The Open Championship: Top 10 moments in history

2. Jean Van De Velde implodes at Carnoustie at 1999

Ask most people about The Open Championship at Carnoustie in 1999 and they likely won’t talk about winner Paul Lawrie, who would go on to rack up eight wins on the European Tour in his career, including that one major win. You’re likely going to hear people talk about the major win that Frenchman Jean Van De Velde threw away in one of the most epic collapses major championship golf has ever seen.

Van De Velde, a journeyman that had won just once on the European Tour, the 1993 Roma Masters, coming into The Open in 1999, had the Claret Jug in his grasp and one hole changed his life forever. Not one player had broken par in the opening round as Van De Velde shot a 4-over 75 on Thursday but he came back strong with a second-round 68 to take a one-shot lead into the weekend. As conditions worsened, he followed that up with a strong round of 70 and was the only man in the field at even par for the week, five shots better than Justin Leonard and Craig Parry and a full 10 shots ahead of Lawrie going into Sunday’s final round.

Van De Velde’s lead was gone by the time he reached the 12th hole. He was 3-over for the day while Parry was 3-under but the Australian took himself out of it with a disastrous triple-bogey. As Lawrie was clawing his way back into the mix with timely birdies, Leonard tied for the lead with a birdie at the 14th but made two bogeys in the last four holes to sit in the clubhouse at 6-over, tied with Lawrie for second. Van De Velde had made key pars at 15, 16 and 17 and held a three-shot lead going into the final hole. And then it happened.

The finishing hole at Carnoustie certainly isn’t an easy one. It’s a daunting 499-yard par-4 with trouble everywhere and Van De Velde made sure he found out. Needing just a double-bogey or better to win, he inexplicably went with driver off the tee and ended up back over on the 17th. In a situation in which he easily could have gone back out into the 18th fairway, he took out a 2-iron and went for the green, only to see his ball hit a railing in the grandstands and bounced back about 50 yards into some very deep rough. He still could have gone back out into the fairway at this point, gotten on in four and two-putted to victory. Nope.

He chose to go at the green again for his third but the rough got him and his ball ended up in the water. Still visible, off came the shoes and socks and up went the pant legs. He eventually came to his senses and took the drop, costing him a shot, and was now set to hit his fifth, still with a chance to get up and down for the win. But his shot found the greenside bunker and now he had to get up and down from there just to get into a play-off with Lawrie and Leonard. His bunker shot came to rest about six feet from the hole and actually did make the putt.

But by that time, it was all over for Van De Velde. He doubled the first hole of the playoff and couldn’t recover as both he and Leonard lost by three to Lawrie, who shot even over the four holes to win the Claret Jug. Van De Velde has said he’s made peace with what happened at Carnoustie in 1999 but the moment will live on as long as The Open Championship is played.