The 1997 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 126th Open Championship, held from 17 to 20 July at the Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland. Justin Leonard won his only major championship and was the fifth consecutive American to win at Royal Troon.

Five strokes back after a 72 in the third round, Leonard had six birdies on the front nine in the final round; he added two more at 16 and 17 for 65 (−6) to win by three strokes over runners-up Darren Clarke and Jesper Parnevik, the 54-hole leader.

Course

Old Course HoleNameYardsPar HoleNameYardsPar1Seal3644 10Sandhills43842Black Rock391411The Railway46343Gyaws379412The Fox43144Dunure557513Burmah46545Greenan210314Alton17936Turnberry577515Crosbie45747Tel-el-Kebir402416Well54258Postage Stamp126317Rabbit22339The Monk423418Craigend4524Out3,42936In3,65035Source: Total7,07971 Lengths of the course for previous Opens (since 1950): 1989: , par 72 1982: , par 72 1973: , par 72 1962: , par 72 1950: , par 70 Opens from 1962 through 1989 played the 11th hole as a par-5.

Round summaries First round Thursday, 17 July 1997 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Darren Clarke67−4 Jim FurykT3 Fred Couples69−2 Justin Leonard Greg NormanT6 Ángel Cabrera70−1 Barclay Howard (a) Davis Love III Andrew Magee Jesper Parnevik Source:

Second round Friday, 18 July 1997 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Darren Clarke67-66=133−92 Justin Leonard69-66=135−73 Jesper Parnevik70-66=136−6T4 Fred Couples69-68=137−5 David Tapping71-66=137T6 Jim Furyk67-72=139−3 Tom Kite72-67=1398 Ángel Cabrera70-70=140−2T9 Mark Calcavecchia74-67=141−1 Jay Haas71-70=141 Davis Love III70-71=141 Tom Watson71-70=141 Source: Amateurs: Howard (+2), Watson (+7), Bladon (+10), Olsson (+11), Webster (+11), Taylor (+15), Young (+17), Miller (+22).

Third round Saturday, 19 July 1997 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Jesper Parnevik70-66-66=202−112 Darren Clarke67-66-71=204−9T3 Fred Couples69-68-70=207−6 Justin Leonard69-66-72=207T5 Stephen Ames74-69-66=209−4 Jim Furyk67-72-70=209 Eduardo Romero74-68-67=209T8 Robert Allenby76-68-66=210 −3 Lee Westwood73-70-67=210 Tiger Woods72-74-64=210 Source:

Final round Sunday, 20 July 1997 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (£)1 Justin Leonard 69-66-72-65=272 −12 250,000T2 Darren Clarke 67-66-71-71=275 −9 150,000 Jesper Parnevik 70-66-66-73=2754 Jim Furyk 67-72-70-70=279 −5 90,000T5 Pádraig Harrington 75-69-69-67=280 −4 62,500 Stephen Ames 74-69-66-71=280 T7 Peter O'Malley 73-70-70-68=281 −3 40,667 Eduardo Romero 74-68-67-72=281 Fred Couples 69-68-70-74=281 T10 Davis Love III 70-71-74-67=282 −2 24,300 Retief Goosen 75-69-70-68=282 Frank Nobilo 74-72-68-68=282 Tom Kite 72-67-74-69=282 Mark Calcavecchia 74-67-72-69=282 Shigeki Maruyama 74-69-70-69=282 Ernie Els 75-69-69-69=282 Tom Watson 71-70-70-71=282 Robert Allenby 76-68-66-72=282 Lee Westwood 73-70-67-72=282 Source: Amateurs: Howard (+9)

Scorecard Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718Par444535434 444434534 Leonard −6 −7 −8 −9 −8 −9 −10 −10 −11 −10 −10 −10 −10 −10 −10 −11 −12 −12 Clarke −10 −8 −8 −8 −8 −9 −9 −9 −8 −8 −8 −8 −8 −8 −7 −8 −8 −9 Parnevik −11 −11 −12 −12 −12 −11 −12 −12 −12 −11 −12 −12 −11 −11 −11 −11 −10 −9 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par EagleBirdieBogeyDouble bogey Source:

References

External links Royal Troon 1997 (Official site) 126th Open Championship – Royal Troon (European Tour)