Saturday July 12, 1969: as Tony Jacklin celebrates winning the Open Championship, he hurls his ball into the grandstand at Royal Lytham and St Annes. An 11-year-old boy called Alexander Walter Barr Lyle sits in the grandstand as Jacklin's ball flies towards him.
"It landed just a few feet from me," Lyle would later reveal. "It was at that moment that I decided I wanted to play professional golf, play in the Open - and one day win it." 16 years later, the task of ending Britain's drought in their own championship would land at the feet of Sandy Lyle.
The build up to the 1985 Open at Royal St George's, Sandwich had been dominated by the withdrawal of a number of Americans from the tournament. Half of America's eventual Ryder Cup team did not make the journey across the Atlantic, including leading PGA tour player Curtis Strange.
Jack Nicklaus hinted at the tough nature of Sandwich as a potential reason for so many absences. Tom Watson and Seve Ballesteros were highly critical. R & A Secretary Michael Bonallack did not hold back when discussing Strange's non-appearance.
"Perhaps the fact that he blew a chance of winning the US Masters earlier this year has something to do with it," noted Bonallack, referring to Strange's collapse when leading the first major of the year. "It could be the Americans don't want to know unless they reckon they can win," added Gordon Jeffrey, Chairman of the Open Committee.
Ballesteros had three majors to his name, and with Bernhard Langer claiming his first major at the 1985 Masters, European golf was beginning to make waves. But the wait for a British major stretched on; it was 15 years since Jacklin had won the US Open, and the chances of Nick Faldo, Lyle, or Ian Woosnam lifting the Claret Jug were seen as slim.
Faldo was in the process of remodelling his swing and although he made both cuts - the 1985 Open was the last to have cuts after the second and third rounds - his +15 total highlighted his struggles over the tough Kent course. But he was not alone in his battle; Lyle's total of +2 was the first over par score to win the Open since 1968.
Sandwich was expected to provide a stern examination, especially if the winds were to sweep across the course as predicted. But one man would take advantage of the benign early conditions on day one. Ireland's Christy O'Connor Jnr fired a six-under-par total of 64 before the rain moved in to change the nature of the course.
The lowest round in the Open at Sandwich - beating Henry Cotton's 65 in 1934 - O'Connor Jnr recovered from two bogeys in the opening three holes, firing seven consecutive birdies to lead the Open by four shots. There was a touch of disappointment for the popular Irishmen, though. Informed by the BBC's Clive Clark that he was in line for a bonus prize of £25,000, O'Connor Jnr was later brought back down to earth with a bang when it was revealed that there was no such reward.
Nevertheless, O'Connor Jnr could look down on the rest of the field. Pre-tournament favourite Ballesteros, priced as low as 3/1, shot a 75, on a day that only eleven men broke par. Lyle's 68 saw him miss five putts of under six feet, but the Scot was handily placed alongside Australia's David Graham, Zimbabwe's Tony Johnstone, and fellow Brits Robert Lee and Philip Parkin.
Langer, just two shots behind, was now seen as the biggest threat in the field. With the German and Graham - 1979 US PGA and 1981 US Open champion - the only two major winners at the business end of the leaderboard, the events of a weather interrupted Saturday seemed to be suggesting that a two-horse race was on the cards for the Sunday.
At one point Graham held a two-stroke lead over Langer, but the tough finishing stretch saw the pair finish tied at the top on a total of -1, the only players under par in the tournament. Lyle's 73 included four consecutive bogeys around the turn and left him trailing the leaders by three. It looked as if British hopes were fading away once again.
However, the final round of a major is never straight forward, and the Sunday at Sandwich would provide plenty of ups and downs, as one after the other players took turns to place a hand on the Claret Jug.
First to make a move was the Tom Kite. Going out in 32 (-3), the American had moved from four behind the leaders to holding a two-shot lead, as Langer and Graham shot 39 and 37 respectively for the front nine. But a shaky double bogey at the 10th derailed Kite's challenge. His inward nine of 40 (+5) saw hopes of a first major dashed.
Lyle was level for his round through 13 holes before making what proved to be the decisive move. A 35-foot putt for birdie on 14 and another birdie on 15 gave him the lead, as all of a sudden it hit the home crowd that there was a real chance of a British winner of the Open. Even Christine Lyle was taken by surprise, stopping her washing up in a rented house, to dash to the course when she realised her husband was on the brink of a remarkable win.
"When I made that putt on the 15th for a birdie I nearly burst into tears," Lyle later admitted. "I was right back in contention and it was a very emotional moment." Reaching the 18th, Lyle felt a par would be good enough to take the title. But a fluffed chip saw Duncan's Hollow swallow his ball, the Scot sinking to his knees and thumping the turf with his club.
"I thought I might have blown it there and then," Lyle noted, as his bogey saw him post a total of +2, one clear of Payne Stewart, who had fired a 68 to bring himself back into the hunt. An agonising 45-minute wait ensued, as Lyle and British golf fans turned their attentions to the closing holes of Graham and Langer.
The par-three 16th proved pivotal. Both men found sand, bogeying the hole to hand a one-shot lead to Lyle, meaning they needed to find a birdie on the tough 17th or 18th holes to force a play-off. After pars at 17, Graham found sand with his approach at 18 and could not find a miracle. But Langer very nearly did.
As Langer's chip moved towards the 18th hole, for a split second it looked as if Lyle would be denied. Yet the ball brushed past the hole. "I thought my heart was going to stop right then," Lyle commented. Both players missed their par putts to card disappointing 75s, handing Stewart sole possession of the runner-up position.
Just a month before, Lyle had been criticised for walking off the course at the Irish Open, as his round headed towards a 90+ total. Now he was being heralded as the man who proved that nice guys could win. "This is the greatest moment of my life," Lyle said. "I've been a bridesmaid a few times, so I guess it was about time I had a win."
"I know people think I'm too easy going, too soft," he added. "But I don't accept that only hard bastards make champions. Yes, I can win the way I am." Banking £65,000 for his win, Lyle was determined to keep his feet on the ground, as talk of millionaire status circulated. "I'm not going to be dictated to by the dollar and pound sign. I don't want to change my lifestyle."
The win continued the European surge in golf. But it also boosted the British game, as Lyle, Faldo and Woosnam subsequently brought major success to home shores. Lyle may have been the last man standing on Sunday July 21 at Sandwich. But he also proved to be the player to open the floodgates as British golf enjoyed its moment at the top table of the sport.
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