# 1965 Open Championship

The 1965 Open Championship was the 94th Open Championship, played 7–9 July at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. Peter Thomson won his fifth Claret Jug, two strokes ahead of runners-up Brian Huggett and Christy O'Connor Snr. Thomson's previous Open victory was seven years earlier in 1958.
The 1965 Open was the last to conclude with two rounds on Friday. Beginning in 1966, the final round was moved from Friday afternoon to Saturday. The Open used this schedule until 1980, when the first round moved to Thursday with the final round on Sunday, the same as the other three majors.

## Field

The exemption categories were:
1. The first 20 and those tying for 20th place in the 1964 Open
2. The first 30 and those tying for 30th place in the P.G.A. Order of Merit for 1964
3. The last 10 Open champions (1955–64)
4. The last 5 Amateur champions (1960–64)
5. The last 10 U.S. Open champions (1955–64)
6. The last 5 U.S. Amateur champions (1960–64)
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
8. Members of the 1964 Great Britain and Ireland Eisenhower Cup team
9. Senior professional champions of Great Britain and the United States Charlie Ward, Sam Snead
10. The 1965 U.S. Open champion The U.S. Open took place after the final date for entries. The winner, Gary Player, was already exempt.
Source:
Qualification took place on 2–3 July at Hillside and Southport and Ainsdale. They were run as two separate events with 41 players to qualify from Hillside, 40 from Southport and Ainsdale, together with 49 exemptions to make a total field of 130. Clive Clark was later added to field after William C. Campbell failed to arrive. M.E. Hill also played after Frank Phillips withdrew.

## Prize money

The total prize money was increased from £8,500 to £10,000. The winner's share was increased to £1,750 with £1,250 for second, £1,000 for third, £750 for fourth, £600 for fifth, £450 for sixth, £375 for seventh.

## Course

| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
| Yards | 493 | 427 | 416 | 212 | 320 | 468 | 158 | 459 | 410 | 3,363 | 393 | 412 | 190 | 517 | 202 | 536 | 401 | 510 | 513 | 3,674 | 7,037 |
| Par | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 35 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 38 | 73 |
Source: Lengths of the course for previous Opens:
* 1961: 6,844 yards (6,258 m)
* 1954: 6,867 yards (6,279 m)

## Round summaries
### First round

Wednesday, 7 July 1965
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
| 1 | Tony Lema | 68 | −5 |
| 2 | Christy O'Connor Snr | 69 | −4 |
| T3 | Joe Carr (a) | 70 | −3 |
| T3 | Arnold Palmer | 70 | −3 |
| 5 | Bruce Devlin | 71 | −2 |
| T6 | Brian Bamford | 72 | −1 |
| T6 | Eric Brown | 72 | −1 |
| T6 | Christy Greene | 72 | −1 |
| T6 | Ronnie Mandeville | 72 | −1 |
| T6 | Jim McAlister | 72 | −1 |
| T6 | Sebastián Miguel | 72 | −1 |
| T6 | Lionel Platts | 72 | −1 |
| T6 | Doug Sewell | 72 | −1 |
| T6 | Guy Wolstenholme | 72 | −1 |
Source:

### Second round

Thursday, 8 July 1965
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
| T1 | Bruce Devlin | 71-69=140 | −6 |
| T1 | Tony Lema | 68-72=140 | −6 |
| T3 | Brian Huggett | 73-68=141 | −5 |
| T3 | Arnold Palmer | 70-71=141 | −5 |
| T5 | Hugh Boyle | 73-69=142 | −4 |
| T5 | Eric Brown | 72-70=142 | −4 |
| T5 | Joe Carr (a) | 70-72=142 | −4 |
| T5 | Christy O'Connor Snr | 69-73=142 | −4 |
| T5 | Peter Thomson | 74-68=142 | −4 |
| 10 | Roberto De Vicenzo | 74-69=143 | −3 |
Source: Amateurs: Carr (-4), Bonallack (+1), Burgess (+1), Clark (+4), Hadlock (+6), Shade (+6), Foster (+7), Marsh (+7), Glover (+8), Birtwell (+9), Richards (+15), Marks (+17), McCandlish (+17)

### Third round

Friday, 9 July 1965 - (morning)
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
| 1 | Peter Thomson | 74-68-72=214 | −5 |
| T2 | Bruce Devlin | 71-69-75=215 | −4 |
| T2 | Tony Lema | 68-72-75=215 | −4 |
| T4 | Roberto De Vicenzo | 74-69-73=216 | −3 |
| T4 | Christy O'Connor Snr | 69-73-74=216 | −3 |
| T4 | Arnold Palmer | 70-71-75=216 | −3 |
| T7 | Brian Huggett | 73-68-76=217 | −2 |
| T7 | Sebastián Miguel | 72-73-72=217 | −2 |
| T7 | Kel Nagle | 74-70-73=217 | −2 |
| T7 | Lionel Platts | 72-72-73=217 | −2 |
Source:

### Final round

Friday, 9 July 1965 - (afternoon)
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money (£) |
| 1 | Peter Thomson | 74-68-72-71=285 | −7 | 1,750 |
| T2 | Brian Huggett | 73-68-76-70=287 | −5 | 1,125 |
| T2 | Christy O'Connor Snr | 69-73-74-71=287 | −5 | 1,125 |
| 4 | Roberto De Vicenzo | 74-69-73-72=288 | −4 | 750 |
| T5 | Bernard Hunt | 74-74-70-71=289 | −3 | 475 |
| T5 | Tony Lema | 68-72-75-74=289 | −3 | 475 |
| T5 | Kel Nagle | 74-70-73-72=289 | −3 | 475 |
| T8 | Bruce Devlin | 71-69-75-75=290 | −2 | 275 |
| T8 | Sebastián Miguel | 72-73-72-73=290 | −2 | 275 |
| T10 | Max Faulkner | 74-72-74-73=293 | +1 | 185 |
| T10 | John Panton | 74-74-75-70=293 | +1 | 185 |
Source: Amateurs: Burgess (+7), Bonallack (+10), Carr (+10)