HOYLAKE, England (AP) — A capsule look at the previous 12 British Opens held at Royal Liverpool:
Year: 2014
Winner: Rory McIlroy
Runners-up: Rickie Fowler, Sergio Garcia
Winning score: 271
Margin: 2 shots
Prize money: 975,000 pounds
Noteworthy: The British Open for the first time went to a two-tee start in the third round because of a heavy rain in the forecast.
Summary: Rory McIlroy opened with a pair of 66s and no one could catch him. He went wire-to-wire to capture the claret jug. McIlroy stretched his lead to six shots going into the final round. Sergio Garcia was within two shots until it took him two shots to get out of a bunker on the 16th hole, leading to bogey. McIlroy joined Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to win three different majors at 25 or younger. Jordan Spieth would join that group three years later.
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Year: 2006
Winner: Tiger Woods
Runner-up: Chris DiMarco
Winning score: 270
Margin: 2 shots
First-place money: 720,000 pounds
Noteworthy: Woods became the first player since Tom Watson (1982-83) to win The Open in back-to-back years.
Summary: One month after missing the cut in a major for the first time, Woods won his third British Open title by seizing control with a 65 in the second round and closing with a 67. He hit only one drive all week on the baked fairways, and that went on the adjacent fairway. Woods won his 11th major, tied with Walter Hagen. It was memorable for how he broke down and sobbed on the 18th green. It was his first major victory since the death of his father.
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Year: 1967
Winner: Roberto De Vicenzo
Runner-up: Jack Nicklaus
Winning score: 278
Margin: 2 shots
First-place money: 21,000 pounds
Noteworthy: Roberto De Vicenzo became the only South American to win a major until Angel Cabrera 40 years later in the U.S. Open at Oakmont.
Summary: De Vicenzo tied Gary Player for a course-record 67 in the third round to build a two-shot lead over Player, with Nicklaus one shot behind. The Argentine was one shot ahead of Nicklaus, who already had closed with a 69, when he played a 3-wood over the out-of-bounds area on the 16th hole and safely onto the green for a two-putt birdie. He closed with two pars for a 70 and finally won the Open after finishing no worse than third in the previous six championships.
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Year: 1956
Winner: Peter Thomson
Runner-up: Flory van Donck
Winning score: 286
Margin: 3 shots
First-place money: 1,000 pounds
Noteworthy: Peter Thomson is the last player to win three straight British Open titles.
Summary: The two-time defending champion built a three-shot lead going into the final round, and no one could catch him. Flory van Donck took a double bogey on the second hole and recovered to shoot 74, and Thomson closed with a 74 to win his third straight claret jug. Gary Player made his British Open debut and finished fourth.
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Year: 1947
Winner: Fred Daly
Runners-up: Reg Horne, Frank Stranahan
Winning score: 293
Margin: 1 shot
First-place money: 150 pounds
Noteworthy: Fred Daly was the only Irishman to win the British Open until Padraig Harrington 60 years later.
Summary: Daly was in a four-way tie for the lead going into the final round and struggled to a 38 on the outward nine, but he played strong on the back for a 72, making a birdie on the final hole to post a 293. Reg Horne played well in increasing wind until bogeys on the 16th and 17th, and his birdie try on the 18th lipped out. Frank Stranahan, the American amateur, needed to hole his shot from the 18th fairway to force a playoff, and the approach finished a foot from the hole.
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Year: 1936
Winner: Alf Padgham
Runner-up: Jimmy Adams
Winning score: 287
Margin: 1 shot
First-place money: 100 pounds
Noteworthy: This was the first course over 7,000 yards (7,078) for any major championship.
Summary: Alf Padgham shot 71-71 on the final day for his only Open title. He made a 15-foot birdie on the 18th hole to post at 287, and Jimmy Adams was the only player who could catch him. He took bogey from a bunker on the 17th and then needed a birdie on the 18th to force a playoff. Adams had a 35-foot birdie putt that rimmed around the cup and popped back onto the green.
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Year: 1930
Winner: Bobby Jones
Runners-up: Leo Diegel, MacDonald Smith
Winning score: 291
Margin: 2 shots
First-place money: $0 (Jones was an amateur)
Noteworthy: Bobby Jones won the second leg of his Grand Slam.
Summary: A few weeks after winning the British Amateur, Jones closed with a 75 for a two-shot victory and broke by one the 72-hole record Walter Hagen had set the year before. Jones took a 7 on the eighth hole but posted early at 291. Diegel was even with Jones through 13 holes but dropped shots at the 14th and 16th. Smith needed to birdie the last two holes and made par. Jones became the first amateur to win the Open three times.
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1924
Winner: Walter Hagen
Runner-up: Ernest Whitcombe
Winning score: 301
First-place money: 75 pounds
Margin: 1 shot
Noteworthy: Walter Hagen never won the British Open with Bobby Jones in the field.
Summary: Hagen and Ernest Whitcombe were tied for the lead going into the final round but played an hour apart. Whitcombe went out in 43 and closed with a 78. Hagen also went out in 43 and then got word on the 12th hole that Whitcombe finished at 302 and that Hagen would need seven 4s to win. He saved par on the 12th and 13th, then holed a 6-foot putt on the 18th hole for a 77 to win by one.
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Year: 1913
Winner: J.H. Taylor
Runner-up: Ted Ray
Winning score: 304
Margin: 8 shots
First-place money: 50 pounds
Noteworthy: Two-time U.S. Open champion John McDermott was the first American-born player to compete in the British Open.
Summary: J.H. Taylor won his fifth Open championship by eight shots, using his low trajectory in gale-force wind to shoot 77 in the third round to build a three-shot lead. He clinched victory on the 14th when his approach landed between two bunkers, and he pitched in for 3 from 50 yards. He closed with a 79, while Ray took an 8 at No. 3 and wound up with an 84.
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Year: 1907
Winner: Arnaud Massy
Runner-up: J.H. Taylor
Winning score: 312
Margin: 2 shots
First-place money: 50 pounds
Noteworthy: Arnaud Massy is the only Frenchman to win a major.
Summary: After three straight runner-up finishes, J.H. Taylor had a one-shot lead going into the final round but took a 7 on the third hole when he sliced his second shot into the long grass. He went out in 41 and closed with 80. Massy took control on the outward nine with a 38, and he matched shots with Taylor coming in to win by two with a 77.
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Year: 1902
Winner: Sandy Herd
Runner-up: James Braid, Harry Vardon
Winning score: 307
Margin: 1 shot
First-place money: 50 British pounds
Noteworthy: Sandy Herd was the first player using the rubber-core Haskell ball to win the British Open.
Summary: Herd pulled away with a 73 in the third round, then shot 81 in the final round and had to wait to see if Harry Vardon or James Braid could catch him. Vardon had a 6-foot putt on the 18th hole to tie, but the ball stopped on the edge of the hole and gave him a 79. Braid was eight shots behind going into the last round, but missed a medium-length putt at the last hole to shoot 74 and finish one shot behind.
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Year: 1897
Winner: Harold Hilton
Runner-up: James Braid
Winning score: 314
First-place money: $0 (Hilton was an amateur)
Margin: 1 shot
Noteworthy: Harold Hilton became the first amateur to win multiple times at the British Open.
Summary: Hilton closed with a 75 in the debut of Royal Liverpool on the Open rotation. James Braid had the lead through three rounds and still had a chance to win with three holes to play. But he went over the par-5 16th and failed to get up-and-down. Needing a 3 on the 18th, his approach came within a foot of the hole, rolling 20 feet by. He missed the putt to shoot 79 and finish one shot behind.
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