1957 Amateur Championship: Reid Jack wins at Formby Golf Club

Reid Jack won the 1957 Amateur Championship at Formby Golf Club in Formby, Merseyside, beating Harold Ridgley 2 & 1 in the final.

Updated 23 October 2026

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Edition: 62nd
Dates: 27 May 1957 to 1 June 1957
Course: Formby Golf Club, Formby, Merseyside
Format: match play
Champion: Reid Jack · age 33 · Scotland
Champion's title: 1st Amateur Championship title
Runner-up: Harold Ridgley · United States
Final: 2 & 1 (36-hole final)
Losing semifinalists: Arthur Walker and Alan Bussell
Defending champion: John Beharrell · lost in an early round (to S. Sinclair 3 & 2, 1957-05-29; round number not stated)

What happened at the 1957 Amateur Championship

Semifinal (36 holes): Harold Ridgley, a 43-year-old USAF master sergeant with no American club, beat Arthur Walker 13 & 12, one of the most lopsided wins in the championship's history.

Final: at the 33rd hole a spectator deliberately trod on Jack's ball hoping to help the tiring Ridgley; the referee let Jack lift and drop it, he hit his iron to the green, halved the hole and won 2 & 1 (Jack round in 69 in the morning).

The draw

Every match is recorded through the semifinal; earlier rounds are partial (quarterfinal (1 of 4 matches)).

The final, 1957 Amateur Championship

Winner		Beaten	Result
Reid Jack	def.	Harold Ridgley	2 & 1

Semifinals, 1957 Amateur Championship

Winner		Beaten	Result
Harold Ridgley	def.	Arthur Walker	13 & 12
Reid Jack	def.	Alan Bussell	3 & 2

Quarterfinals, 1957 Amateur Championship

Winner		Beaten	Result
Harold Ridgley	def.	Leslie McClue	7 & 5

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.