2011 Open Championship


The 2011 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 140th Open Championship, held from 14 to 17 July at Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent, England. Darren Clarke won his first and to date only major championship, three strokes ahead of runners-up Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson.

Venue

This was the fourteenth Open Championship at Royal St George's; the last was in 2003 when Ben Curtis won his only major championship and finished as the only player under par at −1, a stroke clear of Vijay Singh and Thomas Bjørn.
The course was lengthened by and par returned to 70, having been 71 in 2003 when the fourth hole was a par five.

Course layout

^ Hole No. 4 was a par 5 in 2003
Lengths of the course for previous Opens :
  • 2003:, par 71
  • 1993:, par 70
  • 1985:, par 70
  • 1981:, 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. The players who have already qualified for the 2011 Open Championship are listed below. Each player is classified according to the first category in which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses.
1. Past Open Champions aged 60 or under on 17 July 2011

Mark Calcavecchia, Stewart Cink, Ben Curtis, John Daly, David Duval, Ernie Els, Todd Hamilton, Pádraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie, Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard, Sandy Lyle, Mark O'Meara, Louis Oosthuizen
2. The Open Champions for 2001–2010
3. Past Open Champions born between 17 July 1945 and 19 July 1948

4. Past Open Champions finishing in the top 10 and tying for 10th place in The Open Championship 2006–2010

Tom Watson
5. First 10 and anyone tying for 10th place in the 2010 Open Championship

Paul Casey, Retief Goosen, Martin Kaymer, Rory McIlroy, Sean O'Hair, Robert Rock, Henrik Stenson, Nick Watney, Lee Westwood
6. The first 50 players on the Official World Golf Rankings for Week 22, 2011

Robert Allenby, Jonathan Byrd, K. J. Choi, Ben Crane, Jason Day, Luke Donald, Rickie Fowler, Jim Furyk, Bill Haas, Anders Hansen, Peter Hanson, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson, Robert Karlsson, Kim Kyung-tae, Matt Kuchar, Martin Laird, Hunter Mahan, Matteo Manassero, Graeme McDowell, Phil Mickelson, Francesco Molinari, Edoardo Molinari, Ryan Moore, Geoff Ogilvy, Ryan Palmer, Ian Poulter, Álvaro Quirós, Justin Rose, Rory Sabbatini, Charl Schwartzel, Adam Scott, Brandt Snedeker, Steve Stricker, Bo Van Pelt, Bubba Watson, Yang Yong-eun
7. First 30 in the European Tour Final Race to Dubai for 2010

Fredrik Andersson Hed, Darren Clarke, Rhys Davies, Ross Fisher, Stephen Gallacher, Richard Green, Grégory Havret, Thongchai Jaidee, Simon Khan, Joost Luiten, Danny Willett
8. The BMW PGA Championship winners for 2009–2011
9. First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt having applied above, in the top 20 of the 2011 European Tour Race to Dubai on completion of the 2011 BMW PGA Championship

Thomas Aiken, Raphaël Jacquelin
10. 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 European Tour events from the 2011 BMW PGA Championship up to and including the BMW International Open and including the U.S. Open

Sergio García, Pablo Larrazábal
11. The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2011 Alstom Open de France and the 2011 Barclays Scottish Open

Thorbjørn Olesen, Scott Jamieson
12. The U.S. Open Champions for 2007–2011

Ángel Cabrera, Lucas Glover
13. The U.S. Masters Champions for 2007–2011

Trevor Immelman
14. The U.S. PGA Champions for 2006–2010
15. The U.S. PGA Tour Players Champions for 2009–2011
16. Top 30 on the Official 2010 PGA Tour FedEx Cup points list

Charley Hoffman, Kevin Na, Jeff Overton, Kevin Streelman, Camilo Villegas
17. First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt having applied No. 6, in the top 20 of the FedEx Cup points list of the 2011 PGA Tour on completion of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

Aaron Baddeley, Mark Wilson, Gary Woodland
18. 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 2011 AT&T National

Harrison Frazar, Freddie Jacobson
19. The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2011 AT&T National and the 2011 John Deere Classic

Charles Howell III, Kyle Stanley
20. Playing members of the 2010 Ryder Cup teams
21. First place on the 2010 Asian Tour Order of Merit

Noh Seung-yul
22. First place on the 2010 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit
23. First place on the 2010 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit
24. The 2010 Japan Open Champion
25. First 2, not exempt, on the Official Money List of the Japan Golf Tour for 2010

Hiroyuki Fujita, Ryo Ishikawa
26. The leading 4 players, not exempt, in the 2011 Mizuno Open

Bae Sang-moon, Hwang Jung-gon, Brad Kennedy, Prayad Marksaeng
27. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, not exempt having applied above, in a cumulative money list taken from all official 2011 Japan Golf Tour events up to and including the 2011 Mizuno Open

Hiroo Kawai, Tadahiro Takayama
28. The Senior British Open Champion for 2010

Bernhard Langer
29. The 2011 Amateur Champion

Bryden Macpherson
30. The 2010 U.S. Amateur Champion

Peter Uihlein
31. The 2010 European Individual Amateur Champion

Lucas Bjerregaard
International Final Qualifying
Local Final Qualifying
  • denotes amateur
Alternates

To make up the full entry of 156, additional players are drawn from the Official World Golf Rankings dated 3 July 2011.
  1. Webb Simpson – As of 4 July 2011, a maximum of 151 players could qualify so the leading five players in the rankings not already qualified were offered places
  2. J. B. Holmes
  3. Vijay Singh – subsequently withdrew with an injury.
  4. Steve Marino
  5. Yuta Ikeda
  6. Jason Dufner replaced Tiger Woods
  7. Robert Garrigus replaced Thomas Levet
  8. Anthony Kim replaced Tim Clark
  9. Simon Dyson replaced David Toms
  10. Thomas Bjørn replaced Vijay Singh
  11. Ricky Barnes replaced Nicolas Colsaerts

    Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 14 July 2011
Returning to the course where he led by three with four holes to play in 2003, Thomas Bjørn shot in the morning to set the early pace. Surprisingly, 20-year-old amateur Tom Lewis, a later starter, tied Bjørn's score to share the lead. Lewis was the first amateur to hold at least a share of the lead after 18 holes since Michael Bonallack in 1968.
He also carded the lowest single-round score by an amateur at The Open Championship. 47-year-old Miguel Ángel Jiménez, 2009 U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover, and Webb Simpson all shot 66, a stroke back. Pre-tournament favourite Rory McIlroy, the reigning U.S. Open champion, bogeyed his first hole and shot 71; world number one Luke Donald and number two Lee Westwood matched that score. Defending champion Louis Oosthuizen struggled in the calmer afternoon conditions, managing only a 72. Dustin Johnson earned shot of the day honors late in the morning when he aced the par-3 16th hole, part of a five-under-par four hole stretch from 14 through 17; he finished at 70. The large group at 68, three off the leaders, included 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell, and reigning PGA Championship champion Martin Kaymer.
PlacePlayerScoreTo par
T1

Second round

Friday, 15 July 2011
In the morning's play, overnight co-leader Tom Lewis shot 74 to fade back into the chasing pack. The clubhouse lead was taken by Lucas Glover, who started the day one stroke back and posted a steady level-par 70 to stay at −4. He was soon matched by veteran Darren Clarke who reached the mark with a rare closing birdie. As the wind picked up in the afternoon, first round co-leader Thomas Bjørn struggled to an up-and-down 72 to finish at −3. At various times, Miguel Ángel Jiménez and Simon Dyson took the lead, but struggled on their back nines; Jiménez finished at −3 and Dyson at E. Joining Bjørn and Jiménez one shot back were Chad Campbell and Martin Kaymer.
Tom Watson, playing with Tom Lewis, earned the second ace of the tournament, by holing out on the 6th hole for a hole in one. The 61-year-old Watson finished with a 70 to comfortably make the cut; he became the oldest ever player to make an Open cut. Pre-tournament favourite Rory McIlroy played better on Friday shooting 69 for an even par 140, earning a third straight round alongside Rickie Fowler.
Notables who missed the cut included World No. 1 Luke Donald, World No.2 Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell, Matt Kuchar, Nick Watney, and Pádraig Harrington.
PlacePlayerScoreTo par
T1

Third round

Saturday, 16 July 2011
In wet and windy difficult morning conditions, some of the best play came from Tom Watson, using his 35 years of Open experience to survive the worst of the weather and move up the field with a +2. Rickie Fowler shot a two-under 68, still battling much of the worst of the weather, to move into contention at −2. Co-leader Darren Clarke, in the final pairing, shot 69 to take the 54-hole lead at 205, a stroke behind was Dustin Johnson. Johnson was in the final Sunday pairing for the third time in six majors, after the U.S. Open and PGA Championship the previous year. Second round co-leader Lucas Glover shot 73 to fall back to 209. Four-time major winner Phil Mickelson had 71 for even par 210, while Thomas Bjørn, repeating his strong showing at the 2003 Open on this course, shot 71 for 208.
PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1