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Ben Curtis kisses the trophy in 2003 at Sandwich. INPHO/Getty Image
history lesson

Open season: what happened on the last four occasions at Sandwich

The Championship at St Georges has had some thrilling finales, surprise victors and a host of memorable moments. We look back at its recent history there.

WHILE THIS YEAR’S event is proving to be an interesting affair, it will need to have a pretty spectacular finish to match some of the past Opens played at Royal St Georges, as the examples below attest.

2003: Ben Curtis shocks the big guns

2003 will always be considered as one of the most memorable Opens, largely due to the emergence of American Ben Curtis from nowhere to secure an unexpected victory.

The then-26-year-old golfer became the first debutant to win the competition since Tom Watson in 1975, scooping the $1m prize money after a dramatic collapse from Dane Thomas Bjorn.

It was a memorable event in general, with Tiger Woods losing his ball on the first shot, and a thrilling finale in which Curtis beat Bjorn and Vijay Singh by one stroke.

Bjorn led with three holes to play, but his chances were severely dented after taking three attempts to escape the bunker on the 16th hole.

1993: Cool Norman secures shock triumph

Just as was the case in 2003, there was a surprise victory ten years earlier, as no one expected Greg Norman to triumph, given that the golfer had not won a major since 1986 before then.

Norman registered the lowest aggregate score of any Open champion, calmly holding his lead ahead of the chasing pack, which included Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer and Corey Pavin.

Norman played with an astonishing level of confidence, eventually beating Nick Faldo by two strokes.

Revisiting the victory later in his career, Norman recalled: “I was enjoying the championship so much, I wished it wouldn’t finish.”

1985: Lyle wins his first major

Scotland’s Sandy Lyle won a major for the first time back in 1985, narrowly beating Payne Stewart by a single stroke in the last year the Open featured a double cut.

Lyle’s victory was the first for a British player since 1969.

The player was three shots behind Bernhard Langer and David Graham going into the final day, but some bravura play, including a 45-foot putt, was enough for Lyle to bring home the trophy.

1981: Rogers, the reluctant hero, wins by four strokes

1981 provided another surprise winner as Bill Rogers secured what was ultimately a comfortable four-stoke victory over Bernhard Langer.

In the first Open at Sandwich since 1949 (due to a lack of hotel accommodation available in the area and substandard country roads until then), Rogers held a five-stroke lead going into the final day.

The player, who was only convinced to enter the tournament by a Texan friend of his, had a slight hiccup on the seventh hole, dropping two strokes on a par five.

Langer was only one shot behind Rogers as a result, however the American held firm thereafter, extending his lead in the subsequent holes to secure victory.

Read more: Chart of the week: Golfers at the Open named Simon>