1987 Open Championship Explained

The 1987 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 116th Open Championship, held from 16 to 19 July at Muirfield Golf Links in Gullane, Scotland. Nick Faldo won the first of his three Open Championships, one stroke ahead of runners-up Paul Azinger and Rodger Davis.^[2] It was the first of Faldo's six major championships.^[3] It was the first win at The Open by an Englishman since Tony Jacklin in 1969.^{[4] [5]}

This was the thirteenth Open Championship held at Muirfield; the previous was in 1980 and the next in 1992.

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 16 July 1987

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Rodger Davis	align=center	64	−7
T2	Ken Green	67	−4
	Lee Trevino
	Bob Tway
T5	Paul Azinger	68	−3
	Nick Faldo
	Larry Mize
	Nick Price
T9	Ken Brown	69	−2
	Mark Calcavecchia
	David Graham
	Jay Haas
	Bernhard Langer
	Graham Marsh
	Masashi Ozaki
	Craig Stadler
	Gerry Taylor
	Tom Watson

Second round

Friday, 17 July 1987

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Paul Azinger	align=center	68-68=136	−6
T2	Rodger Davis	align=center	64-73=137	−5
	Nick Faldo	align=center	68-69=137
	Payne Stewart	align=center	71-66=137
	Gerry Taylor	align=center	69-68=137
T6	David Frost	70-68=138	−4
	Bernhard Langer	align=center		69-69=138
	Craig Stadler	align=center		69-69=138
	Tom Watson	align=center		69-69=138
T10	Mark Calcavecchia	align=center	69-70=139	−3
	Graham Marsh	align=center	69-70=139
	Carl Mason	align=center	70-69=139
	Larry Mize	align=center	68-71=139
	Nick Price	align=center	68-71=139
	Bob Tway	align=center	67-72=139

Amateurs: Mayo (E), Willison (+4), Winchester (+6), Curry (+9), Härdin (+11), Bottomley (+12), Hird (+12), O'Connell (+12), Ambridge (+13), George (+13), Robinson (+13), Jones (+16), Hamer (+17).

Third round

Saturday, 18 July 1987

After tolerable weather conditions for the first two days, the third round on Saturday was played in a storm of wind and rain.^{[2] [6] [7]}

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Paul Azinger	align=center	68-68-71=207	−6
T2	Nick Faldo	align=center	68-69-71=208	−5
	David Frost	70-68-70=208
T4	Craig Stadler	align=center	69-69-71=209	−4
	Payne Stewart	align=center	71-66-72=209
	Tom Watson	align=center	69-69-71=209
7	Raymond Floyd	align=center	72-68-70=210	−3
T8	Mark Calcavecchia	69-70-72=211	−2
	Rodger Davis	64-73-74=211
	Graham Marsh	69-70-72=211
	Nick Price	align=center		68-71-72=211

Source^[6]

Final round

Sunday, 19 July 1987

The final round was played in a gray mist. Azinger had a three stroke lead at the turn which was soon reduced to one, where it remained through 16 holes. Using a driver at the par-5 17th, he found a fairway bunker off the tee and bogeyed. Now tied with Faldo, Azinger's approach shot from the fairway on 18 found the left greenside bunker and led to another bogey. In the pairing just ahead, Faldo parred all 18 holes to win his first major by a stroke.^{[4] [5]}

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money (£)
1	Nick Faldo	68-69-71-71=279	−5	75,000
T2		68-68-71-73=280	−4	49,500
	64-73-74-69=280
T4		73-68-72-68=281	−3	31,000
	71-66-72-72=281
6		70-68-70-74=282	−2	26,000
7		69-69-71-74=283	−1	23,000
T8		68-71-72-73=284	E	18,667
	69-69-71-75=284
	71-69-72-72=284

Amateurs: Mayo (+13), Willison (+21)
Source:^[8]

External links

• Muirfield 1987 (Official site)
• 116th Open Championship – Muirfield (European Tour)

56.043°N -2.823°W

Notes and References

1. Web site: Media guide . The Open Championship . 2011 . 45, 203 . 7 July 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120418224641/http://www.theopen.com/~/media/The%20Open/Information/Media_Guide.ashx . 18 April 2012 .
2. Very British Open. https://web.archive.org/web/20130317155249/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1066215/index.htm . dead . 17 March 2013 . Sports Illustrated . Reilly . Rick . 27 July 1987 . 18 . 16 July 2013.
3. Web site: In His Own Words: Nick Faldo on 1987 British Open win at Muirfield . GOLF.com. Van Sickle . Gary . 3 July 2009 . 16 July 2013.
4. News: Faldo emerges . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Parascenzo . Marino . 20 July 1987 . 11 . 16 July 2013.
5. News: Faldo first in Azinger of a finish . Spokesman-Review . Associated Press . Green . Bob . 20 July 1987 . C1 . 16 July 2013.
6. News: Par enough for Azinger . Eugene Register-Guard . (Washington Post) . Feinstein . John . 19 July 1987 . 1B . 16 July 2013.
7. News: They won't soon forget the fabled storm of '87 . Eugene Register-Guard . wire services . 19 July 1987 . 5B . 16 July 2013.
8. Web site: 1987 Open Championship results . databasegolf.com . 7 July 2012.