1956 Open Championship

1956 Open Championship

Tournament information
Dates	4–6 July 1956
Location	Hoylake, England
Course(s)	Royal Liverpool Golf Club
Statistics
Par	71[1]
Length	6,960 yards (6,364 m)[2]
Field	96 players, 49 after cut[3]
Cut	153 (+11)
Prize fund	£3,750 $10,500
Winner's share	£1,000 $2,800
Champion
Peter Thomson
286 (+2)
← 1955 1957 →

Hoylake

class=notpageimage|

Location in England

The 1956 Open Championship was the 85th Open Championship, held 4–6 July at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England. Two-time defending champion Peter Thomson of Australia won his third consecutive Open, three strokes ahead of runner-up Flory Van Donck of Belgium. It was the third of five Open titles for the 26-year-old Thomson.^[1]

Qualifying took place on 2–3 July. Entries played 18 holes on the Championship course and 18 holes at Wallasey. With a record 360 entries it was decided that, for the first time, qualifying would be in groups of three rather than the usual two.^[4] The number of qualifiers was limited to a maximum of 100. Ties for 100th place would not qualify. The qualifying score was 152 and 96 players qualified. Gary Player and Peter Thomson led the qualifiers on 140.^[5] The maximum number of players making the cut after 36 holes was set at 50. Ties for 50th place did not make the cut. Prize money was unchanged with £1,000 for the winner out of a total purse of £3,750.

Wednesday, 4 July 1956

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Dennis Smalldon	68	−3
2	Enrique Bertolino	69	−2
T3	Al Balding	70	−1
	Eric Lester
	Dave Thomas
	Peter Thomson
T7	Carlos Celles	71	E
	Roberto De Vicenzo
	Ángel Miguel
	Gary Player
	Flory Van Donck

Thursday, 5 July 1956

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Peter Thomson	70-70=140	−2
T2	Enrique Bertolino	69-72=141	−1
	Roberto De Vicenzo	71-70=141
T4	Ángel Miguel	71-74=145	+3
	Flory Van Donck	71-74=145
6	Eric Lester	70-76=146	+4
T7	Gary Player	71-76=147	+5
	Dennis Smalldon	68-79=147
T9	Henry Cotton	72-76=148	+6
	Bernard Hunt	75-73=148
	Mike Souchak	74-74=148
	Frank Stranahan	72-76=148
	Dave Thomas	70-78=148
	Charlie Ward	73-75=148
	Harry Weetman	72-76=148

Amateurs: Carr (+8), Sharp (+12), Jones (+12), Tate (+14), Shepperson (+17), Thirlwell (+18), Fogarty (+21).

Friday, 6 July 1956 - (morning)

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Peter Thomson	70-70-72=212	−1
2	Flory Van Donck	71-74-70=215	+2
3	Enrique Bertolino	69-72-76=217	+4
4	Henry Cotton	72-76-71=219	+6
T5	Roberto De Vicenzo	71-70-79=220	+7
	Ángel Miguel	71-74-75=220
	Gary Player	71-76-73=220
	Frank Stranahan	72-76-72=220
9	Antonio Cerdá	72-81-68=221	+8
T10	John Panton	74-76-72=222	+9
	Mike Souchak	74-74-74=222

Friday, 6 July 1956 - (afternoon)

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money (£)
1	Peter Thomson	70-70-72-74=286	+2	1,000
2	Flory Van Donck	71-74-70-74=289	+5	500
3	Roberto De Vicenzo	71-70-79-70=290	+6	350
4	Gary Player	71-76-73-71=291	+7	200
5	John Panton	74-76-72-70=292	+8	150
T6	Enrique Bertolino	69-72-76-76=293	+9	87
	Henry Cotton	72-76-71-74=293
T8	Antonio Cerdá	72-81-68-73=294	+10	62
	Mike Souchak	74-74-74-72=294
T10	Christy O'Connor Snr	73-78-74-70=295	+11	40
	Harry Weetman	72-76-75-72=295

Amateur: Carr (+22).

• Royal Liverpool 1956 (Official site)

53°23′06″N 3°11′24″W / 53.385°N 3.190°W / 53.385; -3.190