Great Britain

The British Open is surely the greatest golf championship in the world. It's certainly the oldest, the most traditional and the most international. But more importantly, as Decade of British Open reveals, it is gold at its brilliant sparkling best. Played on Britain's premier seaside links, the Open is as tough a golfing stage as you will find anywhere. Always exciting, full of emotion, nostalgia and human drama; which is how this film begins. The scene is St. Andrews, Scotland. The year is 1970. On the 72nd green stands American Doug Sanders one short putt away from the title. One stroke for the record books and a commercial fortune. The next few minutes are among the most dramatic in the Open's history....From high drama at St. Andrews, the scene switches to Royal Birkdale in Lancashire, and the first of Lee Trevino's incredible victories. In the final round only one player threatens his lead, Lu Liang Huan. You will remember him as Mr. Lu, the diminutive Asian who so endeared himself to British fans back in 1971. Remember too the following year at Muirfield, with Trevino in the thick of an epic struggle with Jack Nicklaus and Britain's Tony Jacklin. The names read like golfing's roll of honour. Tom Weiskopf's triumph in the rain at Troon, Gary Player's third Open at Royal Lytham. The play-off in 1975 between two outsiders - Australian Jack Newton, and a new name from America, Tom Watson. And then in 1976, the emergence of a new golfing superstar, Severiano Ballesteros. But the definitive Open must surely be the 1977 event at Turnberry. The duel between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus, the top players of their day, lasts until the final dramatic putts. Nicklaus again features in 1978, shrugging off challenges from every quarter, and in the following year, with a display of cavalier style golf, Ballesteros comes good. His victory, as the Open swings into new decade, reminds us of the unsurpassed action and excitement that was the British Open in the '70's: all captured in this superb video record. WILLIAM COLE