1965 Open Championship
Tournament information
Dates7–9 July 1965
LocationSouthport, England
Course(s)Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Statistics
Par73[1]
Length7,037 yards (6,435 m)[1]
Field130 players, 50 after cut[1]
Cut149 (+3)
Prize fund£10,000
$28,000
Winner's share£1,750
$4,900[2]
Champion
Australia Peter Thomson
285 (−7)
← 1964
1966 →
Southport is located in England
Southport
Southport
Location in England
Royal Birkdale Golf Club is located in Southport
Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Location in Southport, Merseyside,
north of Liverpool, England

The 1965 Open Championship was the 94th Open Championship, played 7–9 July at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. Peter Thomson won his fifth Claret Jug, two strokes ahead of runners-up Brian Huggett and Christy O'Connor Snr.[2][3] Thomson's previous Open victory was seven years earlier in 1958.[2][4][5]

The 1965 Open was the last to conclude with two rounds on Friday. Beginning in 1966, the final round was moved from Friday afternoon to Saturday. The Open used this schedule until 1980, when the first round moved to Thursday with the final round on Sunday, the same as the other three majors.

Field

The exemption categories were:

1. The first 20 and those tying for 20th place in the 1964 Open

2. The first 30 and those tying for 30th place in the P.G.A. Order of Merit for 1964

3. The last 10 Open champions (1955–64)

4. The last 5 Amateur champions (1960–64)

5. The last 10 U.S. Open champions (1955–64)

6. The last 5 U.S. Amateur champions (1960–64)

7. 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

8. Members of the 1964 Great Britain and Ireland Eisenhower Cup team

9. Senior professional champions of Great Britain and the United States
Charlie Ward, Sam Snead

10. The 1965 U.S. Open champion
The U.S. Open took place after the final date for entries. The winner, Gary Player, was already exempt.

Source:[6]

Qualification took place on 2–3 July at Hillside and Southport and Ainsdale. They were run as two separate events with 41 players to qualify from Hillside, 40 from Southport and Ainsdale, together with 49 exemptions to make a total field of 130.[7] Clive Clark was later added to field after William C. Campbell failed to arrive. M.E. Hill also played after Frank Phillips withdrew.[8]

Prize money

The total prize money was increased from £8,500 to £10,000. The winner's share was increased to £1,750 with £1,250 for second, £1,000 for third, £750 for fourth, £600 for fifth, £450 for sixth, £375 for seventh.[6]

Course

Main article: Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Yards 493 427 416 212 320 468 158 459 410 3,363 393 412 190 517 202 536 401 510 513 3,674 7,037
Par 5 4 4 3 4 4 3 4 4 35 4 4 3 5 3 5 4 5 5 38 73

Source:[9][10]
Lengths of the course for previous Opens:[1]

Round summaries

First round

Wednesday, 7 July 1965

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Tony Lema 68 −5
2 Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Snr 69 −4
T3 Republic of Ireland Joe Carr (a) 70 −3
United States Arnold Palmer
5 Australia Bruce Devlin 71 −2
T6 England Brian Bamford 72 −1
Scotland Eric Brown
Republic of Ireland Christy Greene
England Ronnie Mandeville
Scotland Jim McAlister
Spain Sebastián Miguel
England Lionel Platts
England Doug Sewell
England Guy Wolstenholme

Source:[11]

Second round

Thursday, 8 July 1965

Place Player Score To par
T1 Australia Bruce Devlin 71-69=140 −6
United States Tony Lema 68-72=140
T3 Wales Brian Huggett 73-68=141 −5
United States Arnold Palmer 70-71=141
T5 Republic of Ireland Hugh Boyle 73-69=142 −4
Scotland Eric Brown 72-70=142
Republic of Ireland Joe Carr (a) 70-72=142
Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Snr 69-73=142
Australia Peter Thomson 74-68=142
10 Argentina Roberto De Vicenzo 74-69=143 −3

Source:[10][12]
Amateurs: Carr (-4), Bonallack (+1), Burgess (+1), Clark (+4), Hadlock (+6), Shade (+6),
Foster (+7), Marsh (+7), Glover (+8), Birtwell (+9), Richards (+15), Marks (+17), McCandlish (+17)

Third round

Friday, 9 July 1965 - (morning)

Place Player Score To par
1 Australia Peter Thomson 74-68-72=214 −5
T2 Australia Bruce Devlin 71-69-75=215 −4
United States Tony Lema 68-72-75=215
T4 Argentina Roberto De Vicenzo 74-69-73=216 −3
Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Snr 69-73-74=216
United States Arnold Palmer 70-71-75=216
T7 Wales Brian Huggett 73-68-76=217 −2
Spain Sebastián Miguel 72-73-72=217
Australia Kel Nagle 74-70-73=217
England Lionel Platts 72-72-73=217

Source:[1][2][3][4]

Final round

Friday, 9 July 1965 - (afternoon)

Place Player Score To par Money (£)
1 Australia Peter Thomson 74-68-72-71=285 −7 1,750
T2 Wales Brian Huggett 73-68-76-70=287 −5 1,125
Republic of Ireland Christy O'Connor Snr 69-73-74-71=287
4 Argentina Roberto De Vicenzo 74-69-73-72=288 −4 750
T5 England Bernard Hunt 74-74-70-71=289 −3 475
United States Tony Lema 68-72-75-74=289
Australia Kel Nagle 74-70-73-72=289
T8 Australia Bruce Devlin 71-69-75-75=290 −2 275
Spain Sebastián Miguel 72-73-72-73=290
T10 England Max Faulkner 74-72-74-73=293 +1 185
Scotland John Panton 74-74-75-70=293

Source:[1][2][3][4]
Amateurs: Burgess (+7), Bonallack (+10), Carr (+10)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 71, 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Sixth title goal of British champ". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. 10 July 1965. p. 8.
  3. ^ a b c Jacobs, Raymond (10 July 1965). "Open golf title for Thomson". Glasgow Herald. p. 1.
  4. ^ a b c "Thomson wins 5th British title". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. 10 July 1965. p. 1, sec. 2.
  5. ^ Lovesey, John (19 July 1965). "A man from Down Under laughs it up". Sports Illustrated. p. 16.
  6. ^ a b Jacobs, Raymond (17 December 1964). "Open Championship more valuable - Prize-money up to £10,000". Glasgow Herald. p. 6.
  7. ^ Jacobs, Raymond (3 July 1965). "Palmer returns to Birkdale – Practice on altered course". Glasgow Herald. p. 5.
  8. ^ "C.A. Clark plays at Birkdale". Glasgow Herald. 7 July 1965. p. 6.
  9. ^ "Royal Birkdale card". Glasgow Herald. 8 July 1965. p. 6.
  10. ^ a b Jacobs, Raymond (9 July 1965). "Devlin shares with Lema". Glasgow Herald. p. 6.
  11. ^ Jacobs, Raymond (8 July 1965). "Lema leads in Open with 68". Glasgow Herald. p. 6.
  12. ^ "Devlin, Lema tied in British Open". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. 9 July 1965. p. 1, sec. 3.

External links

53°37′19″N 3°01′59″W / 53.622°N 3.033°W / 53.622; -3.033

1965 Men's major golf championships
The Open Championship
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