The 1958 Open Championship was the 87th

Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

, held from 2–5 July at the

Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England, is one of the courses in the The Open Championship, Open Championship rotation. The Women's British Open has also been played on the course five times: once prior to being ...

Lytham St Annes Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the The Fylde, Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 42,954 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Peter Thomson Peter Thomson may refer to: * Peter Thomson (golfer) (1929–2018), Australian golfer * Peter Thomson (diplomat) (born 1948), Fiji's Permanent Representative to the United Nations * Peter Thomson (footballer) (born 1977), English footballer * Peter ...

won his fourth

Claret Jug The Golf Champion Trophy, commonly known as the Claret Jug, is the trophy presented to the winner of The Open Championship (also called the "British Open"), one of the four major championships in golf. The awarding of the Claret Jug dates fr ...

in five years in a 36-hole Saturday playoff, four strokes ahead of

Dave Thomas Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * Dave (film), ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * Dave (musical), ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital ...

. It was the first playoff at the Open since

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

and the seventh consecutive year that Thomson, 28, finished either as champion or runner-up. The 278 scored by Thomas and Thomson was a record low for the Open. Qualifying took place on 30 June–1 July. Entries played 18 holes at Royal Lytham & St Annes and 18 holes at Fairhaven. With over 300 entries qualifying was played in three-balls, as had also been the case in 1956. The number of qualifiers was limited to a maximum of 100. Ties for 100th place would not qualify. The qualifying score was 148 and 96 players qualified.

led the qualifiers on 133 after scoring 63 on the Championship course in his first qualifying round. His total of 133 was a record for qualifying, surpassing the 134 scored by Bobby Jones in 1926 and by

John Panton John Panton, MBE (9 October 1916 – 24 July 2009) was a Scottish professional golfer, who represented Great Britain three times in the Ryder Cup. Panton was born in Pitlochry. He turned professional in 1935 and took up a job in the local go ...

in 1952.

Ken Bousfield Ken Bousfield (2 October 1919 – 25 May 2000"Ken Bousfield - Winner of 19 professional golf championships in six years" ''The Times'', 2 June 2000.) was one of the leading British golfers of the immediate post-World War II World War&nb ...

, one of the successes of the British 1957 Ryder Cup team and the American

Frank Stranahan Frank Richard Stranahan (August 5, 1922 – June 23, 2013) was an American sportsman. He had significant success in both amateur and professional golf. He was ranked number one in his weight class in powerlifting, from 1945 to 1954, and he became ...

were amongst those who scored 149 and failed to qualify. Stranahan was suffering from a back muscle strain and took 81 in his second qualifying round. The total prize money was increased from £3,750 to £4,850. The winner's prize remained unchanged at £1,000 but the prizes for second to tenth place were increased. Second place received £650 with £500 for third, £350 for fourth, £300 for fifth, £250 for sixth, £200 for seventh, £150 for eighth, £125 for ninth and £100 for tenth. The prizes of £30 for the next 15 places and then £25 each for the next 25 players were unchanged. The prize for winning the qualification event was increased to £50 while the four £25 prizes for the lowest score in each round were also unchanged. The maximum number of players making the cut after 36 holes was set at 50. Ties for 50th place did not make the cut. Just 40 players qualified for the final two rounds by scoring 147 or better. 10 players had scored 148 but that number became 11 when they were joined by Peter Mills after he holed a short putt at the 18th, the last shot of the day. He himself missed the cut but by holing the putt he also eliminated the other 10, who would have qualified had he missed it. Eric Brown moved into contention after a third round 65, coming home in 30. In the tournament's final round, playing almost an hour before the leaders, he had 2s at the 9th and 12th holes in the afternoon but at the last he drove into a bunker and then 3-putted for a 6, finishing on 279. Thomas and Thomson, in the second to last group, both needed 4 to beat Brown. Thomas two putted from 12 yards for his 4 but Thomson had a 10 foot putt for a 3. His putt just missed and he tied with Thomas on 278. The final group included the overnight leader Christy O'Connor and Leopoldo Ruiz. They both reached the 18th needing a 4 to join Thomas and Thomson. However, unlike the previous group, they both drove into bunkers. Ruiz took two to get out of the bunker and his chance was gone. O'Connor's third from 100 yards shaved the hole but he was left with a 16 foot putt to tie the leaders. The putt grazed the hole and finished 4 inches past. Ruiz eventually took 7 to finish three behind. In the playoff on Saturday, Thomson was four up after seven holes but Thomas had reduced the lead to one at lunch. Thomson gained another stroke on the first hole of the afternoon round but Thomas picked up a stroke on each of the next two holes to tie the scores. The scores were still level after 7 holes but at the 8th Thomson holed from 8 feet while Thomas missed a shorter one. Thomson got a birdie 3 at the 10th where Thomas again missed a putt taking 5. Thomas then took 5 at the 11th to give Thomson a four shot lead which he held to the end. Only two Americans were in the field of 96:

Gene Sarazen Gene Sarazen (; born Eugenio Saraceni, February 27, 1902 – May 13, 1999) was an American professional golfer, one of the world's top players in the 1920s and 1930s, and the winner of seven major championships. He is one of five players (along ...

, the

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champion, finished ten strokes back at age 56, in a tie for 16th place. Monte Bradley, a 27-year-old

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

from Texas, shot 154 and missed the cut by seven strokes.

Past champions in the field

Round summaries

First round

''Wednesday, 2 July 1958''

Second round

''Thursday, 3 July 1958'' Amateurs: '' Carr (+2)'',

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

(+8), Deighton (+8), Scrutton (+9), Perowne (+10), Fox (+10), Randall (+12), Byrne (+14), Slater (+20).

Third round

''Friday, 4 July 1958 - (morning)''

Final round

''Friday, 4 July 1958 - (afternoon)'' Amateur: Carr (+10).

Playoff

''Saturday, 5 July 1958'' Thomson won in a 36-hole playoff.

References

External links

Royal Lytham & St Annes 1958 (Official site)
{{coord, 53.7495, -3.0180, type:event, display=title The Open Championship Golf tournaments in England