1965 Open Championship


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. Thomson's previous Open victory was seven years earlier in 1958.
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
4. The last 5 Amateur champions
5. The last 10 U.S. Open champions
6. The last 5 U.S. Amateur champions
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:
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. Clive Clark was later added to field after William C. Campbell failed to arrive. M.E. Hill also played after Frank Phillips withdrew.

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.

Course

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal
Yards4934274162123204681584594103,3633934121905172025364015105133,6747,037
Par544344344354435354553873

Source:

Lengths of the course for previous Opens:

Made the cut

Source:

Missed the cut

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Round summaries

First round

Wednesday, 7 July 1965
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Tony Lema68−5
2Christy O'Connor Snr69−4
T3Joe Carr 70−3
T3Arnold Palmer70−3
5Bruce Devlin71−2
T6Brian Bamford72−1
T6Eric Brown72−1
T6Christy Greene72−1
T6Ronnie Mandeville72−1
T6Jim McAlister72−1
T6Sebastián Miguel72−1
T6Lionel Platts72−1
T6Doug Sewell72−1
T6Guy Wolstenholme72−1

Source:

Second round

Thursday, 8 July 1965
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Bruce Devlin71-69=140−6
T1Tony Lema68-72=140−6
T3Brian Huggett73-68=141−5
T3Arnold Palmer70-71=141−5
T5Hugh Boyle73-69=142−4
T5Eric Brown72-70=142−4
T5Joe Carr 70-72=142−4
T5Christy O'Connor Snr69-73=142−4
T5Peter Thomson74-68=142−4
10Roberto De Vicenzo74-69=143−3

Source:

Amateurs: Carr, Bonallack, Burgess , Clark, Hadlock, Shade,
Foster, Marsh, Glover, Birtwell, Richards, Marks, McCandlish

Third round

Friday, 9 July 1965 -
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Peter Thomson74-68-72=214−5
T2Bruce Devlin71-69-75=215−4
T2Tony Lema68-72-75=215−4
T4Roberto De Vicenzo74-69-73=216−3
T4Christy O'Connor Snr69-73-74=216−3
T4Arnold Palmer70-71-75=216−3
T7Brian Huggett73-68-76=217−2
T7Sebastián Miguel72-73-72=217−2
T7Kel Nagle74-70-73=217−2
T7Lionel Platts72-72-73=217−2

Source:

Final round

Friday, 9 July 1965 -
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Peter Thomson74-68-72-71=285−71,750
T2Brian Huggett73-68-76-70=287−51,125
T2Christy O'Connor Snr69-73-74-71=287−51,125
4Roberto De Vicenzo74-69-73-72=288−4750
T5Bernard Hunt74-74-70-71=289−3475
T5Tony Lema68-72-75-74=289−3475
T5Kel Nagle74-70-73-72=289−3475
T8Bruce Devlin71-69-75-75=290−2275
T8Sebastián Miguel72-73-72-73=290−2275
T10Max Faulkner74-72-74-73=293+1185
T10John Panton74-74-75-70=293+1185

Source:

Amateurs: Burgess, Bonallack, Carr