1995 Open Championship


The 1995 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 124th Open Championship held from 20 to 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 and the first appearance for three-time champion Tiger Woods.

Course

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

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 20 July 1995
PlacePlayerScoreTo par
T1

Second round

Friday, 21 July 1995
PlacePlayerScoreTo par
T1

Third round

Saturday, 22 July 1995
PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1

Final round

Sunday, 23 July 1995
PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney
T1

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 under par, a stroke 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.
PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney
1

Scorecard

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par
EagleBirdieBogeyDouble bogeyTriple bogey +

Source