The 2007 Senior Open Championship, for sponsorship reasons named The Senior Open Championship presented by Aberdeen Asset Management, was a
senior major golf championship and the 21st
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. Pr ...
, held from 26 to 29 July at
Muirfield
Muirfield is a privately owned golf links which is the home of The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. Located in Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland, overlooking the Firth of Forth, Muirfield is one of the golf courses used in rotation for The ...
in
Gullane
Gullane ( or ) is a town on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian on the east coast of Scotland. There has been a church in the village since the ninth century. The ruins of the Old Church of St. Andrew built in the twelft ...
,
East Lothian
East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921.
In 1975, the histo ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, United Kingdom. It was the first Senior Open Championship played at the course and the fifth
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. Pr ...
played as a senior major championship.
Tom Watson won by one stroke over
Stewart Ginn
Stewart Ginn (born 2 June 1949) is an Australian professional golfer.
Early life
Ginn was born in Melbourne. He grew up behind the twelfth green of the Royal Melbourne Golf Club. Early in his life "he used to caddy at Royal Melbourne." He th ...
and
Mark O'Meara
Mark Francis O'Meara (born January 13, 1957) is an American professional golfer. He was a tournament winner on the PGA Tour and around the world from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. He spent nearly 200 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World ...
to win his third
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 2007 event was Watson's fifth senior major championship victory.
Venue
![Clubhouse and the 18th green at Muirfield](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Clubhouse_and_the_18th_green_at_Muirfield._The_Open_2013.jpg)
The club based at Muirfield, The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, was founded in 1744, being the oldest golf club in the world. The course, built in 1891 and designed by
Old Tom Morris
Thomas Mitchell Morris (16 June 1821 – 24 May 1908), otherwise known as Old Tom Morris, and The Grand Old Man of Golf, was a Scottish golfer. He was born in St Andrews, Fife, the "home of golf" and location of the St Andrews Links, and died t ...
, had previously hosted
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 th ...
15 times, in 1980 won by Tom Watson.
Source:
Field
The field of 144 competitors comprised138 professionals and six amateurs.
18-hole stroke play qualifying rounds were held on Monday, 23 July, on three places in Scotland, Craigielaw Golf Club, Dunbar Golf Club and North Berwick Golf Club, for players who were not already exempt. 337 players entered the qualifying competitions and the leading 34 players joined the 110 exempt players for the championship.
77 players made the 36-hole cut, all of them professionals and no amateurs. One of them withdraw after the third round.
Past champions in the field
Seven past Senior Open champions participated. Five of them made the 36-hole cut;
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
and
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
champion
Tom Watson (won), 2006 champion Loren Roberts (tied 4th),
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, 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 Exxo ...
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 peace ...
champion
Bob Charles (tied 34th),
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
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.
E ...
(tied 48th) and
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 Australian ...
,
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 Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
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 t ...
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 ...
(76th).
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, k ...
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 ...
and
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
champion
Noboru Sugai
Noboru Sugai is a Japanese professional golfer.
Sugai was born in Tokyo, to Japanese father and a Russian mother. He turned professional in 1975 and has won three tournaments and over 275 million ¥ on the Japan Golf Tour.
In 2002, he became ...
did not make the cut. The event marked the last appearance in the Senior Open for 72-year-old Coles, 20 years after winning the inaugural championship.
Past winners and runners-up at The Open Championship in the field
The field included six 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 th ...
. Five 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 Democratic R ...
,
1980
Events January
* January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
* January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC.
* January 9 – ...
,
1982
Events January
* January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).
* January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...
and
1983 Open champion
Tom Watson (won) and
1998 Open champion
Mark O'Meara
Mark Francis O'Meara (born January 13, 1957) is an American professional golfer. He was a tournament winner on the PGA Tour and around the world from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. He spent nearly 200 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World ...
(tied 2nd), 1987, 1990 and 1992 Open champion
Nick Faldo
Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo, (born 18 July 1957) is an English retired professional golfer and television commentator. A top player of his era, renowned for his dedication to the game, he was ranked No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking for ...
(tied 14th),
1963 Open champion
Bob Charles (tied 34th) 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.
* Januar ...
and
1974 Open 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 ...
(76th).
1969 Open champion
Tony Jacklin
Anthony Jacklin CBE (born 7 July 1944) is a retired English golfer. He was the most successful British player of his generation, winning two major championships, the 1969 Open Championship and the 1970 U.S. Open. He was also Ryder Cup captain ...
did not make the cut.
The field also included eight former runners-up at The Open Championship;
Gordon J. Brand (tied 10th),
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 wa ...
(tied 10th).
Ben Crenshaw
Ben Daniel Crenshaw (born January 11, 1952) is a retired American professional golfer who has won 19 events on the PGA Tour, including two major championships: the Masters Tournament in 1984 and 1995. He is nicknamed ''Gentle Ben''.
Professiona ...
(tied 30th),
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 34th),
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 ...
(tied 38th),
Costantino Rocca
Costantino Rocca (born 4 December 1956) is an Italian golfer. He was long known as the most successful male golfer that Italy has produced, until the 2018 success of Francesco Molinari, who credited Rocca as an inspiration to him following his Ope ...
(tied 54th),
Wayne Grady
Wayne Desmond Grady (born 26 July 1957) is an Australian professional golfer.
Early life
Born in Brisbane, Grady turned professional in 1978.
Professional career
Grady began his career on the PGA Tour of Australia. He had much early suc ...
(missed cut) and
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 ...
(missed cut).
Final results
''Sunday, 29 July 2007''
Source:
References
External links
Results on European Tour website
{{Senior Open Championship
Senior major golf championships
Golf tournaments in Scotland
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. Pr ...
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. Pr ...
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. Pr ...