1964 British Open Winner and Scores
The 1964 British Open was the 93rd time the tournament was played. The winner was a "bubbly" player in his first appearance in this major championship.
Winner: Tony Lema, 279
Where it was played: The Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland
Tournament dates: July 8-10, 1964
Leader after first round: Christy O'Connor Sr. and Jean Garaialde, 71
Leader after second round: Tony Lema, 141
Leader after third round: Tony Lema, 209
What Happened at the 1964 Open Championship
Tony Lema established himself as a star in the golf world with a dominating victory in the 1964 Open. Lema was already famous for his showmanship — his nickname was "Champagne Tony" — and was a winner on the PGA Tour. But here he became a major champion and seemed poised to challenge the "Big 3" of golf.One of those "Big 3," Jack Nicklaus, was runner-up in this tournament — but a distant runner-up. Lema opened with a 73 and was two off the first-round lead. He moved into the lead, though, with a second-round 68, and after another 68 in Round 3 Lema was seven strokes clear of the field. He wound up beating second-place Nicklaus by five, and third-place Roberto De Vicenzo by six.
And Lema did that in his very first appearance in a British Open, his first experience of playing links golf.
During the 1962 season, Lema joked to the media that he would serve champagne if he won that week's PGA Tour tournament. He did win, and he brought champagne to the media. From then on, Lema was known as "Champagne Tony." From September 1962 through May 1966, Lema won 12 times on the PGA Tour, had six other wins, and finished in the Top 10 in eight of the 15 majors he played. Tragically, in 1966, Lema was killed when the small plane in which he was traveling crashed onto a golf course.
Arnold Palmer skipped the 1964 British Open despite being a recent two-time champion, having won the 1961 and 1962 Opens. The caddie on Palmer's bag in those two wins was Tip Anderson, and Anderson, on Palmer's recommendation, worked for Lema in this Open.
This was Nicklaus' first runner-up finish in the Open Championship. (He did match the then-record for competitive rounds on The Old Coures with a 66 in the third round.) While he eventually won the tournament three times, Nicklaus also finished second a record seven times total over the course of his career.
1964 British Open Final Scores
| Tony Lema | 73-68-68-70—279 |
| Jack Nicklaus | 76-74-66-68—284 |
| Roberto De Vicenzo | 76-72-70-67—285 |
| Bernard Hunt | 73-74-70-70—287 |
| Bruce Devlin | 72-72-73-73—290 |
| Christy O'Connor Sr. | 71-73-74-73—291 |
| Harry Weetman | 72-71-75-73—291 |
| Harold Henning | 78-73-71-70—292 |
| Angel Miguel | 73-76-72-71—292 |
| Gary Player | 78-71-73-70—292 |
| Doug Sanders | 78-73-74-68—293 |
| Frank Phillips | 77-75-72-70—294 |
| Jean Garaialde | 71-74-79-72—296 |
| Christy Greene | 74-76-73-73—296 |
| Ralph Moffitt | 76-72-74-74—296 |
| Dave Thomas | 75-74-75-72—296 |
| Alex Caygill | 77-74-71-75—297 |
| Bob Charles | 79-71-69-78—297 |
| Malcolm Gregson | 78-70-74-76—298 |
| John MacDonald | 78-74-74-72—298 |
| Alan Murray | 77-73-76-72—298 |
| Phil Rodgers | 74-79-74-71—298 |
| Syd Scott | 75-74-73-76—298 |
| Tony Coop | 75-72-76-76—299 |
| Doug Ford | 75-76-76-72—299 |
| Liang Huan Lu | 76-71-78-74—299 |
| Jimmy Martin | 74-72-79-74—299 |
| Peter Thomson | 79-73-72-75—299 |
| George Will | 74-79-71-76—300 |
| Peter Butler | 78-75-74-74—301 |
| Geoffrey Hunt | 77-75-74-75—301 |
| Ramon Sota | 77-74-74-76—301 |
| Stuart Davies | 74-77-71-80—302 |
| Dennis Hutchinson | 77-74-77-75—303 |
| Michael Murphy | 76-74-76-77—303 |
| John Panton | 78-74-77-74—303 |
| Brian Wilkes | 77-76-74-76—303 |
| Max Faulkner | 73-73-80-78—304 |
| Dai Rees | 76-77-77-74—304 |
| Brian Allen | 78-75-73-79—305 |
| Norman Drew | 76-76-79-74—305 |
| Stuart Murray | 80-73-78-74—305 |
| Len Thomas | 76-75-82-72—305 |
| Malcolm Leeder | 77-76-75-80—308 |
| Kel Nagle | 77-76-80-80—313 |
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