1977 Open Championship

The 1977 Open Championship, sometimes called the "Duel in the Sun", was a golf competition held at Turnberry, Scotland, in July 1977. The competition was won by Tom Watson.

Watson's victory is considered by many to be the finest tournament played in the last half of the 20th century. After two rounds, he and Jack Nicklaus were one shot out of the lead and paired for the third round. Both shot 65, ending the third round three shots clear of the field. Watson and Nicklaus were again paired for the final round, and the two were tied after 16 holes. Nicklaus missed a makeable birdie putt on 17, losing his share of the lead to Watson, who birdied 17. On the 18th, Nicklaus drove into the rough, while Watson drove into the fairway. Watson's approach landed two feet from the flag, while Nicklaus managed to get his approach 40 feet away. Nicklaus sank his birdie putt to finish with a 66, but Watson followed suit with his own birdie, finishing with a second straight 65 and his second Open, with a record score of 268. The two players finished well ahead of the other challengers, and shot the same score every day except for Sunday. The third place finisher, Hubert Green, was a distant ten strokes behind Nicklaus, who would win his third Open Championship in 1978 at St. Andrews.

Round summaries

First round

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	John Schroeder	United States	66	-4
2	Martin Foster	England	67	-3
T3	Jack Nicklaus	United States	68	-2
	Lee Trevino	United States
	Tom Watson	United States
T6	Seve Ballesteros	Spain	69	-1
	Gaylord Burrows	United States
	Johnny Miller	United States
T9	George Burns	United States	70	E
	Raymond Floyd	United States
	Tommy Horton	England
	Chi-San Hsu	Taiwan
	Hale Irwin	United States
	Ian Stanley	Australia

Second round

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Roger Maltbie	United States	71-66=137	-3
T2	Hubert Green	United States	72-66=138	-2
	Jack Nicklaus	United States	68-70=138
	Lee Trevino	United States	68-70=138
	Tom Watson	United States	68-70=138
T6	Peter Butler	England	71-68=139	-1
	Mark Hayes	United States	76-63=139
T8	Seve Ballesteros	Spain	69-71=140	E
	George Burns	United States	70-70=140
	Howard Clark	England	72-68=140
	Ben Crenshaw	United States	71-69=140
	Chi-San Hsu	Taiwan	70-70=140
	John Schroeder	United States	66-74=140

Amateurs: Garner (+13), McEvoy (+13), Powell (+13), Carrick (+15), Lyle (+15), Pierse (+16), Wilson (+16), Cosh (+21), Chapman (+25).

Third round

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
T1	Jack Nicklaus	United States	68-70-65=203	-7
	Tom Watson	United States	68-70-65=203
3	Ben Crenshaw	United States	71-69-66=206	-4
T4	Gaylord Burrows	United States	69-72-68=209	-1
	Tommy Horton	England	70-74-65=209
	Roger Maltbie	United States	71-66-72=209
T7	Johnny Miller	United States	69-74-67=210	E
	Lee Trevino	United States	68-70-72=210
T10	Raymond Floyd	United States	70-73-68=211	+1
	Mark Hayes	United States	76-63-72=211

Final leaderboard

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Tom Watson	United States	68-70-65-65=268	-12
2	Jack Nicklaus	United States	68-70-65-66=269	-11
3	Hubert Green	United States	72-66-74-67=279	-1
4	Lee Trevino	United States	68-70-72-70=280	E
T5	George Burns	United States	70-70-72-69=281	+1
	Ben Crenshaw	United States	71-69-66-75=281
7	Arnold Palmer	United States	73-73-67-69=282	+2
8	Raymond Floyd	United States	70-73-68-72=283	+3
T9	Mark Hayes	United States	76-63-72-73=284	+4
	Tommy Horton	England	70-74-65-75=284
	Johnny Miller	United States	69-74-67-74=284
	John Schroeder	United States	66-74-73-71=284

External links

• Summary and full results