Jack Nicklaus' British Open Wins and Yearly Finishes
Of the four major championships of men's professional golf, the British Open is the one Jack Nicklaus won the least — "only" three times. He won the U.S. Open four times, the PGA Championship five times and The Masters six times. But his record in this major is spectacular nonetheless.
He finished in the Top 10 18 times. From 1966 through 1980, a span of 15 Opens, Nicklaus won three times, was runner-up six times, finished third three times and was never lower than sixth place. And he had other Top 10s outside of that range, including another second-place and another third-place finish.
Nicklaus' British Open Wins
- 1966 British Open: Nicklaus won by a single stroke over runners-up Doug Sanders and Dave Thomas. It was Nicklaus' sixth career victory in a professional major, and with it he completed the career grand slam (wins in all four pro majors). Today it is counted as Nicklaus' 19th career PGA Tour win.
- 1970 British Open: Sanders was also runner-up to Nicklaus in Jack's second Open win. But this time a playoff was required. They tied at 283 after Sanders missed a putt on the 72nd green of about 2-and-a-half feet that would have won him the trophy. Nicklaus won the playoff by one stroke. It was Nicklaus' 32nd career PGA Tour win, his eighth major championship win.
- 1978 British Open: Nicklaus shot 69 in the final round to win by two strokes over the quartet of Raymond Floyd, Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw and Simon Owen. It was his 15th career win in a major, and he completed the career grand slam for the third time (winning each of the pro majors at least three times each). It was Nicklaus' 67th career PGA Tour win. He won three more majors after this, but only six more PGA Tour titles total.
His Yearly Scores and Finishes in The Open Championship
The "Golden Bear" first played in the Open Championship in 1962, when he was 22 years old and in his rookie season as a pro. He last played this major in 2005, when he was 65 years old.- 1962: 80-72-74-79—305 (+17), tied 34th
- 1963: 71-67-70-70—278 (-6), third
- 1964: 76-74-66-68—284 (-4), second
- 1965: 73-71-77-73—294 (+2), tied 12th
- 1966: 70-67-75-70—282 (-2), winner
- 1967: 71-69-71-69—280 (-8), second
- 1968: 76-69-73-73—291 (+3), tied second
- 1969: 75-70-68-72—285 (+1), tied sixth
- 1970: 68-69-73-73—283 (-5), winner, def. Doug Sanders in playoff, 72 to 73
- 1971: 71-71-72-69—283 (-1), tied fifth
- 1972: 70-72-71-66—279 (-5), second
- 1973: 69-70-76-65—280 (-8), fourth
- 1974: 74-72-70-71—287 (+3), third
- 1975: 69-71-68-72—280 (-8), tied third
- 1976: 74-70-72-69—285 (-3), tied second
- 1977: 68-70-65-66—269 (-11), second
- 1978: 71-72-69-69—281 (-7), winner
- 1979: 72-69-73-72—286 (+2), tied second
- 1980: 73-67-71-69—280 (-4), tied fourth
- 1981: 83-66-71-70—290 (+10), tied 23rd
- 1982: 77-70-72-69—288 (+4), tied 10th
- 1983: 71-72-72-70—285 (+5), tied 29th
- 1984: 76-72-68-72—288 (E), tied 31st
- 1985: 77-75—152 (+12), missed cut
- 1986: 78-73-76-71—298 (+18), tied 46th
- 1987: 74-71-81-76—302 (+18), tied 72nd
- 1988: 75-70-75-68—288 (+4), tied 25th
- 1989: 74-71-71-70—286 (-2), tied 30th
- 1990: 71-70-77-71—289 (+1), tied 63rd
- 1991: 70-75-69-71—285 (+5), tied 44th
- 1992: 75-73—148 (+6), missed cut
- 1993: 69-75—144 (+4), missed cut
- 1994: 72-73—145 (+5), missed cut
- 1995: 78-70-77-71—296 (+8), tied 79th
- 1996: 69-66-77-73—285 (+1), tied 44th
- 1997: 73-74-71-75—293 (+9), tied 60th
- 1998: did not play
- 1999: did not play
- 2000: 77-73—150 (+6), missed cut
- 2001: did not play
- 2002: did not play
- 2003: did not play
- 2004: did not play
- 2005: 75-72—147 (+3), missed cut
Nicklaus' seven career runner-up finishes are the most in Open history, and the most by any golfer at any of the four majors. For more on those, see our article Who Finished Second Most Often in the British Open?
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