Open Championship: 1981 Produced Huge Surprise Winner, Bill Rogers
By Tim Letcher
The 1981 Open Championship, played at Royal St. George’s, which is also hosting the 2021 Open Championship, produced a surprise winner. But it wasn’t a dramatic finish. Instead, it was a dominant performance by Bill Rogers.
In a field that included the world’s best golfers, including former Open champions like Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer and Lee Trevino, it was Rogers who put on an awesome performance. And by the end of the week, Rogers had claimed the Claret Jug.
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The first round produced very tough scoring conditions. In fact, not a single player was under par after day one. The first-round co-leaders were Vicente Fernandez and Nick Job, who both managed to shoot even par.
Friday was a bit more forgiving, although not much. Rogers did manage to shoot a 4-under par 66 to take the lead by one shot over Job and Ben Crenshaw. Other big names like Bernhard Langer, David Graham, Tony Jacklin and Tom Watson were lurking through 36 holes.
On Saturday, when the world’s best gave it their all, it was Rogers who took complete control of the event.
While not another player was able to get into red figures, Rogers was steady. He shot 67 on Saturday and took a commanding five-shot lead over Mark James and Langer, who were both at even par. Isao Aoki and Raymond Floyd were tied for fourth, but were eight shots behind.
So, in reality, it was going to be Rogers, James or Langer who won the event. And Rogers really just needed to be good, not great, to hang on and win his first major title.
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Rogers did just that on Sunday. He shot a 1-over par 71, in tough conditions, to win the Open. It was a four-shot victory over Langer and a convincing victory.
In total, Rogers would win six times on the PGA Tour. He would never win another major and would eventually leave the tour altogether. But for one week in England, Rogers was on top of the golfing world.