Calcavecchia secures play-off victory

In order to avoid the run-over of the Championship into an extra day in the event of a tie, The R&A introduced a shortened play-off over four holes which was first put into effect in the 1989 Open at Troon. At the start of the final round it looked unlikely that Greg Norman would be involved in the outcome of the Championship. He was seven shots behind fellow Australian Wayne Grady, six behind Tom Watson and four adrift of Mark Calcavecchia. Yet with a record round of 64 he jumped from the obscurity of the pack and set a target figure of 275.

For two hours Norman sat in the clubhouse and watched on television as player after player failed to match his score, but when the dust settled Grady and Calcavecchia had drawn level. On the final hole of the mini play-off Grady was safely down the middle of the fairway, Calcavecchia was in the right rough and Norman’s booming tee shot had settled wickedly under the lip of a fairway bunker some 300 yards from the tee. It was the American who produced the winning shot, a five-iron to six feet. Grady was two shots behind and could do nothing. Norman smashed at his ball into a second bunker and from there blasted through the green and out-of-bounds.