1946 Open Championship: Sam Snead wins at Old Course, St Andrews
Sam Snead won the 1946 Open Championship at Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland with 290, by 4 strokes over Johnny Bulla and Bobby Locke.
Updated October 23, 2026
See 1946 in The Open room, or every year on The Open winners list.
- Dates
- 3 July 1946 to 5 July 1946
- Course
- Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland
- Edition
- 75th Open Championship
- Format
- 72 holes of stroke play
- Field
- 100
- Made the cut
- 38 (cut at 155)
- Purse
- £1,000
- Trophy
- Claret Jug (replica to winner)
- Champion
- Sam Snead · age 34 · USA · born Ashwood, USA
- Champion's title
- 1st Open title
- Winning score
- 71-70-74-75 = 290 · won by 4 strokes
- Runners-up
- Johnny Bulla (294), Bobby Locke (294)
- 54-hole leaders
- Sam Snead, Johnny Bulla, Dai Rees (215)
- Final-day weather
- windy: "On a windy final day" Rees and Cotton both found the Swilcan Burn at the 1st; Rees shot 80 and Snead's closing 75 is the highest final round by a champion since.
- Low amateur
- R.K. Bell (disputed) (312)
Top 10 as recorded
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Snead | 71 | 70 | 74 | 75 | 290 |
| T2 | Johnny Bulla | 71 | 72 | 72 | 79 | 294 |
| T2 | Bobby Locke | 69 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 294 |
| T4 | Henry Cotton | 70 | 70 | 76 | 79 | 295 |
| T4 | Dai Rees | 75 | 67 | 73 | 80 | 295 |
| T4 | Norman Von Nida | 70 | 76 | 74 | 75 | 295 |
| T4 | Charlie Ward | 73 | 73 | 73 | 76 | 295 |
| T8 | Fred Daly | 77 | 71 | 76 | 74 | 298 |
| T8 | Joe Kirkwood | 71 | 75 | 78 | 74 | 298 |
| 10 | Lawson Little | 78 | 75 | 72 | 74 | 299 |
What happened at the 1946 Open Championship
Arriving by train, Snead looked out at the Old Course and said it looked like 'an old abandoned kinda place' - days later he won on it.
On a windy final day Dai Rees and Henry Cotton both found the Swilcan Burn at the 1st; Rees shot 80, and Snead's closing 75 is, per the R&A, the highest final round by any champion since.
No source names a deciding hole; Snead won by four with a closing 75 in wind.
How this was built
Every value is shown as recorded in GNN's The Open data. A value no source confirmed is left out; nothing is estimated. Where sources disagree, the organizer's own record is used.
Data: the-open.json (The Open room's data), with GNN's Open Championship addendum tables L (top ten by round), H (deciding hole), W (final-day weather).