The Open returns to Carnoustie
The Open returns to Carnoustie

The Open Championship: Statistical 1-18 ahead of Carnoustie


The 147th Open Championship take place at Carnoustie next week and here, Press Association Sport tees up the tournament with a "round" of 18 facts and figures.

1 - Only one player, Branden Grace, has shot 62 in a major championship, doing so in the third round at Royal Birkdale in 2017.

2 - Padraig Harrington has won two Open titles and is the last man to make a successful defence.

3 - Number of players who contested a play-off for the 1999 Open at Carnoustie, Paul Lawrie defeating Jean van de Velde and Justin Leonard.

4 - The most consecutive Open wins, by Young Tom Morris from 1868 to 1872 - the championship was not held in 1871.

5 - Tom Watson and the late Peter Thomson each won the Open five times.

Peter Thomson after winning the Open for the fifth time in 1965
Peter Thomson after winning the Open for the fifth time in 1965

6 - The sixth hole at Carnoustie is named Hogan's Alley after the preferred route taken on the hole by 1953 champion Ben Hogan.

7 - Carnoustie has hosted the Open on seven previous occasions.

8 - Eight players contested the first Open in 1860. This year there will be 156.

9 - The lowest round in relation to par at an Open Championship is nine under, by Paul Broadhurst in 1990 and Rory McIlroy in 2010.

10 - Tiger Woods won his last major 10 years ago in the US Open.

Tiger Woods pictured after winning the Masters in 1997

11 - The 11th hole at Carnoustie, formerly called Dyke, was renamed 'John Philp' in honour of the retiring course manager in 2012.

12 - Early Open Championships were played over a 12-hole course, with three rounds.

13 - The record winning margin at the Open, by Old Tom Morris in 1862 over the 36-hole format.

14 - The 14th hole at Carnoustie is named Spectacles due to the two bunkers which come into play if the hole is into the wind or players miss the fairway.

15 - In 15 years, from his victory in 1966 to 1980, Jack Nicklaus finished no worse than sixth in the Open.

16 - In two Opens at Carnoustie, including one he won in a play-off, Tom Watson failed to make a par once on the tough 16th, a par three measuring 248 yards.

17 - The age of Justin Rose when he finished fourth in the 1998 Open at Royal Birkdale while still an amateur.

18 - Van de Velde needed to play the 18th in the final round in 1999 in six shots or fewer to seal victory, but took a triple-bogey seven and eventually lost out to Lawrie in the play-off.

Jean van de Velde in the burn in 1999
Jean van de Velde in the burn in 1999

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