Activities Sports & Athletics 1989 British Open: Calc Wins In a Playoff Share PINTEREST Email Print Mark Calcavecchia wins the 1989 British Open. Simon Bruty/Getty Images Sports & Athletics Golf Golf Tournaments Basics History Gear Golf Courses Famous Golfers Baseball Basketball Bicycling Billiards Bodybuilding Bowling Boxing Car Racing Cheerleading Cricket Extreme Sports Football Gymnastics Ice Hockey Martial Arts Professional Wrestling Skateboarding Skating Paintball Soccer Swimming & Diving Table Tennis Tennis Track & Field Volleyball Other Activities Learn More by Brent Kelley Brent Kelley is an award-winning sports journalist and golf expert with over 30 years in print and online journalism. Updated November 04, 2019 The final round of the 1989 British Open began with journeyman Wayne Grady holding a 1-stroke lead over 5-time Open Champion Tom Watson. Most observers probably thought the conclusion was foregone: Watson would win. But he didn't - and neither did Grady. Watson carded a 72 on Sunday, while Grady shot 71 to finish at 275, two strokes in front of Watson. Greg Norman, who began the day seven strokes behind Grady, scorched Royal Troon with a 64, forcing a tie. And Mark Calcavecchia shot 68, joining Grady and Norman at 275 and creating a 3-way playoff. The British Open switched to a new playoff format this year. Previously, Open Championship playoffs were 18 holes. But at the 1989 British Open, the tournament switched to a 4-hole, cumulative score playoff. So Grady, Norman and Calcavecchia played another four holes. By the fourth extra hole, Calcavecchia and Norman were tied, with Grady essentially out of it, two strokes behind. Calcavecchia hit a bad slice off the tee, while Norman's drive boomed down the middle - only to roll into a deep, fairway bunker. Rather than use a lofted club to simply get the ball out of the bunker, Norman tried a heroic shot to reach the green. But the ball hit the face of the bunker and careened into a different bunker. From that bunker, Norman's next shot headed out of bounds. Norman basically picked up at that point, his chances down the drain. Calcavecchia, meanwhile, hit a great recovery shot from his wayward drive, and wound up making birdie to win the 1989 British Open. The playoff scores were: Calcavecchia, 4-3-3-3--13Grady, 4-4-4-4--16Norman, 3-3-4-x--x It was Calcavecchia's sixth PGA Tour victory, but he had finished in the Top 10 of a major only once previously (second at the 1988 Masters). He posted only two other Top 10s in majors over the rest of long PGA Tour career (long and successful - he finished with 13 tour victories). Grady went on to win the 1990 PGA Championship (one of just two PGA Tour wins for Grady). Norman had already won the 1986 British Open, and won again at the 1993 British Open. But Norman also lost in playoffs at all four majors. Arnold Palmer shot 82-82 and finished last. Palmer played the British Open only twice more after this, the 1990 and 1995 Opens at St. Andrews. Future 3-time major winner Vijay Singh played in his very first major here and tied for 23rd. 1989 British Open Golf Tournament Scores Results from the 1989 British Open golf tournament played on the par-72 Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland (x-won four hole playoff; a-amateur): x-Mark Calcavecchia 71-68-68-68--275 $128,000 Wayne Grady 68-67-69-71--275 $88,000 Greg Norman 69-70-72-64--275 $88,000 Tom Watson 69-68-68-72--277 $64,000 Jodie Mudd 73-67-68-70--278 $48,000 Fred Couples 68-71-68-72--279 $41,600 David Feherty 71-67-69-72--279 $41,600 Paul Azinger 68-73-67-72--280 $33,600 Payne Stewart 72-65-69-74--280 $33,600 Eduardo Romero 68-70-75-67--280 $33,600 Nick Faldo 71-71-70-69--281 $27,200 Mark McNulty 75-70-70-66--281 $27,200 Mark James 69-70-71-72--282 $20,800 Howard Clark 72-68-72-70--282 $20,800 Steve Pate 69-70-70-73--282 $20,800 Craig Stadler 73-69-69-71--282 $20,800 Philip Walton 69-74-69-70--282 $20,800 Roger Chapman 76-68-67-71--282 $20,800 Don Pooley 73-70-69-71--283 $13,720 Tom Kite 70-74-67-72--283 $13,720 Larry Mize 71-74-66-72--283 $13,720 Derrick Cooper 69-70-76-68--283 $13,720 Vijay Singh 71-73-69-71--284 $10,772 Davis Love III 72-70-73-69--284 $10,772 Jose Maria Olazabal 68-72-69-75--284 $10,772 Lanny Wadkins 72-70-69-74--285 $9,280 Scott Simpson 73-66-72-74--285 $9,280 Chip Beck 75-69-68-73--285 $9,280 Stephen Bennett 75-69-68-73--285 $9,280 Miguel Angel Martin 68-73-73-72--286 $7,537 Jumbo Ozaki 71-73-70-72--286 $7,537 Brian Marchbank 69-74-73-70--286 $7,537 Peter Jacobsen 71-74-71-70--286 $7,537 Gary Koch 72-71-74-69--286 $7,537 Jack Nicklaus 74-71-71-70--286 $7,537 Ian Baker-Finch 72-69-70-75--286 $7,537 Jeff Hawkes 75-67-69-75--286 $7,537 Mark Davis 77-68-67-74--286 $7,537 Mike Harwood 71-72-72-72--287 $6,560 Tommy Armour III 70-71-72-74--287 $6,560 Jeff Woodland 74-67-75-71--287 $6,560 Lee Trevino 68-73-73-74--288 $5,960 Mark O'Meara 72-74-69-73--288 $5,960 Raymond Floyd 73-68-73-74--288 $5,960 Jose Rivero 71-75-72-70--288 $5,960 Sandy Lyle 73-73-71-72--289 $5,680 Joe Ozaki 71-71-69-78--289 $5,680 Mark McCumber 71-68-70-80--289 $5,680 Christy O'Connor Jr. 71-73-72-74--290 $5,440 Ian Woosnam 74-72-73-71--290 $5,440 Johnny Miller 72-69-76-73--290 $5,440 Ben Crenshaw 73-73-74-71--291 $4,960 Mark Roe 74-71-73-73--291 $4,960 Tony Johnstone 71-71-74-75--291 $4,960 Jet Ozaki 75-71-73-72--291 $4,960 Gene Sauers 70-73-72-76--291 $4,960 Richard Boxall 74-68-73-76--291 $4,960 Michael Allen 74-67-76-74--291 $4,960 Brett Ogle 74-70-76-71--291 $4,960 Emmanuel Dussart 76-68-73-74--291 $4,960 Curtis Strange 70-74-74-74--292 $4,280 Mike Reid 74-72-73-73--292 $4,280 Ronan Rafferty 70-72-74-76--292 $4,280 Bob Tway 76-70-71-75--292 $4,280 Paul Hoad 72-71-77-72--292 $4,280 David Graham 74-72-69-77--292 $4,280 Wayne Stephens 66-72-76-78--292 $4,280 Ken Green 75-71-68-78--292 $4,280 a-Russell Claydon 70-74-74-75--293 Luis Carbonetti 71-72-74-76--293 $3,880 Sandy Stephen 71-74-71-77--293 $3,880 Colin Gillies 72-74-74-74--294 $3,840 Brad Faxon 72-72-75-76--295 $3,840 Peter Teravainen 72-73-72-78--295 $3,840 Emlyn Aubrey 72-73-73-78--296 $3,840 Martin Sludds 72-74-73-78--297 $3,840 Seve Ballesteros 72-73-76-78--299 $3,840 a-Robert Karlsson 75-70-76-78--299 Gavin Levenson 69-76-77-79--301 $3,840 Bernhard Langer 71-73-83-82--309 $3,840 Return to list of British Open winners Continue Reading