1998 British Open: O'Meara the Champ Via Playoff

Mark O'Meara blasts out of sand during his victory at the 1998 British Open
Andrew Redington/Getty Images

The year 1998 was a pretty good one for Mark O'Meara. He birdied the 72nd hole at Augusta National to win The Masters, then, a few months later, won a playoff to also take the British Open.

The 1998 British Open got off to a most auspicious start with Tiger Woods shooting 65 to share the first-round lead. Unheralded Brian Watts, an American who had played mostly in Japan to this point, took the second-round lead. Woods, 17-year-old amateur Justin Rose, and 3-time major champion Nick Price were tied for second.

Bad weather hit Royal Birkdale in Round 3, and the 72 carded by O'Meara was one of the best scores of the day. He moved into second, two strokes back of Watts.

Rose stirred the crowd by finishing in fourth place, and Woods charged with a final-round 66, but Watts and O'Meara finished tied and headed into the four-hole playoff. Which O'Meara won with a birdie on the first hole coupled with a Watts bogey on the fourth hole.

1998 British Open Scores

Results and prize money (USD) from the 1998 British Open played at Royal Birkdale (par 70) in Southport, England (p-won four-hole playoff; a-amateur):

p-Mark O'Meara, $492,000 72-68-72-68-280
Brian Watts, $308,320 68-69-73-70-280
Tiger Woods, $221,400 65-73-77-66-281
Jesper Parnevik, $125,733 68-72-72-70-282
Jim Furyk, $125,733 70-70-72-70-282
a-Justin Rose 72-66-75-69-282
Raymond Russell, $125,733 68-73-75-66-282
Davis Love III, $81,180 67-73-77-68-285
Costantino Rocca, $69,994 72-74-70-70-286
Thomas Bjorn, $69,994 68-71-76-71-286
Brad Faxon, $54,666 67-74-74-72-287
David Duval, $54,666 70-71-75-71-287
John Huston, $54,666 65-77-73-72-287
Gordon Brand, $47,560 71-70-76-71-288
Greg Turner, $38,786 68-75-75-71-289
Des Smyth, $38,786 74-69-75-71-289
Jose Maria Olazabal, $38,786 73-72-75-69-289
Peter Baker, $38,786 69-72-77-71-289
Mark James, $28,240 71-74-74-71-290
Sandy Lyle, $28,240 71-72-75-72-290
Curtis Strange, $28,240 73-73-74-70-290
Vijay Singh, $28,240 67-74-78-71-290
Robert Allenby, $28,240 67-76-78-69-290
Peter O'Malley, $20,467 71-71-78-71-291
Lee Janzen, $20,467 72-69-80-70-291
Sam Torrance, $20,467 69-77-75-70-291
Stephen Ames, $20,467 68-72-79-72-291
Bob Estes, $20,467 72-70-76-73-291
Loren Roberts, $16,892 66-76-76-74-292
Shigeki Maruyama, $16,892 70-73-75-74-292
Ernie Els, $16,892 72-74-74-72-292
a-Sergio Garcia 69-75-76-72-292
Scott Dunlap, $16,892 72-69-80-71-292
Nick Price, $16,892 66-72-82-72-292
Sven Struver, $14,596 75-70-80-68-293
Santiago Luna, $14,596 70-72-80-71-293
Mark Calcavecchia, $14,596 69-77-73-74-293
Philip Walton, $13,694 68-76-74-76-294
Joakim Haeggman, $13,694 71-74-78-71-294
Steen Tinning, $13,694 69-76-77-72-294
Tom Kite, $13,694 72-69-79-74-294
Patrik Sjoland, $13,694 72-72-77-73-294
Naomichi Ozaki, $13,694 72-73-76-73-294
David Carter, $12,433 71-75-76-73-295
Payne Stewart, $12,433 71-71-78-75-295
David Howell, $12,433 68-77-79-71-295
Rodger Davis, $12,433 76-70-78-71-295
David Frost, $12,433 72-73-78-72-295
Nick Faldo, $12,433 72-73-75-75-295
Andrew Coltart, $12,433 68-77-75-75-295
Katsuyoshi Tomori, $12,433 75-71-70-79-295
Frankie Minoza, $11,250 69-75-76-76-296
Steve Stricker, $11,250 70-72-80-74-296
Larry Mize, $11,250 70-75-79-72-296
Brandt Jobe, $11,250 70-73-82-71-296
Billy Mayfair, $11,250 72-73-77-74-296
Ian Woosnam, $10,273 72-74-76-75-297
Steve Jones, $10,273 73-72-79-73-297
Trevor Dodds, $10,273 73-71-81-72-297
Ignacio Garrido, $10,273 71-74-80-72-297
Justin Leonard, $10,273 73-73-82-69-297
Greg Chalmers, $10,273 71-75-77-74-297
Eduardo Romero, $10,273 71-70-79-77-297
Lee Westwood, $9,799 71-71-78-78-298
Carlos Franco, $9,799 71-73-76-78-298
Michael Long, $9,512 70-74-78-77-299
Stewart Cink, $9,512 71-73-83-72-299
Michael Campbell, $9,512 73-73-80-73-299
a-Didier de Vooght 70-76-80-73-299
Mark Brooks, $9,512 71-73-75-80-299
Fred Couples, $9,512 66-74-78-81-299
Andrew Clapp, $9,266 72-74-81-73-300
Gary Evans, $9,184 69-74-84-74-301
Bob May, $9,184 70-73-85-75-303
Andrew McLardy, $9,184 72-74-80-78-304
Fredrik Jacobson, $9,184 67-78-81-79-305
Kazuhiko Hosokawa, $9,184 72-73-81-80-306
Robert Giles, $9,184 72-74-83-78-307
Phil Mickelson, $9,184 71-74-85-78-308
Andrew Oldcorn, $9,184 75-71-84-79-309
Dudley Hart, $9,184 73-72-85-80-310

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