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. He led by seven strokes after 54 holes and shot a final round 70. Neither had played the Old Course before and Lema had never played in Britain; he gave much of the credit for his victory to his caddy, Tip Anderson. 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.

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.

Course

HoleNameYardsPar HoleNameYardsPar1Burn3744 10Tenth ^33842Dyke411411High (In)17033Cartgate (Out)370412Heathery (In)31244Ginger Beer470413Hole O'Cross (In)42745Hole O'Cross (Out)567514Long56056Heathery (Out)414415Cartgate (In)41347High (Out)364416Corner of the Dyke38048Short163317Road45349End359418Tom Morris3814Out3,49236In3,43436Source: Total6,92672 ^ The 10th hole was posthumously named for Bobby Jones in 1972

Previous lengths of the course for The Open Championship (since 1950): - 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)

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

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. 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.

Round summaries First round Wednesday, 8 July 1964 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Jean Garaïalde71−1 Christy O'Connor SnrT3 Bruce Devlin72E Harry WeetmanT5 Hugh Boyle73+1 Max Faulkner Bernard Hunt Tony Lema Ángel MiguelT10 Stuart Davies74+2 Christy Greene Jimmy Martin Phil Rodgers George Will Source:

Second round Thursday, 9 July 1964 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Tony Lema73-68=141−32 Harry Weetman72-71=143−1T3 Bruce Devlin72-72=144E Christy O'Connor Snr71-73=1445 Jean Garaïalde71-74=145+1T6 Max Faulkner73-73=146+2 Jimmy Martin74-72=146T8 Tony Coop75-72=147+3 Bernard Hunt73-74=147 Lu Liang-Huan76-71=147 Source: Amateurs: Beman (+13), Bonallack (+13), Carr (+13), Clark (+16), Rutherford (+17), Saddler (+17), Shade (+21).

Third round Friday, 10 July 1964 (morning) PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Tony Lema73-68-68=209−72 Jack Nicklaus76-74-66=216ET3 Bruce Devlin72-72-73=217+1 Bernard Hunt73-74-70=217T5 Roberto De Vicenzo76-72-70=218+2 Christy O'Connor Snr71-73-74=218 Harry Weetman72-71-75=2188 Bob Charles79-71-69=219+39 Ángel Miguel73-76-72=221+5T10 Alex Caygill77-74-71=222+6 Stuart Davies74-77-71=222 Malcolm Gregson78-70-74=222 Harold Henning78-73-71=222 Ralph Moffitt76-72-74=222 Gary Player78-71-73=222 Syd Scott75-74-73=222 Source:

Final round Friday, 10 July 1964 (afternoon)

PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (£)1 Tony Lema 73-68-68-70=279 −9 1,5002 Jack Nicklaus 76-74-66-68=284 −41,0003 Roberto De Vicenzo 76-72-70-67=285 −38004 Bernard Hunt 73-74-70-70=287 −16505 Bruce Devlin 72-72-73-73=290 +2500T6 Christy O'Connor Snr 71-73-74-73=291 +3 313 Harry Weetman 72-71-75-73=291T8 Harold Henning 78-73-71-70=292 +4 183 Ángel Miguel 73-76-72-71=292 Gary Player 78-71-73-70=292 Source:

References

External links St Andrews 1964 (Official site)