The 1963 Open Championship was the 92nd Open Championship, held from 10 to 13 July at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, England.
Bob Charles won his only major championship in a 36-hole playoff on Saturday, eight strokes ahead of runner-up Phil Rodgers, and became the first left-hander to win a major title. Masters winner Jack Nicklaus bogeyed the last two holes and came in third, one stroke out of the playoff. A heavy favourite among the local bettors, two-time defending champion Arnold Palmer tied for 26th. U.S. Open champion Julius Boros did not play.
This was the last 36-hole playoff at The Open, the format was changed to 18 holes the following year, used in 1970 and 1975. The four-hole aggregate format was introduced in 1986 and first used in 1989.
The PGA Championship was played the next week in Texas at Dallas, one of five times in the 1960s that these two majors were played in consecutive weeks in July. In epic heat, 23-year-old Nicklaus regrouped and won by two strokes for his third major title.
<small>Source:</small><br/> Previous lengths of the course for The Open Championship (since 1950):
For the first time, leading players were exempt from qualifying. 44 players who entered were exempted:
Peter Alliss, Brian Bamford, Michael Bonallack (a), Fred Boobyer, Ken Bousfield, Eric Brown, Peter Butler, Joe Carr (a), Billy Casper, Bob Charles, Neil Coles, Roger Foreman, Jean Garaïalde, Christy Greene, Tom Haliburton, Jimmy Hitchcock, Brian Huggett, Bernard Hunt, Denis Hutchinson, John Jacobs, Bobby Locke, Jimmy Martin, Cary Middlecoff, Sebastián Miguel, Ralph Moffitt, Kel Nagle, Jack Nicklaus, Christy O'Connor Snr, Arnold Palmer, John Panton, Lionel Platts, Gary Player, Dai Rees, Phil Rodgers, Sandy Saddler (a), Doug Sanders, Syd Scott, Doug Sewell, Dave Thomas, Peter Thomson, Harry Weetman, Ross Whitehead, Brian Wilkes, Guy Wolstenholme
Casper and Middlecoff subsequently withdrew leaving 42 pre-qualified players.
The exemption categories were:
1. The first 20 and those tying for 20th place in the 1962 Open<br /> Peter Alliss, Bob Charles, Roger Foreman, Jean Garaïalde, Brian Huggett, Bernard Hunt, Denis Hutchinson, Jimmy Martin, Sebastian Miguel, Ralph Moffitt, Kel Nagle (3), Christy O'Connor Snr, Arnold Palmer (3,6), John Panton, Phil Rodgers, Syd Scott, Dave Thomas, Peter Thomson (3), Harry Weetman, Ross Whitehead
2. The first 30 and those tying for 30th place in the P.G.A. Order of Merit for 1962
3. The last 10 Open champions (1953âÂÂ62)<br /> Bobby Locke, Gary Player
4. The last 5 Amateur champions (1958âÂÂ62)<br /> Michael Bonallack (5) (a), Joe Carr (a)
5. Members of the 1962 British Eisenhower Cup team<br /> Sandy Saddler (a)
6. The last 10 U.S. Open champions (1953âÂÂ62)<br /> Jack Nicklaus
7. The last 5 U.S. Amateur champions (1958âÂÂ62)
8. 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 4âÂÂ5 July (Thursday and Friday) at Fairhaven and St Annes Old Links. They were run as two separate events with 39 players to qualify from each venue to make a total field of 120. At each venue 34 players qualified on 147 and 6 players had a sudden-death playoff for the remaining five places. Max Faulkner, the 1951 Champion, was one of those who qualified in the playoff at Fairhaven. Bruce Devlin and Bill Large led the qualifying events. Three alternates were decided from each qualifying event.
The total prize money remained unchanged at ã8,500 but the distribution was changed. The winner's prize was increased to ã1,500 with ã1,000 for second, ã800 for third, ã650 for fourth, ã500 for fifth, ã350 for sixth, ã275 for seventh, ã225 for eighth, ã175 for ninth, ã150 for tenth, ã140 for 11th, ã135 for 12th, ã130 for 13th, ã125 for 14th, ã120 for 15th, ã110 for 16th reducing at ã5 intervals to ã65 for 25th. The 26th to 30th places each received ã60 with ã55 for 31st to 35th, ã50 for 36th to 40th and ã45 for 41st to 45th. If more than 45 players made the cut the 41st to 45th prize money was distributed between all those finishing 41st or lower. If less than 45 made the cut the remaining prize money was not distributed. The winner of each qualifying event won ã75 with ã50 for second and ã25 for third place.
Wednesday, 10 July 1963
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Thursday, 11 July 1963
The cut rule was changed this year to a minimum of 45 players; it was previously a maximum of 50. The cut was 149 (+9) and 47 players advanced, but no amateurs.
<small>Source:</small><br/> Amateurs: Hood (+12), Saddler (+12), Carr (+15), Neech (+16), Rutherford (+16), Bonallack (+19), Bowman (+19), Stockdale (+20)
Friday, 12 July 1963 â (morning)
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Friday, 12 July 1963 â (afternoon)
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Saturday, 13 July 1963
Charles won the 36-hole playoff by eight strokes; he led by three after the first round.
Morning round
Afternoon round
Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par