1995 Open Championship


The 1995 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 124th Open Championship held from 20–23 July at the Old Course at St Andrews in St Andrews, Scotland. John Daly won his first Open Championship and second major title in a four-hole playoff over Costantino Rocca.
This was the final Open appearance for two-time champion Arnold Palmer.

Course

The Old Course at St Andrews
Previous lengths of the course for The Open Championship :

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Missed the cut

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 20 July 1995
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Ben Crenshaw67−5
T1John Daly67−5
T1Mark McNulty67−5
T1Tom Watson67−5
T5David Feherty68−4
T5Bill Glasson68−4
T5Mats Hallberg68−4
T5Vijay Singh68−4
T9Darren Clarke69−3
T9John Cook69−3
T9Jim Gallagher, Jr.69−3
T9David Gilford69−3
T9Per-Ulrik Johansson69−3
T9Steve Lowery69−3
T9Corey Pavin69−3
T9Costantino Rocca69−3
T9Gene Sauers69−3

Second round

Friday, 21 July 1995
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1John Daly67-71=138−6
T1Brad Faxon71-67=138−6
T1Katsuyoshi Tomori70-68=138−6
T4Mark Brooks70-69=139−5
T4John Cook69-70=139−5
T4Ben Crenshaw67-72=139−5
T4Ernie Els71-68=139−5
T4Corey Pavin69-70=139−5
T4Costantino Rocca69-70=139−5
T10Justin Leonard73-67=140−4
T10Vijay Singh68-72=140−4
T10Payne Stewart72-68=140−4

Amateurs: Sherry, Webster, Woods, Clark , Gallacher.

Third round

Saturday, 22 July 1995
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Michael Campbell71-71-65=207−9
2Costantino Rocca69-70-70=209−7
3Steve Elkington72-69-69=210−6
T4John Daly67-71-73=211−5
T4Ernie Els71-68-72=211−5
T4Corey Pavin69-70-72=211−5
T4Katsuyoshi Tomori70-68-73=211−5
T8Mark Brooks70-69-73=212−4
T8Sam Torrance71-70-71=212−4
T10Bob Estes72-70-71=213−3
T10Brad Faxon71-67-75=213−3
T10Barry Lane72-73-68=213−3
T10Brett Ogle73-69-71=213−3
T10Vijay Singh68-72-73=213−3
T10Tom Watson67-76-70=213−3

Final round

Sunday, 23 July 1995
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
T1John Daly67-71-73-71=282−6Playoff
T1Costantino Rocca69-70-70-73=282−6Playoff
T3Steven Bottomley70-72-72-69=283−565,667
T3Mark Brooks70-69-73-71=283−565,667
T3Michael Campbell71-71-65-76=283−565,667
T6Steve Elkington72-69-69-74=284−440,500
T6Vijay Singh68-72-73-71=284−440,500
T8Bob Estes72-70-71-72=285−333,333
T8Mark James72-75-68-70=285−333,333
T8Corey Pavin69-70-72-74=285−333,333

Amateurs: Webster, Sherry, Woods, Clark.
Source:

The 72nd hole

As the final group, consisting of Rocca and 54-hole leader Michael Campbell, approached the last hole, Daly had completed his round and was in at −6, a shot clear of Rocca and two ahead of Campbell. Both golfers had a chance to tie Daly and force a playoff, with Rocca needing birdie and Campbell eagle to do so.
Rocca hit a shorter shot than Campbell, who nearly reached the green on his first shot, and played his second first. However, he misplayed the chip shot and only hit the ball a few yards, leaving him with an extremely long putt from an area of the hole referred to as the "Valley of Sin". Campbell failed to hole out on his second shot, thus leaving Rocca as the only one who could prevent the outright win for Daly.
As Daly and his wife Paulette watched on a monitor, believing that Rocca's mistake clinched the victory for him, Rocca lined up to attempt his putt for a tournament-tying birdie. Needing to make a sixty-five foot uphill putt with a sharp break to stay alive, Rocca managed to redeem himself for his error on the second shot as the putt rolled in to tie Daly at −6.

Playoff

For this 1995 edition, the four holes pre-selected for the aggregate score playoff were 1, 2, 17, and 18. All were par four holes.
Daly emerged with the early lead after parring the first playoff hole while Rocca carded a bogey. He added a shot to his lead with a birdie on 2, leaving him at −1 to Rocca's +1 as the two men headed to the Road Hole for the third playoff hole.
Rocca hit his first shot onto the fairway while Daly ended up in the left-side rough. On the next shot, Rocca hit his ball into the Road Bunker, one of the deepest such hazards on the course. To further complicate matters, Rocca's shot was nestled deep in the sand near the front of the bunker and it took him three tries to finally extricate himself from the trap. Rocca two-putted from there to a triple-bogey 7, which all but ensured Daly would win the championship as he headed to the last hole with a five-shot lead after parring the Road Hole. Daly finished with another par at 18, giving him a four-hole total of 15, one-under-par. Rocca salvaged some pride with a birdie three for 19, three-over-par and four back.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1John Daly4-3-4-4=15−1125,000
2Costantino Rocca5-4-7-3=19+3100,000

Scorecard

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par
EagleBirdieBogeyDouble bogeyTriple bogey +

Source