1965 U.S. Open Golf Tournament Winner and Scores

The 1965 U.S. Open was the 65th time the tournament was played. It was decided in an 18-hole playoff between Gary Player and Kel Nagle.

Winner: Gary Player, 282

Where it was played: Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri

Tournament dates: June 17-21, 1965

Leader after first round: Kel Nagle, 68

Leader after second round: Gary Player, 140

Leader after third round: Gary Player, 201

What Happened in the 1965 U.S. Open

Gary Player became the third player in golf history to achieve the "career Grand Slam" when he won the 1965 U.S. Open.

Player joined Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan as the only golfers to that point to win all four of what we now consider the professional majors: The Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship. Of Player's nine career wins in majors, this was his only U.S. Open title.

South Africa native Player also became the first foreign-born winner of the U.S. Open since 1927.

Player earned the title by beating Australian Kel Nagle in an 18-hole playoff. The playoff was necessitated when Player blew a 3-stroke lead with three holes to play in the final round, double-bogeying the 71st hole while Nagle birdied it.

In the playoff, Nagle bogeyed the first hole while Player birdied the second and third holes. Player's edge was five at the end of the front nine, and he wound up shooting 71 to Nagle's 74.

Player earned $26,000 for the win, but he kept only $1,000 of it for himself. The rest he donated to the USGA, with the bulk of the donation going toward junior golf programs. The USGA's history of this tournament notes that Player's donation "... was the start of the USGA eventually forming a foundation to assist grassroots junior golf programs as well as programs for those with disabilities."

The U.S. Open had a change in format this year, switching to 18 holes of play for each of four days. Previously, the tournament began with 18 holes per day for two days, then 36 holes on the third day.

Arnold Palmer missed the cut, the only time from 1962 to 1967 that Palmer failed to finish inside the Top 5 in the U.S. Open. Tom Weiskopf, future British Open winner, made his major championship debut in the 1965 U.S. Open, finishing tied for 40th.

1965 U.S. Open Final Scores

Gary Player	70-70-71-71—282 (71)
Kel Nagle	68-73-72-69—282 (74)
Frank Beard	74-69-70-71—284
Julius Boros	72-75-70-70—287
Al Geiberger	70-76-70-71—287
Bruce Devlin	72-73-72-71—288
Raymond Floyd	72-72-76-68—288
Tony Lema	72-74-73-70—289
Gene Littler	73-71-73-72—289
Dudley Wysong	72-75-70-72—289
a-Deane Beman	69-73-76-72—290
Mason Rudolph	69-72-73-76—290
Doug Sanders	77-73-69-71—290
Billy Maxwell	76-73-71-71—291
Steve Oppermann	72-77-73-70—292
Gay Brewer	72-74-71-76—293
Billy Casper	73-73-76-72—294
Charles Huckaby	73-74-73-74—294
George Knudson	80-69-73-72—294
Bob Verwey	73-74-75-72—294
Gardner Dickinson	77-73-71-74—295
Eric Monti	76-71-75-73—295
Lou Graham	70-77-76-73—296
Wes Ellis	73-76-77-71—297
Labron Harris Jr.	74-76-74-73—297
Ted Kroll	76-74-72-75—297
Sam Snead	75-71-77-74—297
Dutch Harrison	78-72-72-76—298
Tommy Jacobs	76-71-74-77—298
Dean Refram	71-79-72-76—298
Terry Wilcox	74-73-73-78—298
Miller Barber	72-76-74-77—299
Bruce Crampton	74-76-72-77—299
Gordon Jones	71-74-75-79—299
Jack Nicklaus	78-72-73-76—299
Duff Lawrence	73-73-75-79—300
Dan Sikes	72-78-75-75—300
Bob Rosburg	73-75-75-78—301
a-Ed Tutwiler	77-73-76-75—301
Rex Baxter	70-75-79-78—302
Chi Chi Rodriguez	78-72-77-75—302
Dick Hendrickson	74-76-72-80—302
Tom Weiskopf	76-72-77-77—302
Dick Hart	74-75-80-74—303
Jack Lumpkin	74-74-74-81—303
Bill Ogden	75-73-79-76—303
Sam Carmichael	76-74-76-78—304
Paul Kelly	75-74-78-78—305
Robert Reith	73-76-73-83—305
Franklin Keller	77-73-79-78—307

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