ROYAL BIRKDALE GOLF CLUB - Sunday July 11, 1976
The Sports Time Traveler is back from a trip to Southport England in the summer of ‘76 to experience the 105th playing of the British Open.
This is the 5th time the British Open has been played here in 22 years.
Every time the winner has been one of the biggest names in the game:
1954 Peter Thomson (first of his 5 British Opens)
1961 Arnold Palmer
1965 Peter Thomson (last of his 5 British Opens)
1971 Lee Trevino
ROUNDS 1 & 2
Midway through the second day, 29-year-old Johnny Miller, the hottest player on the planet since he won the 1973 U.S. Open in spectacular fashion with a major final round record of 63, was in 1st place in the 1976 British Open with a 4 under 140.
But still out on the course was a youngster, a babe of just 19 years and 3 months of age, playing in his first major. His name - Seve Ballesteros.
Seve qualified for the 1976 British Open by winning the Continental Order of Merit as the top pro golfer in continental Europe in 1975 (that’s all of Europe except the UK).
That sounds like a big deal until you find out that yesterday Ballesteros was the only Continental European to make the cut!
Seve won the Continental Order of Merit even though he didn’t actually win a single European PGA TOUR event in 1975.
In fact, Seve has never won a pro tournament outside of his native Spain.
And yet, here at Royal Birkdale, on one of the grandest stages of golf, where only the big names have ever won, a teenager, Seve Ballesteros, finished the day on top of a stellar leaderboard by 2 shots midway through the British Open.
Seve did it in spectacular fashion. On the back 9, which contains all four of the par 5 holes on the course, Seve reached the green in 2 strokes on 3 of them, and he birdied all 4. He narrowly missed eagle putts on 2 of them. And that helped him to a 69 for the 2nd straight day to reach halfway at -6.
The Western Daily Press in Bristol, England published this picture of Seve holding up 6 fingers to denote his -6 score after 36 holes under the headline “Teenaged Super Star”:
Was Seve feeling the pressure of leading a major after 2 rounds?
John S. Radosta in the New York Times wrote:
Here were the scores for the Babe, Seve, and the big name players in the field after 2 rounds:
-6 Seve Ballesteros
-4 Johnny Miller
-2 Hubie Green (NOTE: the future 1977 U.S. Open winner)
-1 Ray Floyd
E Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Jerry Pate (1976 U.S. Open winner)
+1 Tom Weiskopf
+3 Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson
Another Babe
The Daily Telegraph’s John Campbell reported on another even younger babe out on the course in the 2nd round. 18 year old Nick Faldo, who qualified to be here based on his victory in the 1975 English Amateur Championship, shot a 78 on the first day and seemed destined for an early exit. But Faldo caught fire in round 2.
Faldo shot a 71, better than all but 14 other players in the 2nd round, to give him a 2 day score of +5 149.
18 year old Nick Faldo was just 2 shots behind The King, Arnold Palmer.
And that was good enough for Nick Faldo to make the cut in his very first major championship!
ROUND 3
Wind and rain made for miserable conditions in the 3rd round. So it was no surprise to anyone that the 19-year-old Babe, Seve Ballesteros, playing in the final group with Johnny Miller, got off to a horrid start bogeying 4 of the 1st 7 holes.
But then Seve steadied his game, made many par saving putts, and an eagle on 17, that propelled him to a 1 over par 73. And that equaled Johnny Miller’s score for the day.
Miller after 18 playing holes with Seve, told Radosta, “He can win it. I’m telling you, he takes a cut at the ball and just rips it.”
But Jack Nicklaus had a better round than both Ballesteros and Miller, shooting a 72 and the Golden Bear could smell his 15th major win as he told Radosta, “I’m not far back and there aren’t many players in front of me.”
No Foldo for Faldo
The other babe in the British Open, 18 year old Nick Faldo, managed a 76 in the poor playing conditions in the 3rd round action. And that was good enough to make the 3rd round cut that they have here at the British Open. In fact, Faldo’s 3 round score put him tied with British golfing legend Tony Jacklin.
Notably missing the 3rd round cut was last year’s champion, Tom Watson.
Imagine that, Nick Faldo, age 18, in his 1st major made the 3rd round cut while the defending British Open Champion, Tom Watson, did not.
Here were the scores for the Babes and the big name players after 3 rounds:
-5 Seve Ballesteros
-3 Johnny Miller
E Jack Nicklaus and Ray Floyd
+4 Hubert Green
+5 Tom Weiskopf
+7 Arnold Palmer and Gary Player
+10 Nick Faldo and Tony Jacklin
The Final Round
You can experience the highlights of the final round of the 1976 British Open as I did by watching this YouTube video:
I have noted the time stamps on the tape for the key moments:
23:30 - The preview for the final round, asking “Can Ballesteros possibly make it?”
24:56 - After a wild hooked shot on the 1st tee, Seve has a 20 footer for par. He cans it! Then Miller misses a 4-footer and takes bogey.
Seve suddenly leads by 3 shots!
26:20 - Nicklaus, after a birdie at 3, hits his tee shot on the 206 yard par 3 4th to within 10 feet.
27:15 - Nicklaus putts for birdie, and it rolls in!
Jack pulls even with Johnny at - 2, just 3 shots back of Seve.
28:25 - Miller’s 2nd shot on the par 4 2nd hole lands inside 10 feet from the pin.
29:20 - Seve misses his par putt at 2, while Miller makes the bird.
It’s a 2 stroke swing and now Seve’s lead is down to 1 shot over Miller and just 2 over Nicklaus and Floyd.
29:52 - We see the leaderboard:
30:58 - Nicklaus is in deep trouble on the 6th hole and takes a double bogey
33:27 - With Seve and Johnny thru 4 holes in the final round we see the leaderboard again following Jack’s double:
34:00 - Seve has an impossible shot from inside a bush on the 6th hole. He makes a double bogey, while Miller pars and the lead changes hands.
37:50 - Ray Floyd makes a long birdie putt on 9 and then we see the leaderboard again:
Stay with the tape now as we next see Seve in trouble at the 8th, while Johnny Miller has hit his approach shot to inside 2 feet.
Miller is looking like he does when he plays in Phoenix, drilling irons dead on the pin.
It’s another 2 shot swing as Seve bogeys and Miller birdies.
Johnny Miller now leads by 3 shots over Seve and Ray Floyd, and 4 shots over Nicklaus, with 10 holes remaining.
42:15 - Miller chips from off the green after coming up just shy of the green in 2 on the par 5 13th.
Miller chips it in for an eagle!
43:33 - We see the leaderboard after Miller and Ballesteros have finished 16 holes. Johnny is now in front by 5 shots. Seve is 7 back.
46:22 - Seve is on the par 5 17th in 2, and makes the 25 foot eagle putt!
48:05 - Miller hits his approach into the 18th hole high and raises his arms in the air. His iron shot clinic is now complete. Victory is assured.
49:30 - With the tournament already decided, Seve hits a gem of a chip on the last hole and receives a huge ovation.
50:00 - Miller has an eagle putt to set the course record of 65. He misses but has wrapped up the British Open. His 66 is the lowest ever final round score by the winner of a British Open up to this time.
Johnny Miller now holds the lowest final round scores for the winner in both the U.S. Open and the British Open.
50:50 - Seve has a putt to tie Jack Nicklaus for 2nd place. He makes it. It is a historic finish. Seve becomes the youngest player ever to finish in 2nd place in the British Open.
NOTE: There was a teenager who won the British Open, but never came in 2nd. Young Tom Morris, won the British Opens in 1868 - 1870 as a 17, 18 and 19-year-old.
Miller Time!
Donald Steel of the London Daily Telegraph captured the essence of what took place in the early parts of the final round, after the 1st hole, as best as anyone who covered the tournament, when he wrote, “Miller wore down Ballesteros on the first six holes like some teasing matador.”
In winning, Johnny Miller went from 3 shots down after the 1st hole to 6 shots up at the end of the round, an astounding 9 shots gained over the last 17 holes.
John Radosta wrote in the New York Times, “Once Miller took the lead after the sixth hole there was no way anyone could catch him - he just took off.”
“I’m a heck of a front runner. If you put me in the lead, I play way over my head,” Miller told Radosta after the round.
Hugh McIlvanney of the London Observer wrote about Miller’s performance, “Miller attacked Birkdale and the hopes of his rivals as uncompromisingly as a flame-thrower.”
McIlvanney was also complimentary of the young Ballesteros’s spirited play in the face of his self imposed adversity, “The boy did not disintegrate entirely. Disasters were followed by brief, defiant surges… but there was no possibility that he could ever recapture the marvellous exuberance of those first three days of the championship when he led.”
The Babe, Ballesteros, had gone from a high point after the 1st hole of -5, all the way down to +2 after 11 holes, only to recover to -3.
Down the stretch Seve had gone 5 under on the final 7 holes, a truly magnificent finish.
The Other Babe
The only account of 18-year-old Nick Faldo’s final round that I could find was in the Liverpool Echo:
Faldo’s 69 was the 5th best score of the final round, equal to the final round score of Jack Nicklaus!
Faldo’s 3 under par performance on the last day enabled him to finish the tournament tied with Big 3 member Gary Player at +6 in 28th place. Player was the 1974 British Open Champion.
Not bad for a babe!
John Campbell of the London Daily Telegraph predicted future success for Faldo. Here are excerpts of the article he wrote:
Final Scores:
-9 Johnny Miller
-3 Seve Ballesteros and Jack Nicklaus
-2 Ray Floyd
No other players were under par. Here were some of the other big name players:
E Hubert Green
+4 Tom Weiskopf
+6 Nick Faldo and Gary Player
+10 Tony Jacklin
+12 Arnold Palmer
POSTSCRIPT
Seve Ballesteros went on to win 5 major championships, including 3 British Opens.
Ballesteros is the only Continental European ever to win more than 2 major championships.
Nick Faldo won 6 major championships in his career, including 3 British Opens.
Johnny Miller never won a major after the 1976 British Open.
While Miller won 25 times on the PGA TOUR, he finished his career with only 2 majors.
Miller’s amazing run between the 1973 U.S. Open and the 1976 British Open, came to an abrupt halt after his victory at Royal Birkdale. Not only did he not win another major. but he didn’t win another PGA Tournament until 1980, a dry spell of nearly 4 years, after he had won 16 times in that amazing 3 year stretch from 1973 - 1976. It is reported that Johnny Miller suffered from the “yips” and was unable to putt at the level required to win tournaments.
Johnny Miller himself had once been a “babe” like Ballesteros and Faldo were at the 1976 British Open. In the 1966 U.S. Open, 19-year-old Johnny Miller came in 8th place. You can read about that in a couple of articles I posted last month:
Look Who's At the 1966 U.S. Open
The 1966 U.S. Open - FINAL ROUND
FINAL NOTE From The Sports Time Traveler
Back here in 2026, I watched this year’s final round coverage of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale last week.
NBC aired a segment about Arnold Palmer’s British Open victory at Royal Birkdale in 1961 early in the final round coverage. That whet my appetite for the type of in-depth 3 minute package that CBS aired last year to pay tribute to the 50 year anniversary of the “Shootout” at Augusta on the 50th anniversary of the historic 1975 Masters in which Johnny Miller, Tom Weiskopf and Jack Nicklaus had a three-way dual down the stretch.
Since Johnny Miller was a long time announcer on NBC, I just assumed that NBC would serve up a similarly delicious 3 minute trip to the past to re-live Johnny Miller’s great victory in the 1976 British Open. And show us this early glimpse of the brilliance of Seve Ballesteros.
But it never came!
I was shocked that NBC did not have a final round segment showcasing Johnny Miller’s victory precisely 50 years ago on this very same golf course.
It was a real miss.
And while I was delighted to see Ryan Fox add his name to the claret jug, my time watching the 2026 Open Championship felt incomplete without any reference to the 50th anniversary of that great tournament, at the same golf club, in 1976.
MORE GOLF STORIES
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Miller and Green played an exhibition in Syracuse NY the week after the Open. Tricky course and Miller shot a fine 67. Hit the ball miles too. They had a long drive contest before the round and a local long hitter crushed a few, before Miller, with that lovely swing, knocked his first ball past them all.