Average stats of an Open champion
There are several key characteristics required to win The Open. We’ve captured the commonalities that Open champions possess, based on the average performance and personal statistics for every winner since 1966.
What makes an Open Champion?
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Country
The USA have dominated the Open with 28 wins.
South Africa are second with 5 wins, while England has produced 4 winners.
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Prize Money
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Score
276 is the average score of Open winners.
The average score has come down by 10 since the 1960s.
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Vs Par
The average vs. par score is -9.
The lowest vs. par score in the Open was -20 from Henrik Stenson in 2016.
The highest vs. par score was logged by Paul Lawrie in 1999, with +6.
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Age Turned Pro
On average, Open winners turned pro at the age of 21.
Roberto De Vicenzo turned pro when he was just 15.
Pádraig Harrington didn't turn pro until he was 24.
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Margin Of Victory
The majority of Open championships have been decided by just one shot.
Tiger Woods achieved the largest margin of victory in 2000, winning by an impressive 8 shots.
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Driving Distance
The average driving distance is 298.
Tiger Woods is comfortably the longest hitter to win The Open. He clocked an impressive 341.5 yards in 2005.
Paul Lawrie was the shortest hitter with 228 yards in 1999.
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Fairways Hit
Louis Oosthuizen and Zach Johnson have both hit the most fairways with 55.
Jordan Spieth hit the lowest number of fairways in 2017 with 24.
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GIR
The winner with the lowest GIR% was Paul Lawrie in 1999 with 48.6%
Unsurprisingly, Tiger Woods was the most accurate with an impressive 91.7% GIR in 2000.
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No. of putts
Todd Hamilton holds the putting record with 109.
Tiger Woods has the worst record with 125.
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Weight
John Daly was the heaviest Open winner in 1995 at 250 lbs.
The lightest winner was Bill Rogers in 1981, weighing in at 148 lbs.
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Height
The average height for an Open winner is 5 foot 9.
Ian Baker-Finch and Stewart Cink are the tallest winners at 6 foot 4.
England's Tony Jacklin and South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen are the shortest winners at 5 foot 1.
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Age
The average age of Open winners is 33
The youngest winner is Seve Ballesteros who was just 22!
The oldest winner is Roberto De Vicenzo at 44!
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Star Sign
The most common star sign of winners is Virgo.
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Marital Status
The majority of Open winners were happily married!
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Hair Colour
