1960 Open Championship

1960 Open Championship

Tournament information
Location	St Andrews, Scotland
Course(s)	Old Course at St Andrews
Statistics
Par	72
Field	74, 47 after cut
Cut	149 (+5)
Champion
Kel Nagle
278 (-10)

The 1960 Open Championship was a golf tournament played at the Old Course at St Andrews in St Andrews, Scotland. In the 100th anniversary of the first Open Championship, Australian Kel Nagle prevailed over Arnold Palmer by a single stroke in a tournament that marked the re-emergence of the Open Championship as a major stop for American golfers.

Roberto De Vicenzo opened the tournament with consecutive rounds of 67, taking a two-stroke lead over Kel Nagle. In the third round, De Vicenzo's drive on the 14th ended up on top of a wall and he finished the round with a score of 75, allowing Nagle to take a two-shot lead. Arnold Palmer, who earlier in the year had won the U.S. Open by erasing a seven-shot deficit in the final round, was four back after 54-holes. The final round was delayed until the next day due to a heavy rainfall, and when play resumed Palmer and Nagle both went out in 34. Palmer was still four-strokes behind, but he began another charge on the back. He made up strokes on the 13th and 15th, made a 4 on the 17th, then made birdie at the last. Nagle was standing over a crucial par putt on the 17th when he heard the roar signifying Palmer's birdie. He managed to collect himself and hole the putt, then made a safe 4 at the last to win the title by a single shot over Palmer.

Already 39 at the time of his victory, this was Nagle's first Top 10 finish in a major championship. Although little-known outside of Australia at the time of the tournament, he went on to have success throughout the next decade and came close to winning another major at the 1965 U.S. Open, losing to Gary Player in a playoff.

The appearance of Palmer, already the most popular golfer in the world, proved to be a turning point for the Open Championship. Up until that time few Americans made the trip to the Open Championship, with the cost of traveling to Britain often more than they stood to win in the tournament. Palmer's appearance reestablished the British Open as an important tournament for American golfers and, although Palmer himself skipped the tournament a few times afterward, the best American players began crossing the Atlantic with regularity from then on. Palmer would win the next two Opens.

Round summaries

First round

#	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Roberto De Vicenzo	Argentina	67	-5
T2	Fidel de Luca	Argentina	69	-3
	Kel Nagle	Australia
T4	David Blair (a)	Scotland	70	-2
	Ken Bousfield	England
	Arnold Palmer	United States
	Peter Shanks	England
8	Peter Mills	England	71	-1
T9	Joe Carr (a)	Ireland	72	E
	José María Gonzáles	Brazil
	Harold Henning	South Africa
	Bernard Hunt	England
	George Low	United Kingdom
	Jimmy Martin	Ireland
	Ángel Miguel	Spain
	Ralph Moffitt	England
	Raymond Munro (a)	Scotland
	Gary Player	South Africa
	Leopoldo Ruiz	Argentina
	Peter Thomson	Australia

Second round

#	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Roberto De Vicenzo	Argentina	67-67=134	-10
2	Kel Nagle	Australia	69-67=136	-8
T3	Sebastián Miguel	Spain	73-68=141	-3
	Arnold Palmer	United States	70-71=141
	Peter Thomson	Australia	72-69=141
T6	Laurie Ayton Jr	Scotland	73-69=142	-2
	Fidel de Luca	Argentina	69-73=142
T8	David Blair (a)	Scotland	70-73=143	-1
	Eric Brown	Scotland	75-68=143
	Ralph Moffitt	England	72-71=143
	Gary Player	South Africa	72-71=143
	Peter Shanks	England	70-73=143

Amateurs: Blair (-1), Wolstenholme (E), Deighton (E), Carr (+1), Jack (+1), Smith (+1), Deboys (+2), Munro (+5), Shade (+5), Walker (+6), Wright (+6), Saddler (+7), Nisbet (+9).

Third round

#	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Kel Nagle	Australia	69-67-71=207	-9
2	Roberto De Vicenzo	Argentina	67-67-75=209	-7
T3	Arnold Palmer	United States	70-71-70=211	-5
	Syd Scott	England	73-71-67=211
5	Joe Carr (a)	Ireland	72-73-67=212	-4
6	Harold Henning	South Africa	72-72-69=213	-3
7	David Blair (a)	Scotland	70-73-71=214	-2
T8	Eric Brown	Scotland	75-68-72=215	-1
	Robert Reid Jack (a)	Scotland	74-71-70=215
	Sebastián Miguel	Spain	73-68-74=215
	Peter Mills	England	71-74-70=215
	Gary Player	South Africa	72-71-72=215
	Harry Weetman	England	74-70-71=215
	Guy Wolstenholme (a)	England	74-70-71=215

Final leaderboard

#	Player	Country	Score	To Par
1	Kel Nagle	Australia	69-67-71-71=278	-10
2	Arnold Palmer	United States	70-71-70-68=279	-9
T3	Roberto De Vicenzo	Argentina	67-67-75-73=282	-6
	Harold Henning	South Africa	72-72-69-69=282
	Bernard Hunt	England	72-73-71-66=282
6	Guy Wolstenholme (a)	England	74-70-71-68=283	-5
7	Gary Player	South Africa	72-71-72-69=284	-4
8	Joe Carr (a)	Ireland	72-73-67-73=285	-3
T9	David Blair (a)	Scotland	70-73-71-72=286	-2
	Eric Brown	Scotland	75-68-72-71=286
	Dai Rees	Wales	73-71-73-69=286
	Syd Scott	England	73-71-67-75=286
	Peter Thomson	Australia	72-69-75-70=286
	Harry Weetman	England	74-70-71-71=286

"(a) denotes amateur"

Amateurs: Wolstenholme (-5), Carr (-3), Blair (-2), Jack (E), Deboys (+2), Smith (+9), Shade (+11), Deighton (+14), Munro (+20).

External links

• 1960 Open Championship
• The Open Championship