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Seve Ballesteros

1984 / St Andrews

Rarely has a putt been celebrated in such a joyous way. On the 18th green at St Andrews, Seve Ballesteros had a putt from 12 feet for a birdie and it looked in all the way before appearing to hesitate on the lip of the hole.

Finally, it toppled in and Ballesteros pumped his fist extravagantly and nearly squeezed the life out of his caddie, Nick de Paul, when they embraced.

“I was so excited,” said the Spaniard. “It was the happiest single shot of my life.”

But while Ballesteros was on the 18th green making a birdie, Tom Watson was back on the 17th green in the midst of taking a bogey. Only when Watson failed to hole his second shot at the last had Ballesteros won his second Open – dressed in navy sweater and trousers and white shirt just as he had been at Royal Lytham in 1979.

It was a crushing defeat for Watson, who was trying to win his third Open in a row and tie Harry Vardon’s record of six titles. Watson had been at his best with a 66 in the third round which tied young Australian Ian Baker-Finch, the surprise halfway leader.

Baker-Finch found the Swilcan Burn at the first on Sunday and Ballesteros had made up a two-shot deficit when he came to the 17th.

For the first time in the week he got his par with a 6-iron and two putts, but Watson, after his drive flirted with the out-of-bounds on the right, took too much club for his second shot and went over the green with a 2-iron.

Just two feet from the wall over the road, he could only dribble the ball onto the green and, with the roar from the 18th still echoing, missed the par putt.

Name
Finish
R1
R2
R3
R4
Total
Par
Seve BALLESTEROS
1
69
68
70
69
276
-
2
71
68
68
71
278
-
2
71
68
66
73
278
-
Lanny WADKINS
4
70
69
73
69
281
-
4
70
69
74
68
281
-
6
69
68
76
69
282
-
6
67
74
74
67
282
-
Mark MCCUMBER
8
74
67
72
70
283
-
9
68
66
71
79
284
-
Sam TORRANCE
9
74
74
66
70
284
-
Graham MARSH
9
70
74
73
67
284
-
Hugh BAIOCCHI
9
72
70
70
72
284
-
Ronan RAFFERTY
9
74
72
67
71
284
-
Hale IRWIN
14
75
68
70
72
285
-
Ken BROWN
14
74
71
72
68
285
-
14
70
67
75
73
285
-
Fuzzy ZOELLER
14
71
72
71
71
285
-
Peter SENIOR
14
74
70
70
71
285
-
Bill BERGIN
14
75
73
66
71
285
-
14
75
71
72
67
285
-
Andy BEAN
14
72
69
75
69
285
-
Peter JACOBSEN
22
67
73
73
73
286
-
Gil MORGAN
22
71
71
71
73
286
-
Tom KITE
22
69
71
74
72
286
-
Paul WAY
22
73
72
69
72
286
-
Corey PAVIN
22
71
74
72
69
286
-
22
72
75
70
69
286
-
Craig STADLER
28
75
70
70
72
287
-
Terry GALE
28
71
74
72
70
287
-
Jaime GONZALEZ
28
69
71
76
71
287
-
31
76
72
68
72
288
-
Ross DRUMMOND
31
77
71
69
71
288
-
Philip PARKIN
31
73
73
73
69
288
-
31
75
71
70
72
288
-
Bernard GALLACHER
31
70
74
72
72
288
-
Ewen MURRAY
36
72
74
71
72
289
-
David DUNK
36
71
72
73
73
289
-
Manuel PINERO
36
71
71
76
71
289
-
Jay HAAS
36
73
71
73
72
289
-
Jimmy HEGGARTY
36
71
74
72
72
289
-
Tsuneyuki NAKAJIMA
36
70
71
74
74
289
-
Gavin LEVENSON
36
74
70
73
72
289
-
Jose Maria CANIZARES
36
70
71
72
76
289
-
44
74
73
72
71
290
-
Martin POXON
44
70
74
73
73
290
-
Mark JAMES
44
70
73
72
75
290
-
Isao AOKI
47
71
74
73
73
291
-
Manuel CALERO
47
75
72
72
72
291
-
Roger CHAPMAN
47
72
74
70
75
291
-
47
75
73
70
73
291
-
David FROST
47
76
72
70
73
291
-
Richard BOXALL
52
71
74
73
74
292
-
John CHILLAS
52
71
72
75
74
292
-
Howard CLARK
52
74
74
71
73
292
-
Emilio RODRIGUEZ
55
74
74
69
76
293
-
David J RUSSELL
55
73
74
71
75
293
-
Malcolm MACKENZIE
55
72
72
74
75
293
-
Bill LONGMUIR
55
67
71
79
76
293
-
Saburo FUJIKI
59
72
73
74
75
294
-
Gary KOCH
60
75
73
70
77
295
-
John GARNER
60
74
71
74
76
295
-
Naomichi OZAKI
62
72
76
70
78
296
-
Rick HARTMANN
62
70
73
76
77
296
-
Anders FORSBRAND
WD
71
73
76
-
-
-
Chris MOODY
WD
74
71
75
-
-
-
Payne STEWART
WD
74
72
74
-
-
-
Ian WOOSNAM
WD
72
69
79
-
-
-
John BLAND
WD
73
72
75
-
-
-
Michael KING
WD
71
75
74
-
-
-
Larry NELSON
WD
75
69
76
-
-
-
Brian WAITES
WD
71
76
74
-
-
-
David GRAHAM
WD
73
72
76
-
-
-
Harold HENNING
WD
72
75
74
-
-
-
Magnus PERSSON
WD
74
67
80
-
-
-
Art RUSSELL
WD
75
73
73
-
-
-
Andrew SHERBORNE
WD
75
71
75
-
-
-
Ray FLOYD
WD
74
74
73
-
-
-
Jim COLBERT
WD
76
72
73
-
-
-
Larry MIZE
WD
76
72
73
-
-
-
Christy O'CONNOR JR
WD
74
73
74
-
-
-
WD
72
73
76
-
-
-
Jeff HALL
WD
70
77
75
-
-
-
Gordon J. BRAND
WD
75
70
77
-
-
-
Simon HOBDAY
WD
72
73
77
-
-
-
Tony CHARNLEY
WD
75
72
76
-
-
-
Warren HUMPHREYS
WD
73
75
75
-
-
-
Eamonn DARCY
WD
69
75
80
-
-
-
Neil COLES
WD
72
76
76
-
-
-
David A RUSSELL
WD
77
71
76
-
-
-
Wayne RILEY
WD
74
72
78
-
-
-
Hubert GREEN
WD
73
74
78
-
-
-
Brian MARCHBANK
WD
73
74
79
-
-
-
Masahiro KURAMOTO
WD
71
73
82
-
-
-
Peter MCEVOY
Wd
75
73
-
-
-
M/C
Gary SMITH
M/C
76
73
-
-
-
M/C
Jay SIGEL
M/C
72
77
-
-
-
M/C
Antonio GARRIDO
M/C
78
71
-
-
-
M/C
David LLEWELLYN
M/C
74
75
-
-
-
M/C
M/C
74
75
-
-
-
M/C
David SCREETON
M/C
72
77
-
-
-
M/C
Simon OWEN
M/C
74
75
-
-
-
M/C
David GLENZ
M/C
76
73
-
-
-
M/C
Morris HATALSKY
M/C
76
73
-
-
-
M/C
Tony JOHNSTONE
M/C
78
71
-
-
-
M/C
Steve HADFIELD
M/C
74
75
-
-
-
M/C
Chien-Soon LU
M/C
75
74
-
-
-
M/C
Mike SULLIVAN
M/C
72
77
-
-
-
M/C
Denis DURNIAN
M/C
75
74
-
-
-
M/C
M/C
74
75
-
-
-
M/C
Vicente FERNANDEZ
M/C
76
73
-
-
-
M/C
Nick BROWN
M/C
75
75
-
-
-
M/C
Michael CLAYTON
M/C
76
74
-
-
-
M/C
Peter DAHLBERG
M/C
74
76
-
-
-
M/C
Keith WATERS
M/C
75
75
-
-
-
M/C
John JACOBS
M/C
73
77
-
-
-
M/C
Peter TERAVAINEN
M/C
73
77
-
-
-
M/C
Clive TUCKER
M/C
77
73
-
-
-
M/C
M/C
73
77
-
-
-
M/C
Peter BARBER
M/C
74
76
-
-
-
M/C
Des SMYTH
M/C
73
77
-
-
-
M/C
Jeff HAWKES
M/C
78
72
-
-
-
M/C
Bob GILDER
M/C
81
69
-
-
-
M/C
Paul LEONARD
M/C
75
76
-
-
-
M/C
Tienie BRITZ
M/C
75
76
-
-
-
M/C
Martin GRAY
M/C
74
77
-
-
-
M/C
Peter MITCHELL
M/C
75
76
-
-
-
M/C
Jose RIVERO
M/C
74
77
-
-
-
M/C
Kikuo ARAI
M/C
78
73
-
-
-
M/C
Per-Arne BROSTEDT
M/C
79
72
-
-
-
M/C
Michael COLANDRO
M/C
77
75
-
-
-
M/C
Simon WOOD
M/C
76
76
-
-
-
M/C
Martin GREEN
M/C
79
73
-
-
-
M/C
Simon BISHOP
M/C
74
78
-
-
-
M/C
Maurice BEMBRIDGE
M/C
76
76
-
-
-
M/C
Paul HOAD
M/C
75
77
-
-
-
M/C
Vaughan SOMERS
M/C
72
80
-
-
-
M/C
Ed SNEED
M/C
73
80
-
-
-
M/C
M/C
76
77
-
-
-
M/C
David INGRAM
M/C
77
76
-
-
-
M/C
Hal SUTTON
M/C
76
77
-
-
-
M/C
Charlie BOLLING
M/C
78
76
-
-
-
M/C
Glyn DAVIES
M/C
75
79
-
-
-
M/C
Andrew CHANDLER
M/C
75
79
-
-
-
M/C
Keith WILLIAMS
M/C
78
77
-
-
-
M/C
Andrew OLDCORN
M/C
76
79
-
-
-
M/C
Peter FOWLER
M/C
75
80
-
-
-
M/C
John HAWKSWORTH
M/C
79
77
-
-
-
M/C
Paul THOMAS
M/C
78
78
-
-
-
M/C
Graham BURROUGHS
M/C
82
74
-
-
-
M/C
M/C
80
76
-
-
-
M/C
David RIDLEY
M/C
80
77
-
-
-
M/C
Peter BERRY
M/C
80
78
-
-
-
M/C
M/C
82
77
-
-
-
M/C
M/C
84
75
-
-
-
M/C
Douglas CAMPBELL
M/C
82
77
-
-
-
M/C
Peter HINTON
M/C
79
80
-
-
-
M/C

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