1989 Open Championship: Mark Calcavecchia

Sunday July 23, 1989: Wayne Grady, Greg Norman and Mark Calcavecchia stand on the first tee at Royal Troon, the centre of the golfing world. For four days they have scrapped and battled, thrilled and entertained, just to get to this point. Four days, 72 holes. But now for four more.

Each man has a tale to tell. One was just a phone call away from missing out on the biggest day of his sporting life. Another would tear up the course on the Sunday, almost defying his final day odds of 25/1 to left the Claret Jug. The third would lead for over two days before stumbling at two par threes, setting up a piece of Open history.

1984 Open Championship: Seve Ballesteros

Although he was 9/1 second favourite to win the 1984 Open Championship at St Andrews, the year Seve Ballesteros was experiencing had been far from ideal. Missing the cut as defending champion at the Masters - after being penalised two shots for grounding his club in Rae's Creek on the 13th - the Spaniard was not enjoying a fruitful season on the US PGA tour.

Ballesteros had pushed himself into contention for the US Open at the halfway stage, but a poor weekend saw him drift away, and as a record crowd flocked to the home of golf, many were pondering whether the 27-year-old was able to reverse his fortunes.

1985 Open Championship: Sandy Lyle

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.

1986 Open Championship: Guy McQuitty

Guy McQuitty may have an unwanted place in the Open Championship record books, but he deserves a great amount of credit for his determination and persistence.

“Never give in. Never give in.” Guy McQuitty had obviously taken the words of Sir Winston Churchill to heart. Because the 23-year-old assistant professional could have been excused if he had turned on his heels and dashed away from his turmoil at Turnberry in the summer of 1986. But McQuitty was not for quitting.

1983 Open Championship: Faldo, Irwin, and Watson

A look back at the 1983 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, and a tale of varying fortunes for Nick Faldo, Hale Irwin, and Tom Watson.

1980s Open Championships

This week I am taking a look back on the Open Championships of the 1980s. A decade that was initially dominated by Tom Watson, saw Britain enjoy success, involved the joy of Seve, and witnessed record attendances, and high and low scores. Plus a few dodgy number ones....

1989 Open Championship: As it happened

This week I am attempting to pay a tribute to the excellent Guardian Open Championship live blogs that run every year. I've turned back time and revisited the first ever four-hole play-off at the Open Championship in 1989, and had a stab at writing a "as it happened" piece.

Please note: the times below are a rough approximation of the actual timetable of events, so please don't be too harsh on me if I am a couple of minutes out here or there.

1987 Open Championship: Nick Faldo

It is one of the standard components of the numerous talent shows thrust upon us today to hear about a contestant's "journey". You know, the usual tear-filled drivel, typically accompanied by some nauseating soundtrack, highlighting the highs and lows of a competitor's route to where they are now. Had the concept existed in sport in 1987, then for a certain Nick Faldo the back story would have been lengthy and drawn out. For long parts it could have played out with the Road To Nowhere in the background.

1988 Open Championship: Seve Ballesteros

Sunday 22 July, 1984: A Spaniard stands on the 18th green at St. Andrews, punching the air in sheer joy, with a smile on his face that lights up the world. Some 400 miles away, an 8-year-old boy watches his first ever Open Championship on television, and is immediately captivated by this man, beginning an obsession with Severiano Ballesteros that still goes on to this day.

As the Open Championship returns to Lytham in 2012, it is impossible not to think of Seve, and all that he achieved there. As this blog specialises in 1980s sporting events, it is obvious that Seve's 1988 Open triumph will be the focus of this piece, and not his first major win in 1979 on the same course. It is hard to write about your heroes, but here goes....