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1997 / Royal Troon
Only two players previously had rallied from five strokes behind with a round to play to win The Open before Justin Leonard completed the feat at Royal Troon in 1997.
Jim Barnes at Prestwick in 1925 and Tommy Armour at Carnoustie in 1931 managed the achievement to win by a stroke.
But while Leonard also came back from a deficit of five, such was his devastating finish, and the quality of his putting, that the 25-year-old from Dallas, playing in his fourth Open, won by three strokes from Darren Clarke and Jesper Parnevik.
Clarke went out of bounds onto the beach at the second hole and the double bogey put him out of contention. Parnevik led the way but came under increasing pressure from Leonard’s charge.
There were six birdies and a bogey going out, another dropped shot at the 10th but he holed from 10 feet for a par at the 11th and from 15 feet for another par at the 15th. The American again holed from 15 feet for a birdie at the 16th and then sank a 30-footer for a 2 at the 17th to get to 12 under par.
His closing 65 was only one higher than Greg Norman’s record final round by a Champion Golfer from 1993.
No one else on the leaderboard at the start of the day scored under 70. Parnevik, two ahead with seven to play, bogeyed the 13th, missed a short birdie putt at the 16th and then bogeyed the last two.
This defeat, the Swede felt, hurt even more than the one to Nick Price down the Ayrshire coast at Turnberry three years earlier. Tiger Woods, the 21-year-old Masters champion in his first Open as a professional, equalled the course record with a 64 in the third round but that was 10 strokes better than his efforts the day before or after.
Name
Finish
R1
R2
R3
R4
Total
Par
Stephen AMES
5
74
69
66
71
280
-
Peter O'MALLEY
7
73
70
70
68
281
-
Eduardo ROMERO
7
74
68
67
72
281
-
Robert ALLENBY
10
76
68
66
72
282
-
Tom KITE
10
72
67
74
69
282
-
Frank NOBILO
10
74
72
68
68
282
-
Retief GOOSEN
10
75
69
70
68
282
-
Davis LOVE III
10
70
71
74
67
282
-
Shigeki MARUYAMA
10
74
69
70
69
282
-
Brad FAXON
20
77
67
72
67
283
-
Mark JAMES
20
76
67
70
70
283
-
David A RUSSELL
24
75
72
68
69
284
-
Ian WOOSNAM
24
71
73
69
71
284
-
Jay HAAS
24
71
70
73
70
284
-
Peter LONARD
24
72
70
69
73
284
-
Mark MCNULTY
32
78
67
72
69
286
-
Jonathan LOMAS
32
72
71
69
74
286
-
Rodger DAVIS
32
73
73
70
70
286
-
Andrew MAGEE
32
70
75
72
69
286
-
Raymond RUSSELL
38
72
72
74
70
288
-
Michael BRADLEY
38
72
73
73
70
288
-
John KERNOHAN
38
76
70
74
68
288
-
Jerry KELLY
44
76
68
72
73
289
-
Jose COCERES
44
76
70
71
72
289
-
Curtis STRANGE
44
71
71
70
77
289
-
David TAPPING
44
71
66
78
74
289
-
Jim PAYNE
48
74
71
74
71
290
-
Steve JONES
48
76
71
68
75
290
-
Wayne RILEY
50
74
71
75
71
291
-
Angel CABRERA
50
70
70
76
75
291
-
Corey PAVIN
50
78
69
76
68
291
-
Jeff MAGGERT
50
76
69
71
75
291
-
Peter SENIOR
50
76
70
73
72
291
-
Peter MITCHELL
50
75
69
76
71
291
-
Richard BOXALL
50
75
71
72
73
291
-
Greg TURNER
50
76
71
72
72
291
-
Payne STEWART
59
73
74
71
74
292
-
Barclay HOWARD
60
70
74
76
73
293
-
Tom PURTZER
62
72
71
73
78
294
-
Jamie SPENCE
62
78
69
72
75
294
-
Peter TERAVAINEN
62
74
72
73
75
294
-
Steve STRICKER
62
72
73
74
75
294
-
Per-Ulrik JOHANSSON
66
72
75
73
75
295
-
Paul McGINLEY
66
76
71
77
71
295
-
Gary CLARK
66
74
72
72
77
295
-
Tommy TOLLES
69
77
68
75
76
296
-
Billy ANDRADE
70
72
72
78
76
298
-
Andrew COLTART
M/C
76
72
-
-
-
M/C
Paul CURRY
M/C
79
69
-
-
-
M/C
Peter HEDBLOM
M/C
76
72
-
-
-
M/C
Michael LONG
M/C
78
70
-
-
-
M/C
Robert KARLSSON
M/C
76
72
-
-
-
M/C
Pierre FULKE
M/C
73
75
-
-
-
M/C
Gordon BRAND JR
M/C
76
72
-
-
-
M/C
Dean ROBERTSON
M/C
76
72
-
-
-
M/C
Mark WIEBE
M/C
73
75
-
-
-
M/C
Wayne WESTNER
M/C
75
73
-
-
-
M/C
Gary ORR
M/C
76
72
-
-
-
M/C
Carl MASON
M/C
78
70
-
-
-
M/C
David HOWELL
M/C
75
73
-
-
-
M/C
Craig STADLER
M/C
78
71
-
-
-
M/C
Craig PARRY
M/C
79
70
-
-
-
M/C
Lee JANZEN
M/C
78
71
-
-
-
M/C
Loren ROBERTS
M/C
76
73
-
-
-
M/C
Craig WATSON
M/C
73
76
-
-
-
M/C
Peter BAKER
M/C
79
70
-
-
-
M/C
Paul BROADHURST
M/C
75
74
-
-
-
M/C
Robert DAMRON
M/C
76
73
-
-
-
M/C
Glen DAY
M/C
78
72
-
-
-
M/C
Scott DUNLAP
M/C
77
73
-
-
-
M/C
Scott McCARRON
M/C
73
77
-
-
-
M/C
Mark BROOKS
M/C
80
70
-
-
-
M/C
Vanslow PHILLIPS
M/C
80
71
-
-
-
M/C
Bob TWAY
M/C
78
73
-
-
-
M/C
Joost STEENKAMER
M/C
78
73
-
-
-
M/C
John COOK
M/C
76
75
-
-
-
M/C
Philip BLACKMAR
M/C
76
75
-
-
-
M/C
Thomas GOGELE
M/C
76
75
-
-
-
M/C
Ignacio GARRIDO
M/C
79
72
-
-
-
M/C
Miguel MARTIN
M/C
79
72
-
-
-
M/C
Warren BLADON
M/C
78
74
-
-
-
M/C
Larry BATCHELOR
M/C
77
75
-
-
-
M/C
Cameron CLARK
M/C
79
73
-
-
-
M/C
Russell CLAYDON
M/C
79
73
-
-
-
M/C
Jong-Duck KIM
M/C
77
75
-
-
-
M/C
Sam TORRANCE
M/C
78
74
-
-
-
M/C
Daniel OLSSON
M/C
80
73
-
-
-
M/C
Andrew CRERAR
M/C
76
77
-
-
-
M/C
Grant DODD
M/C
78
75
-
-
-
M/C
Shaun WEBSTER
M/C
75
78
-
-
-
M/C
Mike BRADLEY
M/C
77
76
-
-
-
M/C
Hirofumi MIYASE
M/C
79
75
-
-
-
M/C
Per HAUGSRUD
M/C
79
75
-
-
-
M/C
Ross MCFARLANE
M/C
80
74
-
-
-
M/C
Mike MILLER
M/C
82
72
-
-
-
M/C
Jeff REMESY
M/C
79
75
-
-
-
M/C
Mark ROE
M/C
79
76
-
-
-
M/C
Andrew SANDYWELL
M/C
80
75
-
-
-
M/C
Phil HINTON
M/C
78
77
-
-
-
M/C
Dudley HART
M/C
78
77
-
-
-
M/C
Richard GREEN
M/C
80
75
-
-
-
M/C
Klas ERIKSSON
M/C
85
70
-
-
-
M/C
Ken DUKE
M/C
80
76
-
-
-
M/C
Shigenori MORI
M/C
80
76
-
-
-
M/C
Gary MURPHY
M/C
84
72
-
-
-
M/C
Paul STANKOWSKI
M/C
80
76
-
-
-
M/C
Yetsyn TAYLOR
M/C
81
76
-
-
-
M/C
Paul AZINGER
M/C
79
78
-
-
-
M/C
Mardan MAMAT
M/C
83
75
-
-
-
M/C
Brendan MCGOVERN
M/C
84
74
-
-
-
M/C
David FROST
M/C
81
77
-
-
-
M/C
Raphael JACQUELIN
M/C
81
78
-
-
-
M/C
Steven YOUNG
M/C
79
80
-
-
-
M/C
Alex CEJKA
M/C
81
80
-
-
-
M/C
Gaurav GHEI
M/C
81
81
-
-
-
M/C
Nobuhito SATO
M/C
85
78
-
-
-
M/C
James MILLER
M/C
80
84
-
-
-
M/C
Dennis EDLUND
M/C
87
77
-
-
-
M/C
Yoshinori KANEKO
Wd
84
-
-
-
-
M/C
Naomichi OZAKI
Wd
76
-
-
-
-
M/C
Chris PERRY
Wd
80
-
-
-
-
M/C