The 1955 Open Championship was the 84th

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 ...

, played 6–8 July at the Old Course in

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

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 ...

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 the second of three consecutive Open titles, two strokes ahead of runner-up John Fallon. Thomson won a total of five

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, the last in 1965. Qualifying took place on 4–5 July, Monday and Tuesday, with 18 holes on the Old Course and 18 holes on the New Course. The number of qualifiers was limited to a maximum of 100, and ties for 100th place did not qualify. On Monday,

Frank Jowle Frank Jowle (14 May 1912 – 13 May 1996) was an English professional golfer. His best season was 1958 when he won the Spalding Tournament and was joint winner of the Irish Hospitals Tournament in the space of a month. He finished third in the ...

scored 63 on the New Course, and after a 72 on the Old Course the next day he led the qualifiers at 135, a shot ahead of Laurie Ayton. The qualifying score was 148 and 94 players advanced to the first round on Wednesday. Three shot 69 in the opening round on Wednesday; after the second round on Thursday, three shared the 36-hole lead at 139: Eric Brown,

Dennis Smalldon Dennis Frederick George Smalldon (1926 – 12 September 1959) was a Welsh professional golfer. He was killed in a road traffic accident at the age of 33. Smalldon won the Welsh Professional Championship in 1953, 1956 and 1959 and had won the She ...

, and Thomson, with Fallon a stroke back in fourth. The maximum number of players making the cut was set at fifty, and ties for 50th place were not included. Five Americans were in the field of 94, three professionals and two amateurs. All five made the cut, and the top U.S. finisher was

Ed Furgol Edward Joseph Furgol (March 24, 1917 – March 6, 1997) was an American professional golfer, the winner of the U.S. Open in 1954. At age twelve, Furgol injured his left elbow when he fell off a set of parallel bars at a playground. Despite sever ...

in a tie for 19th place.

Byron Nelson John Byron Nelson Jr. (February 4, 1912 – September 26, 2006) was an American professional golfer between 1935 and 1946, widely considered one of the greatest golfers of all time. Nelson and two other legendary champions of the time, Ben Hoga ...

, whose only previous appearance at The Open was a fifth-place finish in 1937, tied for 32nd. The two amateurs finished in the top thirty. Previously the 17th hole (the "Road Hole") was a par 5; for this Open it became a par 4, which reduced the course par from 73 to 72. The winner's share was increased from £750 to £1,000, while the others were unchanged, bringing the total purse to £3,750.

Past champions in the field

Round summaries

First round

''Wednesday, 6 July 1955'' Source:

Second round

''Thursday, 7 July 1955'' Source:
Amateurs: ''Bucher (+2), Conrad (+4), McHale (+4)'', Lawrie (+5), Carr (+9), Murray (+11), Orr (+13), Robertson (+15)

Third round

''Friday, 8 July 1955 (morning)'' Source:

Final round

''Friday, 8 July 1955 (afternoon)'' Source:
Amateurs: Conrad (+5), McHale (+7), Bucher (+23).

References

External links

St Andrews 1955 (Official site)
{{coord, 56.343, -2.803, type:event, display=title The Open Championship Golf tournaments in Scotland