1969 Open Championship: Tony Jacklin wins at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club
Tony Jacklin won the 1969 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, Lytham St Annes, England with 280 (−4), by 2 strokes over Bob Charles.
Updated October 23, 2026
See 1969 in The Open room, or every year on The Open winners list.
- Dates
- 9 July 1969 to 12 July 1969
- Course
- Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, Lytham St Annes, England
- Edition
- 98th Open Championship
- Format
- 72 holes of stroke play
- Par
- 71
- Field
- 130
- Made the cut
- 73 (cut at 151)
- Purse
- £30,000
- Trophy
- Claret Jug (replica to winner)
- Champion
- Tony Jacklin · age 25 · England · born Scunthorpe, England
- Champion's title
- 1st Open title
- Winning score
- 68-70-70-72 = 280 (−4) · won by 2 strokes
- Runner-up
- Bob Charles (282)
- 54-hole leader
- Tony Jacklin (208)
- Deciding hole
- No. 18, round 4
- Low amateur
- Peter Tupling (294)
Top 10 as recorded
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tony Jacklin | 68 | 70 | 70 | 72 | 280 | −4 |
| 2 | Bob Charles | 66 | 69 | 75 | 72 | 282 | −2 |
| T3 | Roberto De Vicenzo | 72 | 73 | 66 | 72 | 283 | −1 |
| T3 | Peter Thomson | 71 | 70 | 70 | 72 | 283 | −1 |
| 5 | Christy O'Connor Sr | 71 | 65 | 74 | 74 | 284 | E |
| T6 | Jack Nicklaus | 75 | 70 | 68 | 72 | 285 | +1 |
| T6 | Davis Love Jr | 70 | 73 | 71 | 71 | 285 | +1 |
| 8 | Peter Alliss | 73 | 74 | 73 | 66 | 286 | +2 |
| 9 | Kel Nagle | 74 | 71 | 72 | 70 | 287 | +3 |
| 10 | Miller Barber | 69 | 75 | 75 | 69 | 288 | +4 |
What happened at the 1969 Open Championship
Jacklin's four-shot lead shrank on the back nine with bogeys at the 15th and 17th, leaving him two ahead on the 18th tee.
On the 18th he hit what Henry Longhurst called on TV 'What a corker' down the middle, was mobbed by the crowd (losing a shoe) and two-putted to become the first British champion since 1951.
Two ahead on the final tee, Jacklin hit his famous drive down the 18th and two-putted, a moment Golf Compendium's 1985 page describes as watching "Jacklin clinched the win" around the 18th hole.
How this was built
Every value is shown as recorded in GNN's The Open data. A value no source confirmed is left out; nothing is estimated. Where sources disagree, the organizer's own record is used.
Data: the-open.json (The Open room's data), with GNN's Open Championship addendum tables L (top ten by round), H (deciding hole), W (final-day weather).