1957 British Open Winner and Scores

The 1957 British Open was the 86th time the tournament was played. The two great Open rivals of the 1950s — Peter Thomson and Bobby Locke — battled it out for the title.

Winner: Bobby Locke, 279

Where it was played: The Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland

Tournament dates: July 3-5, 1957

Leader after first round: Eric Brown and Laurie Ayton Jr., 67

Leader after second round: Eric Brown, 139

Leader after third round: Bobby Locke, 209

What Happened at the 1957 Open Championship

Between 1949 and 1957, Bobby Locke won the British Open four times. Between 1954 and 1958, Peter Thomson won the British Open four times. So from 1949 through 1958, only twice did anyone else win the Claret Jug.

The 1957 Open Championship was one of the tournaments in that time period in which Locke and Thomson clashed head-to-head, and this time it was Locke who came out on top. It was the fourth and last of Locke's victories in this tournament, and it happened on the Old Course in St. Andrews.

Locke opened with a 69, four better than Thomson's first-round 73, and spent the next two days (36 holes on Day 3, a Friday) maintaining that edge over his rival. Thomson cut three strokes off with a 69 of his own in the second round; Locke regained two strokes with a 68 to Thomson's 70 in Round 3; and the two matched 70s in the final round. That gave Locke the 3-stroke victory.

Locke had to survive a rules challenge, however, because of an incident on the 72nd green, and needed a beneficial ruling from the R&A to keep the Claret Jug.

On his last green, with a 3-stroke margin, Locke marked his ball, which was in the line of playing partner Bruce Crampton. To keep the marker from interfering with Crampton's putt, Locke moved his ballmarker one putter-head off the line.

And then he forgot to move his marker back to its proper location before putting out himself. The R&A tournament history states:

"The error was not spotted at the time, but reported to R&A officials later. The Championship Committee quickly decided that with his three-shot lead and no advantage having been gained, the equity and spirit of the game dictated that he should not be disqualified."
The 1957 British Open was another one affected by war. This championship was originally scheduled for Muirfield, but was moved to St. Andrews after Britain, France and Israel attacked Egypt to re-open the Suez Canal, which Egypt had nationalized. The so-called Suez Crisis broke out in late 1956 and led to fuel shortages. The R&A decided a tournament at St. Andrews would be easier for players and fans to get to, and so moved the 1957 British Open from the more-remote Muirfield.

The 1957 British Open was the site of Gary Player's second appearance in the tournament, and his first played at St. Andrews. He finished tied for 24th.

For the first time, the BBC televised the final holes of the tournament live. And so this was also the first Open at which the leaders were paired together and given the last tee times (however, since the final day still covered 36 holes, those pairings were made following the second-round cut).

1957 British Open Final Scores

Bobby Locke 69-72-68-70—279
Peter Thomson 73-69-70-70—282
Eric Brown 67-72-73-71—283
Angel Miguel 72-72-69-72—285
Tom Haliburton 72-73-68-73—286
a-W.D. Smith 71-72-72-71—286
Dave Thomas 72-74-70-70—286
Flory Van Donck 72-68-74-72—286
Antonio Cerda 71-71-72-73—287
Henry Cotton 74-72-69-72—287
Max Faulkner 74-70-71-72—287
Peter Alliss 72-74-74-68—288
Harry Weetman 75-71-71-71—288
Cary Middlecoff 72-71-74-72—289
Norman Drew 70-75-71-74—290
Eric Lester 71-76-70-73—290
Sebastian Migue 71-75-76-68—290
John Panton 71-72-74-73—290
Harry Bradshaw 73-74-69-75—291
John Fallon 75-67-73-76—291
Christy O'Connor Sr. 77-69-72-73—291
a-Frank Stranahan 74-71-74-72—291
Jimmy Hitchcock 69-74-73-76—292
Reg Horne 76-72-72-73—293
Bernard Hunt 72-72-74-75—293
Sam King 76-72-70-75—293
Gary Player 71-74-75-73—293
Trevor Wilkes 75-73-71-74—293
Harold Henning 75-73-71-75—294
Laurie Ayton Jr. 67-76-75-77—295
Peter Butler 77-71-74-73—295
Reg Knight 71-73-75-76—295
Dai Rees 73-72-79-71—295
Norman Sutton 69-76-73-77—295
Ken Bousfield 74-73-75-74—296
Roberto De Vicenzo 70-76-76-74—296
John MacDonald 73-71-76-76—296
Ralph Moffitt 71-75-77-74—297
Bruce Crampton 68-73-78-79—298
Keith MacDonald 69-74-76-79—298
Syd Scott 76-72-73-77—298
T.H.T. Fairbairn 73-72-77-78—300
a-Robin Galloway 70-76-79-75—300
E. Bert Williamson 74-70-77-80—301
Arthur Lees 75-71-77-80—303
W.J. Henderson 72-75-82-76—305

Previous and next:
1956 British Open - 1958 British Open

Sources:
Glasgow Herald. "Locke again Open golf champ," July 6, 1957, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9XxAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rKMMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6189%2C947860
TheOpen.com. "1957 / St. Andrews," The R&A, https://www.theopen.com/previous-opens/86th-open-st-andrews-1957
The R&A. The Open: 151st Royal Liverpool Media Guide, 2023.

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