Golf · 1977 · Turnberry, Scotland
The Duel in the Sun
Paired together for the final two rounds of the Open at Turnberry, Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus separate themselves from the rest of the field entirely and play one of the greatest head-to-head duels the sport has seen.
Watson 268, Nicklaus 269
Result
8-10 strokes
Margin over 3rd place
65, 65
Rounds 3 & 4 (both players)
Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus were drawn to play together for the third and fourth rounds of the 1977 Open Championship at Turnberry, then found themselves so far clear of the rest of the field that the tournament effectively became a two-man contest played out under clear skies that gave the finish its name. Both shot matching third-round 65s to open a wide gap over the field.
In the final round both players shot 65 again, Nicklaus briefly ahead after an eagle at the 7th before Watson drew level and then edged in front with a birdie at the 15th and a chip-in at 17. Nicklaus, needing a birdie at the last to stay level, hit a huge drive and holed a long, testing putt, only for Watson to answer from close range moments later to win by a single stroke.
Both men finished at scores that would have won almost any other Open by a wide margin, ten and eight strokes ahead of third-placed Hubert Green, who joked afterward that he had won the tournament for everyone else. The final two rounds are still routinely ranked among the greatest sustained head-to-head golf ever played by two competitors in the same group.
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