1979 Open Championship: Seve Ballesteros wins at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club
Seve Ballesteros won the 1979 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, Lytham St Annes, England with 283 (−1), by 3 strokes over Ben Crenshaw and Jack Nicklaus.
Updated October 23, 2026
See 1979 in The Open room, or every year on The Open winners list.
- Dates
- 18 July 1979 to 21 July 1979
- Course
- Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, Lytham St Annes, England
- Edition
- 108th Open Championship
- Format
- 72 holes of stroke play
- Par
- 71
- Field
- 152
- Made the cut
- 61 (cut at 152)
- Purse
- £155,000 · winner's share £15,000
- Trophy
- Claret Jug (replica to winner)
- Champion
- Seve Ballesteros · age 22 · Spain · born Pedreña, Spain
- Champion's title
- 1st Open title
- Winning score
- 73-65-75-70 = 283 (−1) · won by 3 strokes
- Runners-up
- Ben Crenshaw (286), Jack Nicklaus (286)
- 54-hole leader
- Hale Irwin (211) · Seve Ballesteros was 2 strokes back
- Deciding hole
- No. 16, round 4
- Caddie
- Dave Musgrove
- Low amateur
- Peter McEvoy (294)
Top 12 as recorded
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seve Ballesteros | 73 | 65 | 75 | 70 | 283 | −1 |
| T2 | Jack Nicklaus | 72 | 69 | 73 | 72 | 286 | +2 |
| T2 | Ben Crenshaw | 72 | 71 | 72 | 71 | 286 | +2 |
| 4 | Mark James | 76 | 69 | 69 | 73 | 287 | +3 |
| 5 | Rodger Davis | 75 | 70 | 70 | 73 | 288 | +4 |
| 6 | Hale Irwin | 68 | 68 | 75 | 78 | 289 | +5 |
| T7 | Graham Marsh | 74 | 68 | 75 | 74 | 291 | +7 |
| T7 | Bob Byman | 73 | 70 | 72 | 76 | 291 | +7 |
| T7 | Isao Aoki | 70 | 74 | 72 | 75 | 291 | +7 |
| T10 | Bob Charles | 78 | 72 | 70 | 72 | 292 | +8 |
| T10 | Masashi Ozaki | 75 | 69 | 75 | 73 | 292 | +8 |
| T10 | Greg Norman | 73 | 71 | 72 | 76 | 292 | +8 |
What happened at the 1979 Open Championship
At the 16th in the final round, Ballesteros drove into an overflow car park, took a free drop, pitched onto the green and holed a 20-foot birdie putt (the "car park champion").
Crenshaw double-bogeyed the 17th, and Ballesteros won by three despite hitting only one of nine fairways with his driver in the final round.
Ballesteros drove into an overflow car park at the 16th, took a free drop, pitched on and holed for the "car park birdie" that golf.com says "iced the Open."
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).