1963 Open Championship

1963 Open Championship
Tournament information
Dates 10–13 July 1963
Location Lytham St Annes, England
Course(s) Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club
Statistics
Par 70[1][2]
Length 6,836 yards (6,251 m)[2]
Field 120 players, 47 after cut[2]
Cut 149 (+9)
Prize fund £8,500
$23,800
Winner's share £1,500
$4,200
Champion
New Zealand Bob Charles
277 (−3), playoff
Lytham &
St Annes
Location in England
Lytham &
St Annes
Location in Lancashire. England

The 1963 Open Championship was the 92nd Open Championship, held from 10–13 July at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, England.

Bob Charles won his only major championship in a 36-hole playoff on Saturday, eight strokes ahead of runner-up Phil Rodgers, and became the first left-hander to win a major title.[3][4][5] Masters winner Jack Nicklaus bogeyed the last two holes and came in third, one stroke out of the playoff. A heavy favourite among the local bettors, two-time defending champion Arnold Palmer tied for 26th.[1] U.S. Open champion Julius Boros did not play.

This was the last 36-hole playoff at The Open, the format was changed to 18 holes the following year, used in 1970 and 1975.[6] The four-hole aggregate format was introduced in 1986 and first used in 1989.

The PGA Championship was played the next week in Texas at Dallas, one of five times in the 1960s that these two majors were played in consecutive weeks in July. In epic heat, 23-year-old Nicklaus regrouped and won by two strokes for his third major title.[7][8][9]

Course layout

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal
Yards2084394563932124665533941643,2853364832003394454623564623893,4726,757

Source:[10][11]
Previous lengths of the course for The Open Championship (since 1950):[2]

  • 1958: 6,635 yards (6,067 m)
  • 1952: 6,657 yards (6,087 m)

Field

For the first time, leading players were exempt from qualifying. 44 players who entered were exempted:[12]

Peter Alliss, Brian Bamford, Michael Bonallack (a), Fred Boobyer, Ken Bousfield, Eric Brown, Peter Butler, Joe Carr (a), Billy Casper, Bob Charles, Neil Coles, Roger Foreman, Jean Garaïalde, Christy Greene, Tom Haliburton, Jimmy Hitchcock, Brian Huggett, Bernard Hunt, Denis Hutchinson, John Jacobs, Bobby Locke, Jimmy Martin, Cary Middlecoff, Sebastián Miguel, Ralph Moffitt, Kel Nagle, Jack Nicklaus, Christy O'Connor Snr, Arnold Palmer, John Panton, Lionel Platts, Gary Player, Dai Rees, Phil Rodgers, Sandy Saddler (a), Doug Sanders, Syd Scott, Doug Sewell, Dave Thomas, Peter Thomson, Harry Weetman, Ross Whitehead, Brian Wilkes, Guy Wolstenholme

Casper and Middlecoff subsequently withdrew leaving 42 pre-qualified players.

The exemption categories were:

1. The first 20 and those tying for 20th place in the 1962 Open
Peter Alliss, Bob Charles, Roger Foreman, Jean Garaïalde, Brian Huggett, Bernard Hunt, Denis Hutchinson, Jimmy Martin, Sebastian Miguel, Ralph Moffitt, Kel Nagle (3), Christy O'Connor Snr, Arnold Palmer (3,6), John Panton, Phil Rodgers, Syd Scott, Dave Thomas, Peter Thomson (3), Harry Weetman, Ross Whitehead

2. The first 30 and those tying for 30th place in the P.G.A. Order of Merit for 1962

3. The last 10 Open champions (1953–62)
Bobby Locke, Gary Player

4. The last 5 Amateur champions (1958–62)
Michael Bonallack (5) (a), Joe Carr (a)

  • Eligible but did not enter: Deane Beman (7), Richard Davies

5. Members of the 1962 British Eisenhower Cup team
Sandy Saddler (a)

6. The last 10 U.S. Open champions (1953–62)
Jack Nicklaus

7. The last 5 U.S. Amateur champions (1958–62)

8. The first 30 money winners and those tying for 30th place in the U.S.P.G.A. official list for one year ending with the P.G.A. tournament immediately before the closing date of the U.S. Open entries

Exemptions for amateur champions were only granted if the player was still an amateur.

Qualifying

Qualification took place on 4–5 July (Thursday and Friday) at Fairhaven and St Annes Old Links. They were run as two separate events with 39 players to qualify from each venue to make a total field of 120. At each venue 34 players qualified on 147 and 6 players had a sudden-death playoff for the remaining five places. Max Faulkner, the 1951 Champion, was one of those who qualified in the playoff at Fairhaven. Bruce Devlin and Bill Large led the qualifying events. Three alternates were decided from each qualifying event.[13][14]

Fairhaven – Grant Aitken, C.C. Bowman (a), Dick Burton, Colin Colenso, Gordon Cunningham, Stuart Davies, Bruce Devlin, Cherif El-Sayed Cherif, Max Faulkner, Tony Fisher, W.C.A. Hancock, Jack Hargreaves, Jim Henderson, J.R. Hood (a), Geoffrey Hunt, Jack Isaacs, Tony Jacklin, Arthur Lees, Eric Lester, Hugh Lewis, John MacDonald, G.R. Maisey, Bob Marshall, Frank Miller, A. Moore, Hedley Muscroft, George Parton, Frank Phillips, G.M. Rutherford (a), Denis Scanlan, David Snell, Bill Spence, Norman Sutton, Bobby Verwey, Bobby Walker, Gordon Weston, Trevor Wilkes, George Will, Michael Wolveridge
St Annes Old Links – Brian Allen, Herman Barron, David Beard, M. Birkett, Hugh Boyle, Harry Bradshaw, Alan Brookes, Fred Bullock, Alex Caygill, Barry Davies, Norman Drew, J.H. Ellis, C. Findlay, Simon Fogarty, Allan Gillies, Walter Godfrey, Tony Grubb, Harold Henning, Bryon Hutchinson, Norman Johnson, Alex King, Bill Large, Eddie Large, Malcolm Leeder, Nicky Lynch, Ian MacDonald, N.R. MacDonald, Jim McAlister, David Miller, Maurice Moir, D.G. Neech (a), Cyril Pennington, Sewsunker Sewgolum, Jack Sharkey, Ian Smith, Ramón Sota, Brian Stockdale (a), Donald Swaelens, Jack Wilkshire

Prize money

The total prize money remained unchanged at £8,500 but the distribution was changed. The winner's prize was increased to £1,500 with £1,000 for second, £800 for third, £650 for fourth, £500 for fifth, £350 for sixth, £275 for seventh, £225 for eighth, £175 for ninth, £150 for tenth, £140 for 11th, £135 for 12th, £130 for 13th, £125 for 14th, £120 for 15th, £110 for 16th reducing at £5 intervals to £65 for 25th. The 26th to 30th places each received £60 with £55 for 31st to 35th, £50 for 36th to 40th and £45 for 41st to 45th. If more than 45 players made the cut the 41st to 45th prize money was distributed between all those finishing 41st or lower. If less than 45 made the cut the remaining prize money was not distributed. The winner of each qualifying event won £75 with £50 for second and £25 for third place.[14]

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

PlayerCountryYear(s) wonR1R2R3R4TotalTo parFinish
Kel Nagle Australia196069707371283+34
Peter Thomson Australia1954, 1955,
1956, 1958		67697178285+55
Gary Player South Africa195975707270287+7T7
Max Faulkner England195177717174293+13T20
Arnold Palmer United States1961, 196276717176294+14T26

Source:[2][15]

Missed the cut

PlayerCountryYear(s) wonR1R2TotalTo par
Bobby Locke South Africa1949, 1950,
1952, 1957		8072152+12
Dick Burton England19398373156+16

Source:[2][11]

Round summaries

First round

Wednesday, 10 July 1963

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Phil Rodgers United States67−3
Peter Thomson Australia
T3Bob Charles New Zealand68−2
Tom Haliburton Scotland
T5Kel Nagle Australia69−1
Ramón Sota Spain
T7Frank Phillips Australia70E
Donald Swaelens Belgium
Brian Wilkes South Africa
T10Geoffrey Hunt England71+1
Alex King England
Hugh Lewis England
Ian MacDonald Scotland
Jack Nicklaus United States
Sewsunker Sewgolum South Africa

Small:[16]

Second round

Thursday, 11 July 1963

The cut rule was changed this year to a minimum of 45 players; it was previously a maximum of 50. The cut was 149 (+9) and 47 players advanced, but no amateurs.

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Phil Rodgers United States67-68=135−5
2Peter Thomson Australia67-69=136−4
3Jack Nicklaus United States71-67=138−2
4Kel Nagle Australia69-70=139−1
5Bob Charles New Zealand68-72=140E
T6Jean Garaïalde France72-69=141+1
Tom Haliburton Scotland68-73=141
T8Ian MacDonald Scotland71-71=142+2
Sebastián Miguel Spain73-69=142
Christy O'Connor Snr Ireland74-68=142
Ramón Sota Spain69-73=142

Source:[11]
Amateurs: Hood (+12), Saddler (+12), Carr (+15), Neech (+16), Rutherford (+16), Bonallack (+19), Bowman (+19), Stockdale (+20)

Third round

Friday, 12 July 1963 - (morning)

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Bob Charles New Zealand68-72-66=206−4
2Peter Thomson Australia67-69-71=207−3
T3Jack Nicklaus United States71-67-70=208−2
Phil Rodgers United States67-68-73=208
5Kel Nagle Australia69-70-73=212+2
6Jean Garaïalde France72-69-72=213+3
T7Harold Henning South Africa76-68-71=215+5
Sebastián Miguel Spain73-69-73=215
Ramón Sota Spain69-73-73=215
T10Bernard Hunt England72-71-73=216+6
Ian MacDonald Scotland71-71-74=216

Source:[15][17]

Final round

Friday, 12 July 1963 - (afternoon)

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney (£)
T1Bob Charles New Zealand68-72-66-71=277−3Playoff
Phil Rodgers United States67-68-73-69=277
3Jack Nicklaus United States71-67-70-70=278−2800
4Kel Nagle Australia69-70-73-71=283+3650
5Peter Thomson Australia67-69-71-78=285+5500
6Christy O'Connor Snr Ireland74-68-76-68=286+6350
T7Gary Player South Africa75-70-72-70=287+7250
Ramón Sota Spain69-73-73-72=287
T9Jean Garaïalde France72-69-72-75=288+8163
Sebastián Miguel Spain73-69-73-73=288

Source:[15][17][18]

Playoff

Saturday, 13 July 1963

Charles won the 36-hole playoff by eight strokes; he led by three after the first round.[3][4][5]

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney (£)
1Bob Charles New Zealand69-71=140E1,500
2Phil Rodgers United States72-76=148+81,000

References

  1. 1 2 Brown, Gwilym S. (22 July 1963). "The Ham and the Knife". Sports Illustrated. pp. 10–11, 43–45.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 73, 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  3. 1 2 Horne, Cyril (15 July 1963). "Open Championship for R.J. Charles". Glasgow Herald. p. 8.
  4. 1 2 "Charles wins British Open". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. 13 July 1963. p. 1B.
  5. 1 2 "Bob Charles wins by 8 in Open". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. 14 July 1963. p. 1, sec. 2.
  6. ↑ "Play-off in Open reduced". The Times. 14 January 1964. p. 4.
  7. ↑ Wright, Alfred (July 29, 1963). "Hottest man in a furnace". Sports Illustrated. p. 16.
  8. ↑ Bartlett, Charles (July 22, 1963). "Nicklaus wins P.G.A. on 30-foot putt". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 3.
  9. ↑ Petersen, Leo (July 22, 1963). "Birdie putt on 15th clinches PGA tourney victory for Nicklaus at Dallas". Youngstown Vindicator. (Ohio). UPI. p. 19.
  10. ↑ "Card of course". Glasgow Herald. 10 July 1963. p. 6.
  11. 1 2 3 Horne, Cyril (12 July 1963). "Rogers leads by one stroke from Thomson". Glasgow Herald. p. 6.
  12. ↑ "44 Open Golf Exemptions – Key to Foreign Opposition". The Times. 13 June 1963. p. 5.
  13. ↑ "Faulkner Scrapes Through". The Times. 6 July 1963. p. 4.
  14. 1 2 "Revision of Open Golf Championship". Glasgow Herald. 30 November 1962. p. 1,6.
  15. 1 2 3 "Final aggregates". Glasgow Herald. 13 July 1963. p. 8.
  16. ↑ Horne, Cyril (11 July 1963). "Palmer nine strokes behind leaders". Glasgow Herald. p. 12.
  17. 1 2 Horne, Cyril (13 July 1963). "Tie for Open golf title". Glasgow Herald. p. 1.
  18. ↑ "Rodgers and Charles tie in Britain". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. 14 July 1963. p. 1, sec. 2.
Preceded by
1963 U.S. Open		 Major Championships Succeeded by
1963 PGA Championship

Coordinates: 53°44′58″N 3°01′05″W / 53.7495°N 3.018°W / 53.7495; -3.018

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