1964 Open Championship

The 1964 Open Championship was the 93rd Open Championship, played 8–10 July at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland. Tony Lema won his only major championship, five strokes ahead of runner-up Jack Nicklaus.[2][3][4][5] He led by seven strokes after 54 holes and shot a final round 70.[6] Neither had played the Old Course before and Lema had never played in Britain;[7] he gave much of the credit for his victory to his caddy, Tip Anderson.[8] It was Lema's fourth victory in six weeks; he won three events on the PGA Tour in June. Nicklaus equaled the course record with a 66 in the third round.[7]

1964 Open Championship

Tournament information
Dates	8–10 July 1964
Location	St Andrews, Scotland
Course(s)	Old Course at St Andrews
Statistics
Par	72[1]
Length	6,926 yards (6,333 m)[1]
Field	120 players, 45 after cut
Cut	153 (+9)[1]
Prize fund	£8,500 $23,800
Winner's share	£1,500 $4,200
Champion
Tony Lema
279 (−9)

St Andrews 

Location in Scotland

St Andrews 

Location in Fife, Scotland

The PGA Championship was played the next week in Columbus, Ohio, one of five times in the 1960s that these two majors were played in consecutive weeks in July.

Lema played in two more Opens; two weeks after competing in 1966 at Muirfield, he and his pregnant wife were killed in a plane crash near Chicago.[9][10][11]

Course

Hole	Name	Yards	Par		Hole	Name	Yards	Par
1	Burn	374	4		10	Tenth ^	338	4
2	Dyke	411	4		11	High (In)	170	3
3	Cartgate (Out)	370	4		12	Heathery (In)	312	4
4	Ginger Beer	470	4		13	Hole O'Cross (In)	427	4
5	Hole O'Cross (Out)	567	5		14	Long	560	5
6	Heathery (Out)	414	4		15	Cartgate (In)	413	4
7	High (Out)	364	4		16	Corner of the Dyke	380	4
8	Short	163	3		17	Road	453	4
9	End	359	4		18	Tom Morris	381	4
Out		3,492	36		In		3,434	36
Source:[12][13]					Total		6,926	72

^ The 10th hole was posthumously named for Bobby Jones in 1972

Previous lengths of the course for The Open Championship (since 1950):[1]

• 6,936 yards (6,342 m) - 1960, 1955

Field

The exemption categories were:

1. The first 20 and those tying for 20th place in the 1963 Open
Brian Allen, Peter Alliss, Bob Charles (3), Neil Coles, Max Faulkner, Jean Garaïalde, Harold Henning, Brian Huggett, Bernard Hunt, Alex King, Malcolm Leeder, Hugh Lewis, Ian MacDonald, John MacDonald, Sebastian Miguel, Kel Nagle (3), Jack Nicklaus (5), Christy O'Connor Snr, Frank Phillips, Gary Player (3), Phil Rodgers, Sewsunker Sewgolum, Ramón Sota, Peter Thomson (3), Brian Wilkes

2. The first 30 and those tying for 30th place in the P.G.A. Order of Merit for 1963

3. The last 10 Open champions (1954–63)
Bobby Locke

• Entered but later withdrew: Arnold Palmer (5)[14]

4. The last 5 Amateur champions (1959–63)
Deane Beman (6) (a), Michael Bonallack (a), Joe Carr (a)

• Eligible but did not enter: Richard Davies, Michael Lunt

5. The last 10 U.S. Open champions (1954–63)

• Eligible but did not enter: Tommy Bolt, Julius Boros, Billy Casper, Jack Fleck, Ed Furgol, Gene Littler, Dick Mayer, Cary Middlecoff

6. The last 5 U.S. Amateur champions (1959–63)

• Eligible but did not enter: Labron Harris Jr.

Jack Nicklaus had turned professional but was exempt under other categories

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

[15]

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

Qualification took place on 3–4 July (Friday and Saturday) at the New and Eden courses.[15] They were run as two separate events with 35 players to qualify from the New Course and 34 from the Eden course, together with 51 exemptions to make a total field of 120. The number of alternates was reduced from three to two.[16]

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	To par	Finish
Gary Player	South Africa	1959	78	71	73	70	292	+4	T8
Bob Charles	New Zealand	1963	79	71	69	78	297	+9	T17
Peter Thomson	Australia	1954, 1955, 1956, 1958	79	73	72	75	299	+11	T24
Max Faulkner	England	1951	73	73	80	78	304	+16	T38
Kel Nagle	Australia	1960	77	76	80	80	313	+25	45

Missed the cut

Player	Country	Years won	R1	R2	Total	To par
Bobby Locke	South Africa	1949, 1950, 1952, 1957	78	78	156	+12

Round summaries

First round

Wednesday, 8 July 1964

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
T1	Jean Garaïalde	France	71	−1
	Christy O'Connor Snr	Ireland
T3	Bruce Devlin	Australia	72	E
	Harry Weetman	England
T5	Hugh Boyle	Ireland	73	+1
	Max Faulkner	England
	Bernard Hunt	England
	Tony Lema	United States
	Ángel Miguel	Spain
T10	Stuart Davies	South Africa	74	+2
	Christy Greene	Ireland
	Jimmy Martin	Ireland
	Phil Rodgers	United States
	George Will	Scotland

Source:[17][18]

Second round

Thursday, 9 July 1964

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Tony Lema	United States	73-68=141	−3
2	Harry Weetman	England	72-71=143	−1
T3	Bruce Devlin	Australia	72-72=144	E
	Christy O'Connor Snr	Ireland	71-73=144
5	Jean Garaïalde	France	71-74=145	+1
T6	Max Faulkner	England	73-73=146	+2
	Jimmy Martin	Ireland	74-72=146
T8	Tony Coop	England	75-72=147	+3
	Bernard Hunt	England	73-74=147
	Lu Liang-Huan	Taiwan	76-71=147

Source:[1][13][19]
Amateurs: Beman (+13), Bonallack (+13), Carr (+13), Clark (+16), Rutherford (+17), Saddler (+17), Shade (+21).

Third round

Friday, 10 July 1964 (morning)

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Tony Lema	United States	73-68-68=209	−7
2	Jack Nicklaus	United States	76-74-66=216	E
T3	Bruce Devlin	Australia	72-72-73=217	+1
	Bernard Hunt	England	73-74-70=217
T5	Roberto De Vicenzo	Argentina	76-72-70=218	+2
	Christy O'Connor Snr	Ireland	71-73-74=218
	Harry Weetman	England	72-71-75=218
8	Bob Charles	New Zealand	79-71-69=219	+3
9	Ángel Miguel	Spain	73-76-72=221	+5
T10	Alex Caygill	England	77-74-71=222	+6
	Stuart Davies	South Africa	74-77-71=222
	Malcolm Gregson	England	78-70-74=222
	Harold Henning	South Africa	78-73-71=222
	Ralph Moffitt	England	76-72-74=222
	Gary Player	South Africa	78-71-73=222
	Syd Scott	England	75-74-73=222

Source:[1][2][4]

Final round

Friday, 10 July 1964 (afternoon)

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money (£)
1	Tony Lema	United States	73-68-68-70=279	−9	1,500
2	Jack Nicklaus	United States	76-74-66-68=284	−4	1,000
3	Roberto De Vicenzo	Argentina	76-72-70-67=285	−3	800
4	Bernard Hunt	England	73-74-70-70=287	−1	650
5	Bruce Devlin	Australia	72-72-73-73=290	+2	500
T6	Christy O'Connor Snr	Ireland	71-73-74-73=291	+3	313
	Harry Weetman	England	72-71-75-73=291
T8	Harold Henning	South Africa	78-73-71-70=292	+4	183
	Ángel Miguel	Spain	73-76-72-71=292
	Gary Player	South Africa	78-71-73-70=292

Source:[1][2][4]

References

1. "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 72, 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
2. Jacobs, Raymond (11 July 1964). "Lema champion at first attempt". Glasgow Herald. p. 1.
3. "Lema wins British Open by 5 strokes". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. 11 July 1964. p. 1, sec. 2.
4. Farrow, John (10 July 1964). "Lema nabs British Open". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 3B.
5. Lovesey, John (20 July 1964). "Victorious crusade in the Valley of Sin". Sports Illustrated. p. 16.
6. "Lema staves off Nicklaus, grabs British Open title". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Reuters. 11 July 1964. p. 8.
7. "Lema winner of British Open". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. 11 July 1964. p. 14.
8. "'World's greatest caddy' carried Lema to victory". Miami News. Associated Press. 11 July 1964. p. 1B.
9. "Lema, 3 others die". Chicago Tribune. 25 July 1966. p. 1, sec. 1.
10. "Lema plane crash probed". Milwaukee Sentinel. United Press International. 26 July 1966. p. 1-sports.
11. Fimrite, Ron (31 July 1995). "The toast of golf". Sports Illustrated. p. G14.
12. "Card of Old course". Glasgow Herald. 9 July 1964. p. 6.
13. Jacobs, Raymond (10 July 1964). "Lema's magnificent round of 68". Glasgow Herald. p. 1.
14. "Tough task in Open golf – Arrangements for practice". The Times. 3 July 1964. p. 4.
15. "Open's Conditions of Play". Glasgow Herald. (R. & A. announcement). 14 January 1964. p. 6.
16. Jacobs, Raymond (3 July 1964). "Field of 247 play for 69 Open places – First qualifying round". Glasgow Herald. p. 6.
17. Jacobs, Raymond (9 July 1964). "The Old Course bares its teeth". Glasgow Herald. p. 1.
18. "U.S. stars trail in British Open". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. 9 July 1964. p. 1, sec. 3.
19. "Lema leads in British Open". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. 10 July 1964. p. 1, sec. 3.

External links

• 93rd Open - St Andrews 1964 (Official site)
• 1964 Open Championship (about.sports)