Five of the best shots in Birkdale Open Championship history

Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Seve Ballesteros are just some of the all-time greats who couldn’t get over the line at Royal Birkdale. Peter Thompson, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Pádraig Harrington and Jordan Spieth are among the greats who could, and each of the 10 Championships that Royal Birkdale has staged are remembered for iconic shots delivered both in victory and in defeat.

Here are five of the best.

5. 1976 – Seve Ballesteros

History has a way of playing tricks with you, and it’s easy to forget that it was Johnny Miller and not Severiano Ballesteros that claimed the Claret Jug in 1976. That’s because it was the Spaniard who hit the most iconic shot of the final round. On a burnt-out links, from the rough, Seve’s short-game wizardry was on full display as he threaded a bump-and-run through the narrow gap between the two greenside bunkers on 18 to tap-in range.

4. 1983 – Bill Rogers

While Tom Watson would get his hands on the Claret Jug for the fifth time, the best shot of the week came three days earlier when Bill Rogers, the 1981 Champion Golfer of the Year, holed a 1-iron on the 17^th for albatross. At the time, it was just the third albatross ever recorded in an Open Championship, and it remains the only one carded at Royal Birkdale.

3. 2017 – Jordan Spieth

There are many Jordan Spieth highlights to choose from in 2017 – you could choose the entire 13^th hole where he ended up taking a penalty drop and playing from the driving range with equipment trucks in full view and managed to manufacture one of the best bogeys you’ll ever see. But his response on 14 was the single most impressive shot when he nearly aced the then par-3 and tapped in to regain the lead.

2. 1983 – Tom Watson

As previously mentioned, Bill Rogers’ albatross was the best shot of the week, but Watson’s approach to the last was the most iconic. Despite only having a one-stroke lead on the 72^nd hole, the gallery was tightly packed around the American when he played his approach from the fairway. The moment the ball left his clubface and set off laser-like at the flag, Watson stated marching and the gallery broke ranks and sprinted towards the green, swamping Watson in the process as heavily outnumbered police fought a losing battle at restoring order. Watson remained calm and two-putted for his fifth Claret Jug.

1. 2008 – Pádraig Harrington

Just 12 months earlier, Pádraig Harrington took the aggressive approach on the 72^nd hole at Carnoustie and it almost cost him the Championship. With a two-shot lead on the 17^th hole at Royal Birkdale, with a stiff breeze blowing across, and with that final hole at Carnoustie in mind, it would’ve been so easy for the Dubliner to lay up and take the big number out of the equation and hope to win it on 18. Instead, he reached for his 5-wood backed himself and took on the shot that could win it or lose it there and then.

We all know what happened next. He hit a hold-up draw against the wind, landed it just over the bunker and it kicked right before drawing in off the slope and coming to rest around three feet from the hole for eagle.

Until Rory McIlroy’s 7-iron on Augusta National’s 15th in 2025, this was unquestionably the greatest shot in Irish major championship history. And many will argue that is still is.