Study reveals least memorable Open champion

From Tiger Woods at St Andrews to Phil Mickelson at Muirfield, the Open has a catalogue of memorable championships.

Think Jordan Spieth at Birkdale and Shane Lowry at Portrush, too. You remember those, surely?!

Well, the pinnacle of links golf returns this week at Royal Troon and all eyes will be on the game’s oldest major and, hopefully, a week to remember.

However, some have almost disappeared from the memory bank, just ask High 5 Casino. The online firm has crunched some numbers to reveal the least memorable Open champions since 1990.

All we can say is: look away now, Ian Baker-Finch.

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According to the study, the Australian’s triumph at Birkdale in 1991 is the most forgotten. He finished two shots clear of Mike Harwood to claim his first and only major win.

It found that only 40.4% of people remembered the winner.

We can hear the collective sigh of relief from the remaining past champions across the last two and a half decades, but Baker-Finch is one of six former winners remembered by less than half of the participants.

Tom Lehman was the second least memorable Open champion, while Todd Hamilton, Justin Leonard, Ben Curtis and Paul Lawrie followed.

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It paints a poor record for this week’s venue in south Ayrshire, as Hamilton and Leonard lifted the Claret Jug at Royal Troon.

Meanwhile, just over 50% of participants remembered the wins of Nick Price, Stewart Cink and David Duval.

Mark O’Meara rounded out the top ten, with 61.3% of people claiming to remember the win.

In total, around 18,200 people took part in the quiz and unsurprisingly, the most memorable Open Championship winner was Tiger Woods. Over 98% remembered his three victories.

Over 90% of people also remembered Mickelson as the 2013 winner, Spieth as the 2017 winner, Zach Johnson as the 2015 winner and Rory McIlroy as the champion golfer of 2014.

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Tryst Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.