The 1959 Open Championship was the 88th

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 1–3 July at Muirfield Golf Links in

Gullane Gullane ( or ) is a town on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian on the east coast of Scotland. There has been a church in the village since the ninth century. The ruins of the Old Church of St. Andrew built in the twelft ...

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Gary Player Gary James Player DMS, OIG (born 1 November 1935) is a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. During his career, Player won nine major championships on the regular tou ...

, age 23, shot a final round of 68 to win the first of his nine major titles, two strokes ahead of runners-up Fred Bullock and

Flory Van Donck Flory Van Donck (23 June 1912 – 14 January 1992) was a Belgian professional golfer. Van Donck is widely regarded as the greatest ever Belgian golfer. During his career, he won more than fifty tournaments worldwide, including many of the m ...

. It was the first of Player's three

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 ...

s; he won again in 1968 and

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

. Muirfield was originally scheduled to host in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

, but it was transferred to St. Andrews because of petrol rationing following the "

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

" in late 1956. Muirfield was subsequently allocated the 1959 Championship. Qualifying took place on 29–30 June, with 18 holes at Muirfield and 18 holes at the number 1 course of Gullane Golf Club. There were no exemptions and the number of qualifiers was limited to a maximum of 100, and ties did not qualify. The qualifying score was 147 and 90 players advanced to the first round the next day; defending champion

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 ...

led with 137 and won the £50 qualifying prize. The maximum number of players making the cut after 36 holes was again set at 50, and ties did not make the cut. The purse was increased to £5,000, up 150 from 4,850 in 1958; the winner's share remained unchanged at £1,000, but the prizes for second to fifth places were increased. Second place received £700, with 525 for third, 400 for fourth, and 325 for fifth. Only four Americans were in the field of 90 (

Willie Goggin William Ambrose Goggin (February 18, 1906 – August 2, 1979) was an American professional golfer. His best finish in a major championship was runner-up at the 1933 PGA Championship, won by Gene Sarazen. In 1959, Goggin won the PGA Seniors' Cha ...

, Bob Sweeny, Bob Watson, and John Garrett) and none made the cut. Sweeny and Garrett were amateurs.

Course

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Missed the cut

Source:

Round summaries

First round

''Wednesday, 1 July 1959'' Fred Bullock and Arnold Stickley led after the first round on Wednesday at 68. A number of amateurs made good starts, the best was

Michael Bonallack Sir Michael Francis Bonallack, OBE (born 31 December 1934) is an English amateur golfer who was one of the leading administrators in world golf in the late 20th century. Bonallack was born in Chigwell, Essex. He learned the game of golf under ...

at 70. Source:

Second round

''Thursday, 2 July 1959'' Bullock retained the lead after a second round 70 and Bonallack was one of four amateurs to make the cut. The three 'giants'

Bobby Locke Arthur D'Arcy "Bobby" Locke (20 November 1917 – 9 March 1987) was a South African professional golfer. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time. He won The Open Championship four times and 15 PGA Tour events in total ...

, Henry Cotton, and Thomson all made the cut, but all were eight or more strokes behind Bullock. Source: Amateurs: '' Bonallack (−2), Carr (+1), Jack (+2), Wolstenholme (+4)'',
Sweeny Jr (+7), Smith (+8), Garrett (+12), Dalziel (+13), Ferguson (+13), Stuart (+13).

Third round

''Friday, 3 July 1959 - (morning)'' Gary Player teed off at 9:04 am (and 1:34 pm), two hours before the leaders, who started at 11:04 am (and 3:34 pm). He was out in 37 in his morning round, but came home in 33 and was only four strokes behind the leaders after 54 holes. Amateur Reid Jack of Scotland posted 68 and was only two shots back. Source:

Final round

''Friday, 3 July 1959 - (afternoon)'' Gary Player reached the last hole and a par four would have yielded a round of 66. However he drove into a bunker and three-putted for a double-bogey six, 68 for the round, and a total of 284. In the last group, Fred Bullock and

both finished two shots behind Player. Reid Jack won the silver medal for leading amateur by finishing tied for fifth place, two ahead of Bonallack. Source: Amateurs: Jack (E), Bonallack (+2), Wolstenholme (+3), Carr (+10).

References

External links

88th Open - Muirfield 1959 (Official site)
{{coord, 56.043, -2.823, type:event, display=title The Open Championship Golf tournaments in Scotland