1987 Open Championship: Nick Faldo wins at Muirfield
Nick Faldo won the 1987 Open Championship at Muirfield, Gullane, Scotland with 279 (−5), by 1 stroke over Paul Azinger and Rodger Davis.
Updated October 23, 2026
See 1987 in The Open room, or every year on The Open winners list.
- Dates
- 16 July 1987 to 19 July 1987
- Course
- Muirfield, Gullane, Scotland
- Edition
- 116th Open Championship
- Format
- 72 holes of stroke play
- Par
- 71
- Field
- 153
- Made the cut
- 78 (cut at 146)
- Purse
- £650,000 · winner's share £75,000
- Trophy
- Claret Jug (replica to winner)
- Champion
- Nick Faldo · age 30 · England · born Welwyn Garden City, England
- Champion's title
- 1st Open title
- Winning score
- 68-69-71-71 = 279 (−5) · won by 1 stroke
- Runners-up
- Paul Azinger (280), Rodger Davis (280)
- 54-hole leader
- Paul Azinger (207) · Nick Faldo was 1 stroke back
- Deciding hole
- No. 18, round 4
- Low amateur
- Paul Mayo (297)
Top 10 as recorded
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nick Faldo | 68 | 69 | 71 | 71 | 279 | −5 |
| T2 | Paul Azinger | 68 | 68 | 71 | 73 | 280 | −4 |
| T2 | Rodger Davis | 64 | 73 | 74 | 69 | 280 | −4 |
| T4 | Ben Crenshaw | 73 | 68 | 72 | 68 | 281 | −3 |
| T4 | Payne Stewart | 71 | 66 | 72 | 72 | 281 | −3 |
| 6 | David Frost | 70 | 68 | 70 | 74 | 282 | −2 |
| 7 | Tom Watson | 69 | 69 | 71 | 74 | 283 | −1 |
| T8 | Nick Price | 68 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 284 | E |
| T8 | Craig Stadler | 69 | 69 | 71 | 75 | 284 | E |
| T8 | Ian Woosnam | 71 | 69 | 72 | 72 | 284 | E |
What happened at the 1987 Open Championship
Faldo made 18 straight pars in the final round, including a 30-yard bunker shot to 4 feet at the 8th, and holed a 4-footer at the 18th.
Azinger, leading on the back nine, drove into a fairway bunker at the par-5 17th and made 6, then bunkered his approach at the 18th and bogeyed again.
One ahead with two to play, Paul Azinger bogeyed the par-5 17th from a fairway bunker and then bogeyed the 18th, so Faldo's 18th straight par of the day won it ("Faldo only became the Champion Golfer when Azinger followed his bogey at the 17th with another at the last").
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).