1960 Open Championship

The 1960 Open Championship was the 89th Open Championship, played 6–9 July at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland. In the centenary year of the Open Championship, Kel Nagle prevailed over Arnold Palmer by a single stroke;[2][3] this year marked the championship's re-emergence as a major stop for American players.

1960 Open Championship

Front cover of the 1960 Open programme
Tournament information
Dates	6–9 July 1960
Location	St Andrews, Scotland
Course(s)	Old Course at St Andrews
Organized by	The R&A
Statistics
Par	72
Length	6,936 yards (6,342 m)
Field	74 players, 47 after cut[1]
Cut	149 (+5)
Prize fund	£7,000 $19,600
Winner's share	£1,250 $3,500
Champion
Kel Nagle
278 (−10)

St Andrews 

Location in Scotland

St Andrews 

Location in Fife, Scotland

The total prize money was increased by forty percent, from £5,000 to £7,000. The winner's share was increased to £1,250 with £900 for second, £700 for third, £500 for fourth, £400 for fifth, £300 for sixth, £250 for seventh, £200 for eighth, £150 for ninth, and £130 for tenth. The next fifteen places each received £60 with £50 for next seven and then £40 for the next eighteen. The £50 prize for winning the qualification event was unchanged while the four prizes for the lowest score in each round were increased to £50. For the centenary event there was a special prize for the winner in the form of a replica of the claret jug.[4]

Qualifying took place on 4–5 July, Monday and Tuesday, with 18 holes on the Old Course and 18 holes on the New Course.[5] A maximum of 100 players could qualify. Gary Player led the qualifiers as medalist at 135, and the qualifying score was 147 and 74 players qualified; 28 players on 148 were not included.[6][7][8][9] Dick Metz, who had won the World Senior Golf Championship at Gleneagles on 3 July, was one of those on 148 who just failed to qualify.[10]

Roberto De Vicenzo opened the tournament proper with consecutive rounds of 67 on Wednesday and Thursday to take a two-stroke lead over Nagle.[11] In the third round, De Vicenzo's drive on the 14th ended up on top of a wall and he finished the round with a score of 75, allowing Nagle to take a two-shot lead. Palmer, who had won the U.S. Open three weeks earlier by erasing a seven-shot deficit in the final round, was four back after 54-holes. The final round on Friday afternoon was delayed until Saturday due to a heavy rainfall that flooded portions of the course;[12][13] the first postponement in over fifty years.[14] When play resumed the next day, Palmer and Nagle both went out in 34. Still four-strokes behind, Palmer began another charge on the back. He made up strokes on the 13th and 15th, made a 4 on the 17th, then made birdie at the last. Nagle was standing over a crucial par putt on the Road Hole 17th when he heard the roar signifying Palmer's birdie at 18. He managed to collect himself and hole the putt, then made a safe 4 at the last to win the title by a single shot over Palmer.[15]

Already 39 at the time of his victory, this was Nagle's first top ten finish in a major championship. Although little-known outside of Australia at the time of the tournament, he went on to have success throughout the next decade and came close to winning another major at the 1965 U.S. Open, losing to Gary Player in an 18-hole playoff.

Palmer had won the first two majors at the Masters and U.S. Open, and was attempting to equal Ben Hogan's 1953 season with a third consecutive major. His appearance established the British Open as an important tournament for American golfers and, although Palmer himself skipped the tournament a few times afterward, the best American players began crossing the Atlantic with regularity from then on. Palmer won the next two Opens in 1961 and 1962.

The appearance of Palmer, already the most popular golfer in the world, proved to be a turning point for the Open Championship. Until the 1960s, few Americans made the trip to the Open Championship, with the lengthy ocean-voyage and high costs of traveling to Britain often more than they stood to win in the tournament. Even Palmer, winner of the first two majors of the year, had to play in the 36-hole qualifier immediately preceding it.[8][9] The 1960 event included only four Americans following the qualifier, and only two made the cut. Ten years later, 24 Americans were in the field of 134. For many years, the event often conflicted with the PGA Championship in the U.S., a more lucrative major which gradually moved to late July and then August.

Card of the 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)	400	4		12	Heathery (In)	360	4
4	Ginger Beer	439	4		13	Hole O'Cross (In)	427	4
5	Hole O'Cross (Out)	567	5		14	Long	560	5
6	Heathery (Out)	377	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		3,454	36		In		3,482	36
Source:[7][16]					Total		6,936	72

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

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	72	71	72	69	284	−4	7
Peter Thomson	Australia	1954, 1955, 1956, 1958	72	69	75	70	286	−2	T9

Source:[2][3]

Missed the cut

Player	Country	Year won	R1	R2	Total	To par
Gene Sarazen	United States	1932	83	WD

Source:[11]

Round summaries

First round

Wednesday, 6 July 1960

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Roberto De Vicenzo	Argentina	67	−5
T2	Fidel de Luca	Argentina	69	−3
	Kel Nagle	Australia
T4	David Blair (a)	Scotland	70	−2
	Ken Bousfield	England
	Arnold Palmer	United States
	Peter Shanks	England
8	Peter Mills	England	71	−1
T9	Joe Carr (a)	Ireland	72	E
	José María Gonzáles	Brazil
	Harold Henning	South Africa
	Bernard Hunt	England
	George Low	Scotland
	Jimmy Martin	Ireland
	Ángel Miguel	Spain
	Ralph Moffitt	England
	Raymond Munro (a)	Scotland
	Gary Player	South Africa
	Leopoldo Ruiz	Argentina
	Peter Thomson	Australia

Source:[16]

Second round

Thursday, 7 July 1960

A maximum of fifty players could make the cut. The 47 who scored 149 (+5) or better qualified for the final day; eight players scoring 150 (+6) were not included.

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Roberto De Vicenzo	Argentina	67-67=134	−10
2	Kel Nagle	Australia	69-67=136	−8
T3	Sebastián Miguel	Spain	73-68=141	−3
	Arnold Palmer	United States	70-71=141
	Peter Thomson	Australia	72-69=141
T6	Laurie Ayton, Jnr	Scotland	73-69=142	−2
	Fidel de Luca	Argentina	69-73=142
T8	David Blair (a)	Scotland	70-73=143	−1
	Eric Brown	Scotland	75-68=143
	Ralph Moffitt	England	72-71=143
	Gary Player	South Africa	72-71=143
	Peter Shanks	England	70-73=143

Source:[11]
Amateurs: Blair (−1), Wolstenholme (E), Deighton (E), Carr (+1), Jack (+1), Smith (+1),
Deboys (+2), Munro (+5), Shade (+5), Walker (+6), Wright (+6), Saddler (+7), Nisbet (+9).

Third round

Friday, 8 July 1960 - (morning)

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Kel Nagle	Australia	69-67-71=207	−9
2	Roberto De Vicenzo	Argentina	67-67-75=209	−7
T3	Arnold Palmer	United States	70-71-70=211	−5
	Syd Scott	England	73-71-67=211
5	Joe Carr (a)	Ireland	72-73-67=212	−4
6	Harold Henning	South Africa	72-72-69=213	−3
7	David Blair (a)	Scotland	70-73-71=214	−2
T8	Eric Brown	Scotland	75-68-72=215	−1
	Reid Jack (a)	Scotland	74-71-70=215
	Sebastián Miguel	Spain	73-68-74=215
	Peter Mills	England	71-74-70=215
	Gary Player	South Africa	72-71-72=215
	Harry Weetman	England	74-70-71=215
	Guy Wolstenholme (a)	England	74-70-71=215

Source:[13][12]

Final round

Saturday, 9 July 1960

Place	Player	Country	Score	To Par	Money (£)
1	Kel Nagle	Australia	69-67-71-71=278	−10	1,250
2	Arnold Palmer	United States	70-71-70-68=279	−9	900
T3	Roberto De Vicenzo	Argentina	67-67-75-73=282	−6	533
	Harold Henning	South Africa	72-72-69-69=282
	Bernard Hunt	England	72-73-71-66=282
6	Guy Wolstenholme (a)	England	74-70-71-68=283	−5	−
7	Gary Player	South Africa	72-71-72-69=284	−4	300
8	Joe Carr (a)	Ireland	72-73-67-73=285	−3	−
T9	David Blair (a)	Scotland	70-73-71-72=286	−2	−
	Eric Brown	Scotland	75-68-72-71=286		158
	Dai Rees	Wales	73-71-73-69=286
	Syd Scott	England	73-71-67-75=286
	Peter Thomson	Australia	72-69-75-70=286
	Harry Weetman	England	74-70-71-71=286

Source:[2][3]

(a) denotes amateur

Amateurs: Wolstenholme (−5), Carr (−3), Blair (−2), Jack (E), Deboys (+2), Smith (+9), Shade (+11), Deighton (+14), Munro (+20)

References

1. "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. pp. 76, 203–8. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
2. Horne, Cyril (11 July 1960). "Nagle Centenary Open champion". Glasgow Herald. p. 3.
3. Bartlett, Charles (10 July 1960). "Palmer misses British title by stroke". Chicago Sunday Tribune. p. 1, sec. 2.
4. "Golf - Centenary Open Championship - Prize money increased". The Times. 4 December 1959. p. 12.
5. "The Centenary Open Golf Championship, 1960 – Qualifying Rounds – Official Programme".
6. "Sarazen, Palmer qualify". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. 6 July 1960. p. 3, part 2.
7. Horne, Cyril (6 July 1960). "Many famous names among non-qualifiers". Glasgow Herald. p. 11.
8. "Arnold Palmer posts 142 in British qualifying play". Youngstown Vindicator. (Ohio). UPI. 5 July 1960. p. 12.
9. "Arnie balloons to 75 but qualifies easily". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. 6 July 1960. p. 17.
10. "Metz the World Senior Champion". The Times. 4 July 1960. p. 15.
11. Horne, Cyril (8 July 1960). "Great inward half keeps Vicenzo in lead". Glasgow Herald. p. 13.
12. Horne, Cyril (9 July 1960). "Play halted at St Andrews". Glasgow Herald. p. 1.
13. "Palmer (70) four behind". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. 9 July 1960. p. 3, part 2.
14. "Palmer's 2-birdie finish just short". Milwaukee Sentinel. United Press. 10 July 1960. p. 1, sports.
15. Wind, Herbert Warren (18 July 1960). "The slam that failed". Sports Illustrated. p. 18.
16. Horne, Cyril (7 July 1960). "Vicenzo leads after first round proper". Glasgow Herald. p. 10.

External links

• 89th Open - St Andrews 1960 (Official site)
• 1960 Open Championship (about.sports)

Preceded by 1960 U.S. Open	Major Championships	Succeeded by 1960 PGA Championship