1965 Open Championship: Peter Thomson wins at Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Peter Thomson won the 1965 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport, England with 285, by 2 strokes over Brian Huggett and Christy O'Connor Snr.
Updated October 23, 2026
See 1965 in The Open room, or every year on The Open winners list.
- Dates
- 7 July 1965 to 9 July 1965
- Course
- Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport, England
- Edition
- 94th Open Championship
- Format
- 72 holes of stroke play
- Purse
- £10,000 · winner's share £1,750
- Trophy
- Claret Jug (replica to winner)
- Champion
- Peter Thomson · age 35 · Australia · born Brunswick (Melbourne), Australia
- Champion's title
- 5th Open title
- Winning score
- 74-68-72-71 = 285 · won by 2 strokes
- Runners-up
- Brian Huggett (287), Christy O'Connor Snr (287)
- 54-hole leader
- Peter Thomson (214)
- Final-day weather
- poor weather (type not stated): Thomson's 71 "in the bad weather of the final day" won his fifth Open.
- Low amateur
- Michael Burgess (disputed) (299)
Top 11 as recorded
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Thomson | 74 | 68 | 72 | 71 | 285 |
| T2 | Christy O'Connor Snr | 69 | 73 | 74 | 71 | 287 |
| T2 | Brian Huggett | 73 | 68 | 76 | 70 | 287 |
| 4 | Roberto De Vicenzo | 74 | 69 | 73 | 72 | 288 |
| T5 | Kel Nagle | 74 | 70 | 73 | 72 | 289 |
| T5 | Bernard Hunt | 74 | 74 | 70 | 71 | 289 |
| T5 | Tony Lema | 68 | 72 | 75 | 74 | 289 |
| T8 | Bruce Devlin | 71 | 69 | 75 | 75 | 290 |
| T8 | Sebastián Miguel | 72 | 73 | 72 | 73 | 290 |
| T10 | John Panton | 74 | 74 | 75 | 70 | 293 |
| T10 | Max Faulkner | 74 | 72 | 74 | 73 | 293 |
What happened at the 1965 Open Championship
Defending champion Tony Lema came within one and just missed a birdie putt on the 16th green to tie, then found a bunker with his approach to the 18th and took 6.
In the bad weather of the final day Thomson's 71 won his fifth Claret Jug, matching James Braid and J.H. Taylor.
No source names a single deciding hole; the R&A describes a three-shot swing over the last two holes as Thomson birdied both and Lema took 6 at the 18th.
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).