2009 Open Championship


The 2009 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 138th Open Championship, held from 16–19 July at the Ailsa Course of the Turnberry Resort, in Ayrshire, Scotland. Stewart Cink won his only major championship after a four-hole playoff with Tom Watson. At age 59, Watson had the chance to win his sixth Open and become the oldest major champion in history during regulation play, but was unable to par the final hole and tied with Cink.
It was the fourth Open at Turnberry; the previous winners were Watson, Greg Norman, and Nick Price.

Venue

As with previous editions of The Open Championship at Turnberry, this event was played on the resort's Ailsa Course. Since it last hosted the Championship in 1994, the course had been lengthened by almost, with over having been added to the par 5 17th hole. Six new tees had been built, and the 16th hole was longer and had been remodelled into a dog-leg to the right, having previously been relatively straight.

Card of the course

Ailsa Course
Previous lengths of the course for The Open Championship:
  • 1994:, par 70
  • 1986:, par 70
  • 1977:, par 70

    Field

Each year, around two-thirds of The Open Championship field consists of players that are fully exempt from qualifying for the Open. Below is a list of the exemption categories, and the players who were exempt for the 2009 Open. Each player is classified according to the first category by which they qualified, with other categories they also fall into being shown in parentheses. Some categories are not shown as all players in that category had already qualified from an earlier category:
1. First 10 and anyone tying for 10th place in the 2008 Open Championship

Robert Allenby, Stephen Ames, Paul Casey, Ben Curtis, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Pádraig Harrington, David Howell, Anthony Kim, Greg Norman, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson, Steve Stricker, Chris Wood
  • Robert Karlsson withdrew prior to the tournament due to an eye problem.
2. Past Open Champions born between 17 July 1943 and 19 July 1948

3. Past Open Champions aged 60 or under on 19 July 2008

Mark Calcavecchia, John Daly, David Duval, Nick Faldo, Todd Hamilton, Paul Lawrie, Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard, Sandy Lyle, Mark O'Meara, Tom Watson, Tiger Woods

4. The Open Champions for 1999-2008
5. The first 50 players on the Official World Golf Rankings for Week 21, 2009

Ángel Cabrera, Chad Campbell, K. J. Choi, Stewart Cink, Tim Clark, Luke Donald, Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, Ross Fisher, Sergio García, Retief Goosen, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Søren Kjeldsen, Hunter Mahan, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy, Geoff Ogilvy, Sean O'Hair, Kenny Perry, Álvaro Quirós, Justin Rose, Rory Sabbatini, Adam Scott, Vijay Singh, David Toms, Camilo Villegas, Nick Watney, Mike Weir, Lee Westwood, Oliver Wilson
  • Trevor Immelman withdrew prior to the tournament due to a wrist injury.
  • Phil Mickelson withdrew prior to the tournament due to his wife's recovery from breast cancer surgery.
  • Shingo Katayama withdrew prior to the tournament due a back injury.
  • Jeev Milkha Singh withdrew prior to the tournament due a rib injury.
6. First 30 in the PGA European Tour Final Order of Merit for 2008

Darren Clarke, Richard Finch, Richard Green, Søren Hansen, Peter Hanson, Peter Hedblom, James Kingston, Pablo Larrazábal, Paul McGinley, Damien McGrane, Francesco Molinari, Colin Montgomerie, Charl Schwartzel, Anthony Wall
7. The BMW PGA Championship winners for 2007-2009

Anders Hansen
8. First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt having applied above, in the top 20 of the 2009 PGA European Tour Race to Dubai on completion of the 2009 BMW PGA Championship

Thongchai Jaidee, Louis Oosthuizen, Robert Rock
9. First 2 European Tour members and any European Tour members tying for 2nd place, not exempt, in a cumulative money list taken from all official PGA European Tour events from OWGR Week 19 up to and including the BMW International Open and including the U.S. Open

Nick Dougherty, Johan Edfors
10. The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2009 Open de France Alstom and the 2009 Barclays Scottish Open.
11. The U.S. Open Champions for 2005-2009

Michael Campbell, Lucas Glover
12. The U.S. Masters Champions for 2005-2009
13. The U.S. PGA Champions for 2004-2008
14. The U.S. PGA Tour Players Champions for 2007-2009
15. Top 30 on the Official 2008 PGA Tour FedEx Cup points list

Stuart Appleby, Briny Baird, Ken Duke, Ryuji Imada, Billy Mayfair, Carl Pettersson, Andrés Romero, Kevin Sutherland, D. J. Trahan, Bubba Watson
  • Dudley Hart withdrew prior to the tournament.
16. First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt having applied above, in the top 20 of the FedEx Cup points list of the 2009 PGA Tour on completion of the HP Byron Nelson Championship

Brian Gay, Charley Hoffman, Charles Howell III
17. First 2 PGA Tour members and any PGA Tour members tying for 2nd place, not exempt, in a cumulative money list taken from The Players Championship and the five PGA Tour events leading up to and including the 2009 AT&T National

Paul Goydos, Bryce Molder
18. The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2009 AT&T National and the 2009 John Deere Classic

Brandt Snedeker
  • Brett Quigley qualified at the John Deere Classic, but declined the invitation in order to attend the memorial service for the wife of fellow player Chris Smith
19. Playing members of the 2008 Ryder Cup teams

J. B. Holmes, Boo Weekley
20. First place on the 2008 Asian Tour Order of Merit
21. First place on the 2008 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit

Mark Brown
22. First place on the 2008 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit

Richard Sterne
23. The 2008 Japan Open Champion
24. First 2, not exempt, on the Official Money List of the Japan Golf Tour for 2008

Prayad Marksaeng, Azuma Yano
25. The leading 4 players, not exempt, in the 2009 Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic

Ryo Ishikawa, Tomohiro Kondo, Kenichi Kuboya, David Smail
26. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, not exempt having applied above, in a cumulative money list taken from all official 2009 Japan Golf Tour events up to and including the 2009 Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic

Yuta Ikeda, Koumei Oda
27. The Senior British Open Champion for 2008

Bruce Vaughan
28. The 2009 Amateur Champion

Matteo Manassero
29. The 2008 U.S. Amateur Champion

30. The 2008 European Individual Amateur Champion

Stephan Gross
International Final Qualifying

Local Final Qualifying

Alternates

Drawn from the Official World Golf Rankings of 5 July 2009 :
  1. Mathew Goggin replaced Trevor Immelman.
  2. Ben Crane replaced Phil Mickelson.
  3. Steve Marino replaced Shingo Katayama.
  4. Rod Pampling entered the field as no players not already qualified finished in the top 5 at the Barclays Scottish Open.
  5. Thomas Levet replaced Brett Quigley.
  6. John Senden replaced Jeev Milkha Singh.

    Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 16 July 2009
Calm and sunny weather provided good scoring conditions for the opening round. Miguel Ángel Jiménez took the lead at 64, and past champions turned back the clock: five-time winner Tom Watson, age 59, carded a bogey-free 65, and both Mark Calcavecchia and Mark O'Meara shot 67. Ben Curtis, 2003 champion, also opened with 65 to join Watson and Kenichi Kuboya, who was even par through 14 holes, but finished birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie. Steve Stricker, Stewart Cink, and Camilo Villegas started strong at 66, and notables at 67 included Calcavecchia, O'Meara, Retief Goosen, Jim Furyk, Mike Weir, and Vijay Singh. Two-time defending champion Pádraig Harrington had a quiet 69, while Tiger Woods struggled off the tee for 71. Two-time champion Greg Norman, the previous year's Cinderella story, had a disappointing 77.
PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1

Second round

Friday, 17 July 2009
High winds and scattered showers pushed the scoring average more than two strokes higher with just seven sub-par rounds on Friday, compared to fifty on Thursday. The conditions were the worst during the morning, and the round's best of 68 belonging to co-leader Steve Marino and Ross Fisher, tied for fourth place. Retief Goosen shot an even par 70 to share fourth. Veteran Tom Watson continued his excellent performance; he struggled through the front nine, but holed long putts at the 16th and 18th, as he made three birdies on the back nine to tie Marino for the lead at 135. Nearly sixty, Watson looked to become the oldest winner of a major championship by over a decade.
The cut was at 144 and 73 players advanced to the weekend. Sixteen-year-old British Amateur Champion Matteo Manassero played with Watson and posted 141 and all but secured the silver medal as the leading amateur. Among those to miss the cut was world number one and pre-tournament favorite Tiger Woods. Going out in the afternoon, his 74 included two double bogeys on holes 10 and 13, and his 145 missed the cut by a stroke. It was his first missed cut at the Open, and only the second missed cut in a major as a professional, after the 2006 U.S. Open. Other notables to miss the cut included Mike Weir, Ben Curtis, David Duval, and Geoff Ogilvy.
PlacePlayerScoreTo par
T1