The 1948 Open Championship was the 77th Open Championship, held 30 June to 2 July at Muirfield in Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland. Henry Cotton, age 41, won his third and final Open title, five strokes ahead of runner-up and defending champion
Qualifying took place on 28–29 June, Monday and Tuesday, with 18 holes at Muirfield and 18 holes at the number 1 course Gullane. The number of qualifiers was limited to a maximum of 100, and ties for 100th place would not qualify. Henry Cotton led on 138; the qualifying score was 152 and 97 players advanced. Cotton had led the qualification in 1935, the previous time the Open had been held at Muirfield.
Charlie Ward, Sam King, and Flory Van Donck shot 69 to share the first round lead. Cotton opened with a 71, then led by four strokes after a 66 in the second round, one off his own tournament record set in 1934. While scoring conditions in the first two rounds were ideal, with five other rounds of sub-70 in the second, the change in weather on the final day caused scores to soar. The maximum number of players making the cut after 36 holes was again set at 40, and ties for 40th place were not included. The cut was at 148 (+6) and 36 players advanced.
Over the final two rounds, the lowest round was 70. Cotton carded rounds of 75-72 to set a clubhouse lead of 284 that no one came close to matching. Fred Daly came closest with a 289, five shots behind.
Roberto De Vicenzo made his Open Championship debut and finished in third place. Over the next two years he followed with another third and a runner-up finish. He won the title nineteen years later, in 1967.
Round summaries First round Wednesday, 30 June 1948 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Sam King 69 −2 Flory Van Donck Charlie Ward T4 Roberto De Vicenzo 70 −1 Frank Jowle T6 Henry Cotton 71 E Reg Horne Norman Von Nida T10 Fred Daly 72 +1 Arthur Lacey Lawson Little Walter Lyle Norman Sutton Source:
Second round Thursday, 1 July 1948 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Henry Cotton 71-66=137 −5T2 Sam King 69-72=141 −1 Charlie Ward 69-72=141T4 Arthur Lees 73-69=142 E Flory Van Donck 69-73=142T6 Fred Daly 72-71=143 +1 Roberto De Vicenzo 70-73=143 Alf Padgham 73-70=143 Norman Von Nida 71-72=143T10 Dick Burton 74-70=144 +2 Jack Hargreaves 76-68=144 Dai Rees 73-71=144 Reg Whitcombe 77-67=144 Source:
Third round Friday, 2 July 1948 (morning) PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Henry Cotton 71-66-75=212 −12 Alf Padgham 73-70-71=214 +1 T3 Roberto De Vicenzo 70-73-72=215 +2 Sam King 69-72-74=215 Arthur Lees 73-69-73=215 Flory Van Donck 69-73-73=215T7 Fred Daly 72-71-73=216 +3 Charlie Ward 69-72-75=216 Alan Waters 75-71-70=21610 Jack Hargreaves 76-68-73=217 +4 Source:
Final round Friday, 2 July 1948 (afternoon) PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (£)1 Henry Cotton 71-66-75-72=284 E 1502 Fred Daly 72-71-73-73=289 +5 100T3 Roberto De Vicenzo 70-73-72-75=290 +6 41 ¼ Jack Hargreaves 76-68-73-73=290 Norman Von Nida 71-72-76-71=290 Charlie Ward 69-72-75-74=290T7 Johnny Bulla 74-72-73-72=291 +7 15 Sam King 69-72-74-76=291 Alf Padgham 73-70-71-77=291 Flory Van Donck 69-73-73-76=291 Source:
References
External links Muirfield 1948 (Official site)