| 1997 British Open | |
Justin Leonard won his first major championship at the 1997 British Open, but in some ways this tournament will always be remembered as the nadir in the collapse of Ian Baker-Finch's golf game.
Until he reached the 1997 Open and carded a first-round 92. Baker-Finch withdrew and, according to some reports, fell to the floor in the clubhouse in tears. He essentially disappeared from PGA Tour golf after that.
That was the bad news in the 1997 British Open. The good news was the stellar player of Leonard, who made up a three-stroke deficit to Jesper Parnevik after three rounds and ended up with a three-stroke margin of victory over Parnevik and Darren Clarke. Leonard did that with clutch putting and a final-round score of 65.
1997 British Open Scores
Results and prize money (USD) from the 1997 British Open played at Royal Troon (par 71) in Troon, Scotland (a-amateur):
| Justin Leonard, $418,875 | 69-66-72-65-272 |
| Darren Clarke, $251,325 | 67-66-71-71-275 |
| Jesper Parnevik, $251,325 | 70-66-66-73-275 |
| Jim Furyk, $150,795 | 67-72-70-70-279 |
| Stephen Ames, $104,719 | 74-69-66-71-280 |
| Padraig Harrington, $104,719 | 75-69-69-67-280 |
| Peter O'Malley, $68,137 | 73-70-70-68-281 |
| Eduardo Romero, $68,137 | 74-68-67-72-281 |
| Fred Couples, $68,137 | 69-68-70-74-281 |
| Robert Allenby, $40,715 | 76-68-66-72-282 |
| Lee Westwood, $40,715 | 73-70-67-72-282 |
| Retief Goosen, $40,715 | 75-69-70-68-282 |
| Tom Kite, $40,715 | 72-67-74-69-282 |
| Frank Nobilo, $40,715 | 74-72-68-68-282 |
| Mark Calcavecchia, $40,715 | 74-67-72-69-282 |
| Shigeki Maruyama, $40,715 | 74-69-70-69-282 |
| Davis Love III, $40,715 | 70-71-74-67-282 |
| Ernie Els, $40,715 | 75-69-69-69-282 |
| Tom Watson, $40,715 | 71-70-70-71-282 |
| Stuart Appleby, $24,295 | 72-72-68-71-283 |
| Brad Faxon, $24,295 | 77-67-72-67-283 |
| Mark James, $24,295 | 76-67-70-70-283 |
| Jose Maria Olazabal, $24,295 | 75-68-73-67-283 |
| Tom Lehman, $17,362 | 74-72-72-66-284 |
| Jay Haas, $17,362 | 71-70-73-70-284 |
| Colin Montgomerie, $17,362 | 76-69-69-70-284 |
| Phil Mickelson, $17,362 | 76-68-69-71-284 |
| Ian Woosnam, $17,362 | 71-73-69-71-284 |
| David A. Russell, $17,362 | 75-72-68-69-284 |
| Peter Lonard, $17,362 | 72-70-69-73-284 |
| Tiger Woods, $17,362 | 72-74/64-74-284 |
| Mark McNulty, $14,661 | 78-67-72-68-285 |
| Rodger Davis, $13,879 | 73-73-70-70-286 |
| David Duval, $13,879 | 73-69-73-71-286 |
| Jonathan Lomas, $13,879 | 72-71-69-74-286 |
| Andrew Magee, $13,320 | 70-75-72-70-287 |
| Greg Norman, $13,320 | 69-73-70-75-287 |
| Raymond Russell, $12,650 | 72-72-74-70-288 |
| Michael Bradley, $12,650 | 72-73-73-70-288 |
| Mark O'Meara, $12,650 | 73-73-74-68-288 |
| John Kernohan, $12,650 | 76-70-74-68-288 |
| Vijay Singh, $12,650 | 77-69-70-72-288 |
| Bernhard Langer, $12,650 | 72-74-69-73-288 |
| Jerry Kelly, $11,812 | 76-68-72-73-289 |
| David Tapping, $11,812 | 71-66-78-74-289 |
| Jose Coceres, $11,812 | 76-70-71-72-289 |
| Curtis Strange, $11,812 | 71-71-70-77-289 |
| Jim Payne, $11,226 | 74-71-74-71-290 |
| Steve Jones, $11,226 | 76-71-68-75-290 |
| Richard Boxall, $11,226 | 75-71-72-72-290 |
| Jeff Maggert, $10,315 | 76-69-71-75-291 |
| Nick Faldo, $10,315 | 71-73-75-72-291 |
| Peter Senior, $10,315 | 76-70-73-72-291 |
| Greg Turner, $10,315 | 76-71-72-72-291 |
| Angel Cabrera, $10,315 | 70-70-76-75-291 |
| Corey Pavin, $10,315 | 78-69-76-68-291 |
| Peter Mitchell, $10,315 | 75-69-76-71-291 |
| Wayne Riley, $10,315 | 74-71-75-71-291 |
| Payne Stewart, $9,718 | 73-74-71-74-292 |
| Jack Nicklaus, $9,634 | 73-74-71-75-293 |
| a-D. Barclay Howard | 70-74-76-73-293 |
| Tom Purtzer, $9,425 | 72-71-73-78-294 |
| Steve Stricker, $9,425 | 72-73-74-75-294 |
| Peter Teravainen, $9,425 | 74-72-73-75-294 |
| Jamie Spence, $9,425 | 78-69-72-75-294 |
| Gary Clark, $9,131 | 74-72-72-77-295 |
| Paul McGinley, $9,131 | 76-71-77-71-295 |
| Per-Ulrik Johansson, $9,131 | 72-75-73-75-295 |
| Tommy Tolles, $8,964 | 77-68-75-76-296 |
| Billy Andrade, $8,880 | 72-72-78-76-298 |
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