| 1964 British Open | |
In 1962, Tony Lema joked to the media that he would serve champagne if he won that week's tournament. He did win, and from then on was known as "Champagne Tony" Lema. In 1966, flying in a small plane to an exhibition appearance, Lema was killed when the place crashed ... on a golf course.
Lema dominated this championship, opening a 7-stroke lead after three rounds on the strength of back-to-back 68s in the middle two rounds. He wound up beating runner-up Jack Nicklaus by five, and third-place Roberto De Vicenzo by six.
Arnold Palmer skipped the 1964 British Open despite being the two-time defending champion, having won the 1962 and 1963 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. While he eventually won the tournament three times, he also finished second seven times total over the course of his career.
1964 British Open Scores
Results from the 1964 British Open golf tournament played on The Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland:
| 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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More on the British Open
• Masters Winners
• U.S. Open Winners
• PGA Championship Winners
• British Open Records
• British Open Index on About.com
