St Andrews - Previous Opens

1873 - St Andrews caddie Tom Kidd won the waterlogged 13th Open in his first appearance, scoring 179 over 36 holes to beat Jamie Anderson by one stroke.

Long-hitting Kidd received 11 pounds sterling ($20) for a victory achieved with the highest winning score until the event was expanded to 72 holes in 1892.

It was the first Open not played at Prestwick.

1876 - Bob Martin clinched the second Open to be contested at St Andrews by beating David Strath in a delay-ridden tournament.

The pair had tied on 176 but Strath refused to take part in a playoff following a complaint about his play. One of Strath's shots had hit another player standing on the 17th green and fallen near the hole, helping him to tie with Martin.

Martin went around the course alone in the playoff to secure the title.

1879 - The fast-playing Jamie Anderson produced a 36-hole total of 169 to beat Andrew Kirkaldy and James Allan by three strokes and complete a hat-trick of Open titles.

Unlike today's players, Anderson sized up his shots while approaching the ball and took no practice swings before letting fly.

1882 - Bob Ferguson sealed another hat-trick of Open victories at St Andrews after edging out Willie Fernie by three shots with a two-round aggregate of 171.

1885 - Bob Martin won his second Open title at St Andrews, beating Archie Simpson by one shot with a 171 total.

The event attracted the largest number of competitors in the championship's Open history until then, 51.

1888 - Jack Burns had a club official to thank for his one-stroke victory over Ben Sayers and David Anderson after the official noticed Burns had wrongly added up his score.

Burns thought he had tied with Sayers and Anderson but in fact had scored a winning total of 171.

1891 - St Andrews regular Hugh Kirkaldy beat his older brother Andrew and Willie Fernie by two shots with a then record aggregate of 166, despite bitter winds and driving rain.

Hugh Kirkaldy died three years later of lung disease, aged 29.

1895 - Defending champion John H. Taylor won the first 72-hole tournament held at St Andrews, an aggregate score of 322 earning him a four-stroke victory over Sandy Herd.

Taylor, one of three players to win the tournament in three different decades, was the first Englishman to win at St Andrews. All the previous winners were Scottish.

1900 - Taylor clinched his third title, beating great rival Harry Vardon who went on to win the Open six times, more than any other player.

Taylor triumphed by eight shots with an aggregate of 309.

1905 - James Braid beat Taylor and Rowland Jones by five strokes with a total of 318.

1910 - Braid clinched his fifth and final Open with a four-shot victory over Sandy Herd and a final score of 299.

Braid went around the course five times during the tournament after deciding to complete his first round despite play being cancelled due to bad weather.

Braid was the first player to win the championship five times but decaying eyesight ended his reign at the top.

No Open championships were played between 1915 and 1919 because of World War One.

1921 - Jock Hutchison, the first non-British St Andrews champion, won the title in his first appearance after beating amateur Roger Wethered in a play off.

Scottish-born U.S. citizen Hutchison had tied with Oxford undergraduate Wethered on 296 but won the 36-hole playoff by nine shots.

1927 - Defending champion Bobby Jones, the Open's most successful amateur, beat Aubrey Boomer and Fred Robson by six shots with a total of 285.

American Jones won the Open three times but never contested the tournament at St Andrews again.

1933 - A shot more suited to amateur hackers ensured only two golfers entered a playoff in which American Densmore Shute beat compatriot Craig Wood by five shots.

They should have been joined by Leo Diegel, who produced seven top-four finishes in the British and U.S. Opens. Putting to tie for the lead, Diegel failed to hit the ball.

1939 - Englishman Dick Burton beat American Johnny Bulla by two strokes with a wining total of 290 in the last Open before World War Two. Burton went on to serve in the Royal Air Force and survived the hostilities.

No Open championships were played between 1940 and 1945 because of World War Two.

1946 - American Sam Snead beat South African Bobby Locke and Johnny Bulla by four shots with an aggregate of 290.

1955 - Defending champion Australian Peter Thomson held off Scot Johnny Fallon by two strokes with a final score of 281.

Thomson won the Open four times and finished second three times in a seven-year streak starting in 1952.

He won again in 1965, when Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer competed.

1957 - The Suez crisis and resulting fuel shortages meant the Open was switched from remote Muirfield to St Andrews.

Bobby Locke survived a possible disqualification to beat Peter Thomson by three shots with an aggregate of 279.

It was the first championship in which the leaders teed off last in each of the final two rounds.

1960 - Forty-year-old Australian Kel Nagle won the centenary Open title, beating U.S Open champion Palmer by a stroke with a 72-hole total of 278.

Palmer went on to win the next two Opens, helping to restore the tournament's status in the eyes of his fellow Americans.

1964 - First-timer Tony Lema triumphed over Jack Nicklaus, who went on to produce the highest number of Open rounds under par, by five shots with a score of 279.

Palmer, who had been chasing a grand slam, did not compete and recommended that Lema take on the caddie who had helped him to win his two previous titles.

Lema died in a plane crash two years after his victory.

1970 - Nicklaus, who registered more second places than any player in Open history, edged out fellow American Doug Sanders in a playoff.

Sanders missed a short putt on the final hole of regulation play that would have secured him the title.

1978 - Nicklaus triumphed again, beating U.S. compatriots Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite and Ray Floyd and New Zealander Simon Owen by two shots with a final aggregate of 281.

It was Nicklaus's first major title in three years.

1984 - Spaniard Seve Ballesteros beat American Tom Watson and German Bernhard Langer by two strokes with a final score of 276.

Watson's chance of a sixth Open victory disappeared after he failed to hole his second shot at the last.

1990 - Englishman Nick Faldo romped to victory by five shots over American Payne Stewart and Zimbabwean Mark McNulty after setting a then record total of 18-under-par 270.

Australian Greg Norman had led the field with Faldo until a third round of 76 ended his challenge.

Faldo did not find a bunker until the final day of play.

1995 - Big-hitting American John Daly edged out Italian Constantino Rocca in a playoff to claim the 25th Open at St Andrews after Rocca had holed a 65-foot putt at the 72nd hole to take the championship into extra time.

Daly dominated the playoff, displaying a deft and accurate short game to compliment his lengthy drives.

Palmer made his final appearance at the championship, 35 years after first competing.

2000 - Twenty-four-year-old favourite Tiger Woods coasted home to his maiden Open title by eight shots, leaving second-placed Ernie Els of South Africa and Denmark's Thomas Bjorn trailing in his wake.

Excellent weather and playing conditions gifted the opportunity of a low-scoring tournament and Woods did not disappoint, scoring 67-66-67-69 and avoiding every bunker on the course.

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