| 1996 |
| 1996 |
| Tom Lehman |
The Greatest Day of my Life…
Whilst a young Tiger Woods claimed the Silver Medal, his first prize at a major championship, the eyes of the golfing world honed in on Tom Lehman.
It was some 70 years earlier that fellow American Bobby Jones claimed his first claret jug, and the 125th Open Championship was to be Lehman’s first and only major championship.
Moving into the third round of the championship, Lehman had a monumental task to equal the 54-hole scoring record previously set by Nick Faldo. Something monumental followed. Lehman recorded the lowest score at Royal Lytham in major championship history, a 64. The phenomenal round saw his record 198 strokes for the first 54 holes, which up until 2019 remained the lowest in Open Championship history.
The special exhibition of golf from Lehman meant that he had a six-stroke leading heading into the final round. Despite returning a final round of 73 Lehman described it as “…not pretty but it was gritty,” adding that “It was a struggle but I stuck it out. It really is the greatest day of my life.”
