The 2005 Senior British Open Championship, for sponsor reasons named Senior British Open Championship presented by Aberdeen Asset Management, was a senior major golf championship and the 19th

Senior Open Championship The Senior Open Championship, or simply The Senior Open (and originally known as the Senior British Open) is a professional golf tournament for players aged 50 and over. It is run by The R&A, the same body that organises The Open Championship. P ...

, held from 21 to 24 July at

Royal Aberdeen Golf Club Royal Aberdeen Golf Club in Aberdeen, Scotland, was founded in 1780 and claims to be the sixth oldest golf club in the world. It was founded as the Society of Golfers at Aberdeen, and became the Aberdeen Golf Club in 1815 subsequently receiving r ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, United Kingdom. It was the third

Senior British Open Championship The Senior Open Championship, or simply The Senior Open (and originally known as the Senior British Open) is a professional golf tournament for players aged 50 and over. It is run by The R&A, the same body that organises The Open Championship. Pr ...

played as a senior major championship. Tom Watson won in a playoff for the title over

Des Smyth Desmond John Smyth (born 12 February 1953) is an Irish professional golfer. He won eight times on the European Tour between 1979 and 2001. He also had a successful senior career winning twice on the Champions Tour and five times on the Europea ...

to win his second

Senior British Open The Senior Open Championship, or simply The Senior Open (and originally known as the Senior British Open) is a professional golf tournament for players aged 50 and over. It is run by The R&A, the same body that organises The Open Championship. Pr ...

title. The 2005 event was Watson's fourth senior major championship victory.

Venue

The 2005 event was the first

played at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club. It took place at the clubs Balgownie Course, opened in 1888 and originally designed by

Archie Simpson Archibald Simpson (14 March 1866 – January 1955) was an American professional golfer. He was also a golf course designer and a golf club maker. He was runner-up in The Open Championship in 1885 (won by Bob Martin), and 1890 (won by John Ball). ...

and Robert Simpson but later re-bunkered and lengthened by James Braid. Royal Aberdeen Golf Clubhouse - geograph

Course layout

Field

The field of 144 competitors consisted of 137 professionals and seven amateurs. 18-hole stroke play qualifying rounds were held on Monday, 18 July, on two places in Scotland, Murcar Golf Club and the Newmachar, for players who were not already exempt. The 26 leading players from the qualifying competitions joined the 118 exempt players for the championship. 79 players made the 36-hole cut, 76 professionals and two amateurs. Adrian Morrow finished leading amateur at tied 46th.

Past champions in the field

Eight past Senior Open champions participated. Four of them made the 36-hole cut; 2003 champion Tom Watson (won),

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

and

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

champion Bob Charles (tied 56th),

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

and

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

champion

Gary Player Gary James Player DMS, OIG (born 1 November 1935) is a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. During his career, Player won nine major championships on the regular tou ...

(tied 61st) and

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

and

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

champion

Christy O'Connor Jnr Christy O'Connor Jnr (born Christopher O'Connor; 19 August 1948 – 6 January 2016) was an Irish professional golfer. He is best known for defeating American Fred Couples at the 1989 Ryder Cup, helping Europe secure the trophy. Early life O'Co ...

(tied 68th). 2001 champion

Ian Stanley Ian Christopher Stanley (born 28 February 1957) is a British musician, songwriter and record producer. He was previously a member of the English band Tears for Fears for most of the 1980s, and played a key role in the making of their multi-plat ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

champion

Neil Coles Neil Chapman Coles, MBE (born 26 September 1934) is an English professional golfer. Coles had a successful career in European golf, winning 29 important tournaments between 1956 and 1982. After reaching 50, he won a further 14 important Seniors ...

, 2004 champion

Pete Oakley Peter Hal Oakley (born June 28, 1949) is an American professional golfer best known for winning the 2004 Senior British Open, one of the major championships in senior men's professional golf. He is the younger brother of golfer David Oakley. ...

and 1992 champion

John Fourie Jonathan Adriaan Fourie (born 23 August 1939) is a South African professional golfer. Fourie was born in Johannesburg. He turned professional in 1970 and spent his career playing mainly on the Southern Africa Tour and the European Tour. He won ...

did not make the cut.

Past winners and runners-up at The Open Championship in the field

The field included four former winners of

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later t ...

. All of them made the cut;

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

, 1980, 1982 and 1983 Open champion Tom Watson (won),

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

and 1993 Open champion

Greg Norman Gregory John Norman AO (born 10 February 1955) is an Australian entrepreneur and retired professional golfer who spent 331 weeks as world number one in the 1980s and 1990s. He won 89 professional tournaments, including 20 PGA Tour tournament ...

(3rd), 1963 Open champion Bob Charles (tied 56th) and

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Janu ...

and 1974 Open champion

(tied 61st). The field also included six former runners-up at The Open Championship;

Mark McNulty Mark William McNulty (born 24 March 1953) is a Zimbabwean-Irish professional golfer. He was one of the leading players on the European Tour from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, and featured in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for ...

(tied 8th), Andy Bean (tied 29th),

(missed cut)

Tom Kite Thomas Oliver Kite Jr. (born December 9, 1949) is an American professional golfer and golf course architect. He won the U.S. Open in 1992 and spent 175 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 1989 and 1994. Career Kite w ...

(missed cut),

Rodger Davis Rodger Miles Davis (born 18 May 1951) is an Australian professional golfer. Career Davis was born in Sydney. He turned professional in 1974 and spent his regular career playing mainly on the PGA Tour of Australasia and the European Tour. He won ...

(missed cut) and

Simon Owen Simon Owen (born 10 December 1950) is a professional golfer from New Zealand. Early life Owen was born in Wanganui. Professional career He turned professional in 1971 and has won several tournaments in Australasia. He played on the Europe ...

(missed cut).

Final round and playoff summaries

Final round

''Sunday, 24 July 2005''

and Tom Watson tied the lead after the fourth round, to meet in a sudden death playoff, to decide the winner. Watson held a one-shot lead going into the final round and finished with a 1-under par round 70, to tie with Smyth, who finished with a round of 67.

Playoff

''Sunday, 24 July 2005'' The sudden-death playoff went on the 18th hole, to be played twice, until one of the players had a lower score on the hole than the other. Tom Watson beat Des Smyth with a par at the third extra hole. They both made par on the 18th hole twice, with the playoff moving to the par-3 17th hole, where Watson made a par and Smyth a bogey. Smyth hit his tee shot into a greenside bunker and his second shot to within 20 feet of the hole, but missed the par putt, while Watson made a par to win the championship.

References

External links

Results on European Tour website
{{Senior Open Championship Senior major golf championships Golf tournaments in Scotland