|
2008 Open Championship
  Southport Location in England  Royal Birkdale Golf Club The 2008 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 137th Open Championship, played from 17 to 20 July at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. Pádraig Harrington successfully defended his Open Championship title, his second; he shot four under par over the final nine holes and was four strokes ahead of runner-up Ian Poulter.[3] Harrington was the last golfer to win the same major back-to-back for a decade until Brooks Koepka won consecutive U.S. Opens in 2017 and 2018. Television coverage was provided as usual by the BBC in the UK, and by ABC and TNT in the United States. FieldWorld Number One Tiger Woods was the most notable absentee, as he was recovering from knee surgery following his victory at the U.S. Open. About two-thirds of the field each year consists of players that are fully exempt from qualifying for the Open. Below is the list of the exemption categories and the players who are exempt. Each player is classified according to the first category by which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses. Some categories are not shown as all players in that category had already qualified from an earlier category:[4] 1. First 10 and anyone tying for 10th place in the 2007 Open Championship 2. Past Open Champions born between 20 July 1942 and 19 July 1948 3. Past Open Champions aged 60 or under on 20 July 2008 4. The Open Champions for 1998-2007 5. First 20 in the PGA European Tour Final Order of Merit for 2007 6. The BMW PGA Championship winners for 2006-2008 7. The first 50 players on the Official World Golf Rankings for Week 21, 2008 8. First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt having applied above, in the top 20 of the 2008 PGA European Tour Order of Merit on completion of the 2008 BMW PGA Championship 9. 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 PGA European Tour events from OWGR Week 19 up to and including the Open de France and including the U.S. Open 10. The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2008 European Open and the 2008 Barclays Scottish Open. 11. The U.S. Open Champions for 2004-2008 12. The U.S. Masters Champions for 2004-2008 13. The U.S. PGA Champions for 2003-2007 14. The U.S. PGA Tour Players Champions for 2006-2008 15. Top 20 on the Official Money List of the 2007 PGA Tour 16. First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt having applied above, in the top 20 of the Official Money List of the 2008 PGA Tour on completion of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial 17. 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 2008 AT&T National 18. The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2008 AT&T National and the 2008 John Deere Classic 19. Playing members of the 2007 Presidents Cup teams 20. First place on the 2007 Asian Tour Order of Merit 21. First 2 on the Order of Merit of the PGA Tour of Australasia for 2007 22. First place on the Order of Merit of the Southern Africa Sunshine Tour for 2007 23. The RBC Canadian Open Champion for 2007 24. The Japan Open Champion for 2007 25. First 2 on the Official Money List of the Japan Golf Tour for 2007 26. The leading 4 players, not exempt, in the 2008 Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic 27. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, not exempt having applied (26) above, in a cumulative money list taken from all official Japan Golf Tour events from the 2008 Japan PGA Championship up to and including the 2008 Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic 28. The Senior British Open Champion for 2007 29. The 2008 Amateur Champion 30. The U.S. Amateur Champion for 2007 31. The European Individual Amateur Champion for 2007 International Final Qualifying
Local Final Qualifying (Monday 7 July and Tuesday 8 July)
Alternates
VenueCourse layout
Source:
Round summariesFirst roundThursday, 17 July 2008 Rocco Mediate, 2008 U.S. Open runner-up, shot a one-under par round of 69 to take the 18-hole lead alongside Graeme McDowell and Robert Allenby. One shot back at even-par was 53-year old two-time champion Greg Norman with fellow countryman Adam Scott.
Second roundFriday, 18 July 2008 The cut was at 149 (+9) and 83 advanced, including Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson, who played in the terrible morning conditions in the first round.
Amateurs: Wood (+5), Sherreard (+6), Hébert (+12), Blizard (+15), Saxton (+17). Third roundSaturday, 19 July 2008 Greg Norman, age 53, became the oldest to hold at least a share of the 54-hole lead (it lasted just one year, as Tom Watson led after three rounds in 2009 at age 59). Due to extremely high winds, there were no under-par rounds, and it was first time since 1986 when the 54-hole leader was not under par.
Final roundSunday, 20 July 2008  Despite a wrist injury that almost forced him to withdraw prior to the tournament, Pádraig Harrington successfully defended his Open Championship title.[11] Harrington pulled away from the field with a tremendous back nine and became only the fifth to repeat at the Open in the last fifty years. Runner-up Ian Poulter matched Harrington's 69 and was four strokes back, while Greg Norman faltered with eight bogeys for 77 and tied for third place with Henrik Stenson.[12]
Source:[13]
ScorecardFinal round
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:[14] References
External links |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
