Getting into the 1970 Open Championship Vibe
Alright, so the other day, I got this bug in my ear about the 1970 Open Championship. Dunno why, maybe saw an old picture somewhere, or heard a name dropped. Anyway, I thought, okay, let’s dive into this a bit, see what it was all about. It wasn’t like I could just pop back in time, obviously, so my ‘practice’ was more like digging through old stuff, trying to get a feel for it.
First thing I did was just some basic poking around. You know, who won, where was it. St Andrews popped up right away. The Old Course. Okay, classic. Then the names: Jack Nicklaus and Doug Sanders. That playoff thing immediately caught my eye. Sounded dramatic.
Digging Deeper – Finding the Story
So, I started hunting for more details. Wasn’t easy, mind you. We’re talking 1970. Stuff wasn’t online like it is now. I managed to track down some grainy footage, like really old-school TV broadcast clips. Black and white mostly. You could barely make out the ball sometimes.
Then I found some written accounts, old newspaper bits digitized, that sort of thing. Reading those felt like piecing together a puzzle. The real kicker everyone mentioned was that final hole in regulation play. Sanders had this tiny putt, like really short, maybe three feet, to win the whole thing. The Claret Jug, right there. And he missed it. Man, reading about that, even seeing the shaky footage – you could just feel the collective gasp, even decades later. That’s the kind of human drama you don’t forget.
- Started with simple searches: Winner, Location.
- Found St Andrews and the Nicklaus/Sanders matchup.
- Tracked down old, grainy video clips.
- Read digitized newspaper reports and articles.
- Focused on the story of Sanders’ missed putt on 18.
The Playoff and Nicklaus’s Win
Okay, so because Sanders missed, it went to an 18-hole playoff the next day. More digging. Found some more reports on this. It was apparently another tight battle. Neck and neck for most of it. Then, on the very last hole of the playoff, Nicklaus hit this monster drive, and eventually sunk his putt to win. The famous part? He got so pumped up he threw his putter way up in the air. Almost hit Sanders, apparently! Watching that clip, even blurry, you see the raw emotion. Pure joy and relief all rolled into one.
My whole ‘practice’ here was just immersing myself in these old records and videos. Trying to imagine the soggy Scottish weather they probably had, the clothes they wore (those colors!), the sound of the old wooden drivers maybe. It’s about trying to connect with that moment in time, you know?
What I Took Away
Spending time digging into the 1970 Open wasn’t about stats or scores for me. It was about the story. The almost-win, the comeback, the pressure. It’s incredible how a single short putt could change so much. And seeing Nicklaus, already a legend, fight so hard and show that kind of raw emotion – it makes these old events feel real, not just lines in a history book. It was a good reminder that sports, way back then and right now, is all about those human moments, the triumphs and the heartbreaks. Pretty cool way to spend an afternoon, just digging through the past like that.
