1963 Open Championship

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1963 Open Championship
Tournament information
Dates10–13 July 1963
LocationLytham St Annes, England
Course(s)Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club
Statistics
Par70[1][2]
Length6,836 yards (6,251 m)[2]
Field120 players, 47 after cut[2]
Cut149 (+9)
Prize fund£8,500
$23,800
Winner's share£1,500
$4,200
Champion
New Zealand Bob Charles
277 (−3), playoff
← 1962
1964 →
Lytham & St Annes is located in England
Lytham & St Annes
Lytham &
St Annes
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Location in England
Lytham & St Annes is located in Lancashire
Lytham & St Annes
Lytham &
St Annes
class=notpageimage|
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[]

Main article: Royal Lytham & St Annes 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 208 439 456 393 212 466 553 394 164 3,285 336 483 200 339 445 462 356 462 389 3,472 6,757

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, , 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, , 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, , 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

  • Eligible but did not enter: Sam Snead

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

  • Eligible but did not enter: Ben Hogan

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

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

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

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

  • Eligible but did not enter: Tommy Bolt, Jack Fleck, Ed Furgol, Ben Hogan, Gene Littler, Dick Mayer
  • Entered but later withdrew: Billy Casper, Cary Middlecoff

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

  • Eligible but did not enter: Charles Coe, Labron Harris Jr.
  • Jack Nicklaus had turned professional but was exempt under other categories

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 – , (a), Dick Burton, , , , Bruce Devlin, , Max Faulkner, , , Jack Hargreaves, , (a), Geoffrey Hunt, , Tony Jacklin, Arthur Lees, Eric Lester, , , , , , , Hedley Muscroft, , Frank Phillips, (a), , David Snell, , Norman Sutton, Bobby Verwey, , , , George Will,
St Annes Old Links – , Herman Barron, , , Hugh Boyle, Harry Bradshaw, , Fred Bullock, Alex Caygill, , Norman Drew, , , , , Walter Godfrey, Tony Grubb, Harold Henning, , , , Bill Large, , , , , , , , , (a), , Sewsunker Sewgolum, , , Ramón Sota, (a), Donald Swaelens,

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[]

Player Country Year(s) won R1 R2 R3 R4 Total To par Finish
Kel Nagle  Australia 1960 69 70 73 71 283 +3 4
Peter Thomson  Australia 1954, 1955,
1956, 1958		 67 69 71 78 285 +5 5
Gary Player  South Africa 1959 75 70 72 70 287 +7 T7
Max Faulkner  England 1951 77 71 71 74 293 +13 T20
Arnold Palmer  United States 1961, 1962 76 71 71 76 294 +14 T26

Source:[2][15]

Missed the cut[]

Player Country Year(s) won R1 R2 Total To par
Bobby Locke  South Africa 1949, 1950,
1952, 1957		 80 72 152 +12
Dick Burton  England 1939 83 73 156 +16

Source:[2][11]

Round summaries[]

First round[]

Wednesday, 10 July 1963

Place Player Country Score To par
T1 Phil Rodgers  United States 67 −3
Peter Thomson  Australia
T3 Bob Charles  New Zealand 68 −2
Tom Haliburton  Scotland
T5 Kel Nagle  Australia 69 −1
Ramón Sota  Spain
T7 Frank Phillips  Australia 70 E
Donald Swaelens  Belgium
 South Africa
T10 Geoffrey Hunt  England 71 +1
 England
 England
 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.

Place Player Country Score To par
1 Phil Rodgers  United States 67-68=135 −5
2 Peter Thomson  Australia 67-69=136 −4
3 Jack Nicklaus  United States 71-67=138 −2
4 Kel Nagle  Australia 69-70=139 −1
5 Bob Charles  New Zealand 68-72=140 E
T6 Jean Garaïalde  France 72-69=141 +1
Tom Haliburton  Scotland 68-73=141
T8  Scotland 71-71=142 +2
Sebastián Miguel  Spain 73-69=142
Christy O'Connor Snr  Ireland 74-68=142
Ramón Sota  Spain 69-73=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)

Place Player Country Score To par
1 Bob Charles  New Zealand 68-72-66=206 −4
2 Peter Thomson  Australia 67-69-71=207 −3
T3 Jack Nicklaus  United States 71-67-70=208 −2
Phil Rodgers  United States 67-68-73=208
5 Kel Nagle  Australia 69-70-73=212 +2
6 Jean Garaïalde  France 72-69-72=213 +3
T7 Harold Henning  South Africa 76-68-71=215 +5
Sebastián Miguel  Spain 73-69-73=215
Ramón Sota  Spain 69-73-73=215
T10 Bernard Hunt  England 72-71-73=216 +6
 Scotland 71-71-74=216

Source:[15][17]

Final round[]

Friday, 12 July 1963 - (afternoon)

Place Player Country Score To par Money (£)
T1 Bob Charles  New Zealand 68-72-66-71=277 −3 Playoff
Phil Rodgers  United States 67-68-73-69=277
3 Jack Nicklaus  United States 71-67-70-70=278 −2 800
4 Kel Nagle  Australia 69-70-73-71=283 +3 650
5 Peter Thomson  Australia 67-69-71-78=285 +5 500
6 Christy O'Connor Snr  Ireland 74-68-76-68=286 +6 350
T7 Gary Player  South Africa 75-70-72-70=287 +7 250
Ramón Sota  Spain 69-73-73-72=287
T9 Jean Garaïalde  France 72-69-72-75=288 +8 163
Sebastián Miguel  Spain 73-69-73-73=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]

Place Player Country Score To par Money (£)
1 Bob Charles  New Zealand 69-71=140 E 1,500
2 Phil Rodgers  United States 72-76=148 +8 1,000

References[]

  1. ^ a b Brown, Gwilym S. (22 July 1963). "The Ham and the Knife". Sports Illustrated. pp. 10–11, 43–45.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 73, 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  3. ^ a b Horne, Cyril (15 July 1963). "Open Championship for R.J. Charles". Glasgow Herald. p. 8.
  4. ^ a b "Charles wins British Open". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. 13 July 1963. p. 1B.
  5. ^ a b "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 (29 July 1963). "Hottest man in a furnace". Sports Illustrated. p. 16.
  8. ^ Bartlett, Charles (22 July 1963). "Nicklaus wins P.G.A. on 30-foot putt". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 3.
  9. ^ Petersen, Leo (22 July 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. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b "Revision of Open Golf Championship". Glasgow Herald. 30 November 1962. p. 1,6.
  15. ^ a b c "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. ^ a b 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.

External links[]

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

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