1955 Amateur Championship: Joe Conrad wins at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club
Joe Conrad won the 1955 Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, beating Alan Slater 3 & 2 in the final.
Updated 23 October 2026
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- Edition
- 60th
- Dates
- 4 June 1955
- Course
- Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, Lytham St Annes, Lancashire
- Format
- match play
- Champion
- Joe Conrad · age 25 · United States
- Champion's title
- 1st Amateur Championship title
- Runner-up
- Alan Slater · England
- Final
- 3 & 2 (36-hole final)
- Losing semifinalists
- Philip Scrutton and Arthur Perowne
- Defending champion
- Doug Bachli · did not play
What happened at the 1955 Amateur Championship
Final: Conrad, a U.S. Air Force lieutenant, was only 1 up after nine but 4 up at lunch as Slater went wild off the tee; a lucky break at the 34th hole gave him the 3 & 2 win in rain and cold wind before fewer than 1,000 spectators.
Alan Slater beat two Americans (Dale Morey, Jimmy McHale) in one day and then the 1953 champion Joe Carr 2 & 1 in the quarterfinals.
The draw
Every match is recorded through the quarterfinal; earlier rounds are partial (round of 16 (4 of 8 matches); round of 32 (15 of 16 matches)).
The final, 1955 Amateur Championship
| Winner | Beaten | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Conrad | def. | Alan Slater | 3 & 2 |
Semifinals, 1955 Amateur Championship
| Winner | Beaten | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Conrad | def. | Philip Scrutton | 5 & 4 |
| Alan Slater | def. | Arthur Perowne | 3 & 2 |
Quarterfinals, 1955 Amateur Championship
| Winner | Beaten | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Conrad | def. | Roger Bayliss | 5 & 3 |
| Alan Slater | def. | Joe Carr | 2 & 1 |
| Philip Scrutton | def. | Don Bisplinghoff | unknown |
| Arthur Perowne | def. | Billy Joe Patton | unknown |
Round of 16, 1955 Amateur Championship
| Winner | Beaten | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alan Slater | def. | Jim McHale Jr. | unknown |
| Billy Joe Patton | def. | George Coleman | 5 & 3 |
| Don Bisplinghoff | def. | Bruce Cudd | unknown |
| Philip Scrutton | def. | Guy Wolstenholme | 6 & 4 |
Round of 32, 1955 Amateur Championship
| Winner | Beaten | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jim McHale Jr. | def. | R. M. de Lloyd | 6 & 3 |
| Joe Carr | def. | Gordon Whitehead | 4 & 3 |
| Alan Slater | def. | Dale Morey | 2 & 1 |
| Don Bisplinghoff | def. | John Niven | 2 up |
| James K. Bernard | def. | John de Bendern | 3 & 2 |
| Arthur Perowne | def. | D. T. Stephenson | 5 & 4 |
| Richard Ashcroft | def. | W. J. R. Gilbert | won on 19th hole |
| Guy Wolstenholme | def. | Bert Weaver | 5 & 4 |
| Philip Scrutton | def. | Jack Burnside Jr. | 5 & 4 |
| Billy Joe Patton | def. | Jack Jones | 5 & 4 |
| Bruce Cudd | def. | Arthur Walker | won on 20th hole |
| Joe Conrad | def. | George Duncan | 5 & 3 |
| George Coleman | def. | L. J. Rennels | 3 & 1 |
| James G. Jackson | def. | Derek C. Gardner | 4 & 3 |
| Barton J. Bridgeford | def. | E. W. Fiddian | 1 up |
How this was built
Every value is shown as recorded in GNN's Amateur Championship data set (research collected through 20 October 2026). "unknown" means no source confirmed it; nothing is estimated. Where sources disagree, the R&A's own record is used.
Values found only on Wikipedia, kept and flagged: champion_age, champion_birth_year, champion_birthplace.
Data: the-amateur.json.
Sources
- Evening Star (Washington, D.C.) 1955-06-04 p.1 (Chronicling America)
- Argus 1955-06-06 p.15 (Trove)
- Evening Star (Washington, D.C.) 1955-06-05 p.66 (Chronicling America)
- Evening Star (Washington, D.C.) 1955-06-03 p.50 (Chronicling America)
- Wikidata Q63847268
- Wikipedia: Joe Conrad
- Telegraph 1955-06-02 p.39 (Trove)
- Argus 1955-06-04 p.36 (Trove)
- The Key West Citizen 1955-06-04 p.12 (Chronicling America)