1961 British Open Winner and Scores

The 1961 British Open was the 90th time the tournament was played. And the winner was a King.

Winner: Arnold Palmer, 284

Where it was played: Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England

Tournament dates: July 12-15, 1961

Leader after first round: Dai Rees, Harold Henning and Kel Nagle, 68

Leader after second round: Dai Rees and Harold Henning, 142

Leader after third round: Arnold Palmer, 212

What Happened in the 1961 Open Championship

One year earlier, Arnold Palmer made his Open Championship debut at the 1960 British Open. And although Palmer lost by a stroke to Kel Nagle, Arnie's appearance is generally credited with reinvigorating this championship, and also with establishing the modern concept of the "grand slam" as the four professional majors.

Palmer returned in 1961, and this time he won. For Palmer, it was his fourth victory in a major championship (he eventually won seven total).

Palmer opened with a 70, two off the lead shared by Dai Rees, Harold Henning and Nagle. After the second round, Rees and Henning were tied for the lead, with Palmer and Nagle tied one stroke behind. Nagle shot 75-71 on the final day (36 holes) and dropped to a tie for fifth, while Henning shot 75-76 and tied for 10th.

And that left Palmer and Rees to battle it out in the final round. Palmer led Rees by four strokes with four holes remaining. But Palmer appeared in deep trouble on the 15th hole, his ball sitting in thick rough and below a bush 140 yards from the green.

But the swashbuckling Palmer took a mighty rip at the ball, sending a huge divot and other debris flying, and knocked the ball onto the green.

Rees did make up three strokes, but both wound up shooting 72 and Palmer won by one stroke, 284 to Rees' 285.

The Welshman Rees was one of the British golf greats of the 1950s, but he was winning tournaments in Europe from the late 1930s through the early 1960s. He never won the British Open, but his finish here was one of three runner-up showings. He also finished third and fourth in other Opens.

Another British golf great, 3-time Open champion Henry Cotton, made the cut for the last time in this event. And American Paul Runyan, winner of the PGA Championship in 1934 and 1938, finished 18th at age 53. It was one of just three appearances in the British Open by Runyan.

1961 British Open Final Scores

Arnold Palmer	70-73-69-72—284
Dai Rees	68-74-71-72—285
Neil Coles	70-77-69-72—288
Christy O'Connor	71-77-67-73—288
Eric Brown	73-76-70-70—289
Kel Nagle	68-75-75-71—289
Peter Thomson	75-72-70-73—290
Ken Bousfield	71-77-75-68—291
Peter Alliss	73-75-72-71—291
Syd Scott	76-75-71-71—293
Harold Henning	68-74-75-76—293
Ramon Sota	71-76-72-76—295
Tony Coop	71-79-73-74—297
Miguel Angel Martin	73-79-74-72—298
Reg Knight	71-80-73-74—298
Sebastian Miguel	71-80-70-77—298
a-Norman Johnson	69-80-70-79—298
Paul Runyan	75-77-75-72—299
Denis Hutchinson	72-80-74-73—299
John Jacobs	71-79-76-74—300
Harry Bradshaw	73-75-78-74—300
Peter Butler	72-76-78-74—300
Dave Thomas	71-77-77-75—300
Lionel Platts	70-80-71-79—300
a-Ralph Moffitt	73-80-73-75—301
Jean Garaialde	69-81-76-75—301
Brian Huggett	72-77-75-77—301
Eric Lester	71-77-75-78—301
David Miller	69-79-80-74—302
George Will	74-75-75-78—302
Brian Wilkes	72-76-77-78—303
Guy Wolstenholme	72-80-77-75—304
Henry Cotton	76-77-74-77—304
John Panton	73-78-75-78—304
Bill McHardy	76-76-76-77—305
James Henderson	72-78-77-78—305
Sam King	70-77-79-79—305
Eric Green	75-78-77-76—306
a-Ronald White	71-79-80-76—306
a-George Low	76-76-76-78—306
David Snell	72-81-77-77—307
Frank Phillips	74-79-76-78—307
Tom Haliburton	74-79-76-78—307
Fred Boobyer	74-79-81-74—308
a-Martin Christmas	71-79-79-79—308
Willian Branch	77-76-78-78—309
Christy Greene	77-76-78-78—309

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