The 1932 Open Championship was the 67th Open Championship, held 8–10 June at Prince's Golf Club in Sandwich, England. Gene Sarazen won his only Open title, five strokes ahead of runner-up Macdonald Smith. Sarazen led wire-to-wire to secure the fifth of his seven major championships.
Qualifying took place on 6–7 June, Monday and Tuesday, with 18 holes at Prince's and 18 holes at Royal St George's, and the top 100 and ties qualified. Bob Bradbeer led the qualifiers on 141; the qualifying score was 157 and 110 players advanced.
Sarazen opened with a 70 on Wednesday to take the lead, one stroke ahead of four others. He followed with a 69 for 139 (−5) for a three-stroke lead over Percy Alliss after 36 holes. The top sixty and ties would make the 36-hole cut; it was at 154 (+10) and 64 players advanced.
With a 70 in the third round on Friday morning, Sarazen increased his lead to four over Arthur Havers, who shot a course-record A 74 in the final round that afternoon saw Sarazen post an Open record 283 total. Havers, playing well behind Sarazen, needed a 69 to win, but made the turn in 37 and could not close the gap. He could only manage a 76 for 289 and fell to third; Smith shot 71-70 to climb into solo second place at even-par 288.
Two weeks later in New York, Sarazen won the U.S. Open and joined Bobby Jones (1926, 1930) as the only two to win both the British Open and U.S. Open in the same year. Subsequent winners of both were Ben Hogan (1953), Lee Trevino (1971), Tom Watson (1982), and Tiger Woods (2000).
This was the only Open Championship held at Prince's, just north of Royal St George's, which has since been the only venue in southeastern England to host.
Round summaries First round Wednesday, 8 June 1932 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Gene Sarazen 70 −2T2 Percy Alliss 71 −1 Bill Davies Macdonald Smith Charles Whitcombe T6 Cecil Denny 72 E Arthur Lacey Willie McMinn Alf Perry Fred Taggart Charlie Ward Source:
Second round Thursday, 9 June 1932 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Gene Sarazen 70-69=139 −5 2 Percy Alliss 71-71=142 −2 T3 Archie Compston 74-70=144 E Bill Davies 71-73=144 Charles Whitcombe 71-73=144T6 Tommy Armour 75-70=145 +1 Arthur Havers 74-71=145 Fred Robson 74-71=145 T9 Henry Cotton 74-72=146 +2 Arthur Lacey 73-73=146 Source:
Third round Friday, 10 June 1932 (morning) PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Gene Sarazen 70-69-70=209 −7 2 Arthur Havers 74-71-68=213 −3T3 Arthur Lacey 73-73-71=217 +1 Charles Whitcombe 71-73-73=217T5 Bill Davies 71-73-74=218 +2 Macdonald Smith 71-76-71=218 T7 Tommy Armour 75-70-74=219 +3 Archie Compston 74-70-75=2199 Syd Easterbrook 74-75-72=221 +5 T10 Henry Cotton 74-72-77=223 +7 Bob Kenyon 74-73-76=223 Abe Mitchell 77-71-75=223 Fred Robson 74-71-78=223 Source:
Final round Friday, 10 June 1932 (afternoon) PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (£)1 Gene Sarazen 70-69-70-74=283 −5 1002 Macdonald Smith 71-76-71-70=288 E 753 Arthur Havers 74-71-68-76=289 +1 50T4 Percy Alliss 71-71-78-72=292 +4 25 Alf Padgham 76-72-74-70=292 Charles Whitcombe 71-73-73-75=292T7 Bill Davies 71-73-74-75=293 +5 1710s Arthur Lacey 73-73-71-76=2939 Fred Robson 74-71-78-71=294 +6 15T10 Archie Compston 74-70-75-76=295 +7 10 Henry Cotton 74-72-77-72=295 Abe Mitchell 77-71-75-72=295 Source:
Amateurs: Hope (+11), Torrance (+13), Hartley (+14), Munn (+15), Tulloch (+16), Bentley (+18), Sweeny (+19), McRuvie (+21).
References
External links Prince's 1932 (Official site)