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.
