2009 Open Championship: Stewart Cink wins at Turnberry (Ailsa Course)
Stewart Cink won the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry (Ailsa Course), Scotland with 278 (−2), beating Tom Watson in a playoff.
Updated October 23, 2026
See 2009 in The Open room, or every year on The Open winners list.
- Dates
- 16 July 2009 to 19 July 2009
- Course
- Turnberry (Ailsa Course), Scotland
- Edition
- 138th Open Championship
- Format
- 72 holes of stroke play
- Par
- 70
- Field
- 156
- Made the cut
- 73 (cut at 144)
- Purse
- £4,200,000 · winner's share £750,000
- Trophy
- Claret Jug (replica to winner)
- Champion
- Stewart Cink · age 36 · USA · born Huntsville, USA
- Champion's title
- 1st Open title
- World ranking entering
- No. 33
- Winning score
- 66-72-71-69 = 278 (−2)
- Runner-up
- Tom Watson (278)
- 54-hole leader
- Tom Watson (206) · Stewart Cink was 3 strokes back
- Playoff
- 4-hole aggregate; beat Tom Watson; Cink 14; Watson 20
- Deciding hole
- No. 18, round 4
- Low amateur
- Matteo Manassero (282)
Top 12 as recorded
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stewart Cink | 66 | 72 | 71 | 69 | 278 | −2 |
| 2 | Tom Watson | 65 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 278 | −2 |
| T3 | Lee Westwood | 68 | 70 | 70 | 71 | 279 | −1 |
| T3 | Chris Wood | 70 | 70 | 72 | 67 | 279 | −1 |
| T5 | Luke Donald | 71 | 72 | 70 | 67 | 280 | E |
| T5 | Retief Goosen | 67 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 280 | E |
| T5 | Mathew Goggin | 66 | 72 | 69 | 73 | 280 | E |
| T8 | Ernie Els | 69 | 72 | 72 | 68 | 281 | +1 |
| T8 | Søren Hansen | 68 | 72 | 74 | 67 | 281 | +1 |
| T8 | Justin Leonard | 70 | 70 | 73 | 68 | 281 | +1 |
| T8 | Thomas Aiken | 71 | 72 | 69 | 69 | 281 | +1 |
| T8 | Richard S. Johnson | 70 | 72 | 69 | 70 | 281 | +1 |
What happened at the 2009 Open Championship
Watson, 59, led by one on the 72nd tee, but his approach ran over the green and he missed an eight-foot par putt to fall into a playoff.
Cink birdied the 72nd hole to post -2, then won the playoff by six strokes.
Tom Watson, leading on the 72nd tee, ran his approach over the green and bogeyed ("fell at the very last hurdle"), falling into a playoff that Cink won by six.
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).