The 1996 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 125th Open Championship, held from 18 to 21 July at the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, England. Tom Lehman won his only major championship by two strokes over runners-up Mark McCumber and Ernie Els. Lehman built a six-stroke lead after 54 holes and became the first American to win at Lytham since Bobby Jones seventy years earlier.
Tiger Woods, age 20, was the only amateur to make the cut and finished tied for 22nd; he turned professional six weeks later. Jack Nicklaus, 56, was one stroke out of the lead after 36 holes, but fell back on the weekend and tied for 45th.
Course layout
Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal Yards2064374573932124905534181643,3303345421983424454633574674143,5626,892Par344435543354534444443671 Source:
Previous lengths of the course for The Open Championship (since 1950): 1988: 1979: 1974: 1969: 1963: 1958: 1952:
Round summaries First round Thursday, 18 July 1996 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Paul Broadhurst65−6T2 Mark Brooks67−4 Fred Couples Brad Faxon Tom Lehman Mark McCumber Mark O'Meara Loren Roberts Hidemichi TanakaT10 Ernie Els68−3 Klas Eriksson Nick Faldo Jim Furyk Pádraig Harrington Shigeki Maruyama Carl Mason Nick Price
Second round Friday, 19 July 1996 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Tom Lehman67-67=134−8 Paul McGinley69-65=134T3 Ernie Els68-67=135−7 Peter Hedblom70-65=135 Jack Nicklaus69-66=135T6 Nick Faldo68-68=136−6 Pádraig Harrington68-68=136 Mark McCumber67-69=136 Mark O'Meara67-69=136 Corey Pavin70-66=136 Loren Roberts67-69=136 Vijay Singh69-67=136
Amateurs (a): Woods (−1), Bladon (+4), Allan (+5), García (+7).
Third round Saturday, 20 July 1996 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Tom Lehman67-67-64=198−152 Nick Faldo68-68-68=204−9T3 Mark Brooks67-70-68=205−8 Vijay Singh69-67-69=205T5 Fred Couples67-70-69=206−7 Ernie Els68-67-71=206T7 Darren Clarke70-68-69=207 −6 Mark McCumber67-69-71=207 Shigeki Maruyama68-70-69=207 Steve Stricker71-70-66=207
Final round Sunday, 21 July 1996 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (£)1 Tom Lehman 67-67-64-73=271 −13 200,000T2 Ernie Els 68-67-71-67=273 −11 125,000 Mark McCumber 67-69-71-66=2734 Nick Faldo 68-68-68-70=274 −10 75,000T5 Mark Brooks 67-70-68-71=276 −8 50,000 Jeff Maggert 69-70-72-65=276 T7 Fred Couples 67-70-69-71=277 −7 35,000 Peter Hedblom 70-65-75-67=277 Greg Norman 71-68-71-67=277 Greg Turner 72-69-68-68=277
Amateurs: Woods (−3).
Source:
References
External links Royal Lytham & St Annes 1996 (Official site) 125th Open Championship - Royal Lytham & St Annes (European Tour)