76-70=290	+2	959
	Hale Irwin	75-71-76-68=290
	Carl Mason	70-74-72-74=290
	Jack Newton	69-76-71-74=290
	Peter Thomson (c)	72-70-72-76=290

Amateurs: McEvoy (+5), Miller (+6), Brodie (+7), Godwin (+10). Source:^[1][5][11]

• The exchange rate at the time was approximately 1.88 dollars (US) per pound sterling.^[12]