1999 British Open: Van de Velde's Epic Collapse

The 1999 British Open was the 128th time the tournament was played, and the site of one of the most infamous collapses in major championship history.

Winner: Paul Lawrie, 290

Where it was played: Carnoustie Golf Links, Angus, Scotland

Tournament dates: July 15-18, 1999

Leader after first round: Rod Pampling, 71

Leader after second round: Jean van de Velde, 143

Leader after third round: Jean van de Velde, 213

Notable Notes: Jean van de Velde suffered one of the epic collapses in golf history at this Open. He led by five entering the final round, and led by three shots as he arrived on the final tee. He could have double-bogeyed and won, but instead he triple-bogeyed, then lost in a playoff.

The winner was Paul Lawrie (Justin Leonard was the third man in the playoff), who had started the final round 10 strokes off the lead. Lawrie thus set a new record for largest final-round comeback in a major. He won the playoff by three strokes.

As for Van de Velde's collapse: His drive was poor but safe. His approach into the green hit the metal grandstands and rebounded into very thick rough. He tried to gouge the ball across water to the green, but went into the water instead. After spending several minutes down in the water, mulling whether to try hitting out of the water, Van de Velde took the penalty and dropped behind the water again. This time, he cleared the water but hit into a bunker. He got up and down from the bunker for triple bogey.

Final Scores

x-Paul Lawrie 73-74-76-67-290
Justin Leonard 73-74-71-72-290
Jean Van de Velde 75-68-70-77-290
Angel Cabrera 75-69-77-70-291
Craig Parry 76-75-67-73-291
Greg Norman 76-70-75-72-293
Tiger Woods 74-72-74-74-294
Davis Love 74-74-77-69-294
David Frost 80-69-71-74-294
Scott Dunlap 72-77-76-70-295
Jim Furyk 78-71-76-70-295
Retief Goosen 76-75-73-71-295
Jesper Parnevik 74-71-78-72-295
Hal Sutton 73-78-72-72-295
Colin Montgomerie 74-76-72-74-296
Tsuyoshi Yoneyama 77-74-73-72-296
Scott Verplank 80-74-73-69-296
Lee Westwood 76-75-74-72-297
Costantino Rocca 81-69-74-73-297
Patrik Sjoland 74-72-77-74-297
Andrew Coltart 74-74-72-77-297
Bernhard Langer 72-77-73-75-297
Frank Nobilo 76-76-70-75-297
Miguel Angel Martin 74-76-72-76-298
Peter O'Malley 76-75-74-73-298
Brian Watts 74-73-77-74-298
Ian Woosnam 76-74-74-74-298
Ernie Els 74-76-76-72-298
Padraig Harrington 77-74-74-74-299
Payne Stewart 79-73-74-74-300
Pierre Fulke 75-75-77-73-300
Darren Clarke 76-75-76-73-300
Thomas Bjorn 79-73-75-73-300
Jeff Maggert 75-77-75-73-300
Tim Herron 81-70-74-75-300
Len Mattiace 73-74-75-78-300
Nick Price 77-74-73-77-301
Paul Affleck 79-75-74-73-301
Peter Baker 77-74-78-72-301
Dudley Hart 73-79-75-74-301
Mark McNulty 73-77-76-75-301
Michael Weir 83-71-72-75-301
Duffy Waldorf 80-72-76-74-302
Mark James 76-74-74-78-302
David Howell 76-78-79-70-303
Jeff Sluman 80-74-77-72-303
Steve Pate 73-76-80-74-303
Joe Ozaki 74-78-75-76-303
Thomas Levet 78-76-76-74-304
Choi Kyoung-Ju 76-72-81-75-304
Dean Robertson 76-75-78-75-304
Stephen Allan 79-73-83-69-304
Neil Price 79-74-76-75-304
Katsuyoshi Tomori 74-75-79-76-304
Bob Estes 75-76-77-76-304
Peter Lonard 76-78-74-76-304
Bradley Hughes 76-71-78-79-304
Santiago Luna 78-74-80-73-305
Dennis Paulson 74-78-79-74-305
Phillip Price 77-76-77-75-305
Jeremy Robinson 77-76-77-75-305
David Duval 79-75-76-76-306
Johan Rystrom 78-75-76-77-306
Mark Brooks 82-70-76-78-306
Jarmo Sandelin 75-78-77-77-307
Sven Struver 77-73-79-79-308
Lee Thompson 75-78-76-80-309
Brian Davis 80-71-82-77-310
John Huston 80-71-77-82-310
Lee Janzen 80-74-79-78-311
Shingo Katayama 76-75-78-83-312
Martyn Thompson 76-78-78-81-313
Derrick Cooper 75-77-76-85-313

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