1948 Open Championship

Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Short descriptionTemplate:Template other The 1948 Open Championship was the 77th Open Championship, held 30 June to 2 July at Muirfield in Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland. Henry Cotton, age 41, won his third and final Open title, five strokes ahead of runner-up and defending champion Fred Daly.

Qualifying took place on 28–29 June, Monday and Tuesday, with 18 holes at Muirfield and 18 holes at the number 1 course Gullane. The number of qualifiers was limited to a maximum of 100, and ties for 100th place would not qualify. Henry Cotton led on 138; the qualifying score was 152 and 97 players advanced. Cotton had led the qualification in 1935, the previous time the Open had been held at Muirfield.

Charlie Ward, Sam King, and Flory Van Donck shot 69 to share the first round lead. Cotton opened with a 71, then led by four strokes after a 66 in the second round, one off his own tournament record set in 1934. While scoring conditions in the first two rounds were ideal, with five other rounds of sub-70 in the second, the change in weather on the final day caused scores to soar. The maximum number of players making the cut after 36 holes was again set at 40, and ties for 40th place were not included. The cut was at 148 (+6) and 36 players advanced.

Over the final two rounds, the lowest round was 70. Cotton carded rounds of 75-72 to set a clubhouse lead of 284 that no one came close to matching. Fred Daly came closest with a 289, five shots behind.

Roberto De Vicenzo made his Open Championship debut and finished in third place. Over the next two years he followed with another third and a runner-up finish. He won the title nineteen years later, in 1967.

Round summaries

First round

Wednesday, 30 June 1948

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Template:Flagicon Sam King	69	−2
	Template:Flagicon Flory Van Donck
	Template:Flagicon Charlie Ward
T4	Template:Flagicon Roberto De Vicenzo	70	−1
	Template:Flagicon Frank Jowle
T6	Template:Flagicon Henry Cotton	71	E
	Template:Flagicon Reg Horne
	Template:Flagicon Norman Von Nida
T10	Template:Flagicon Fred Daly	72	+1
	Template:Flagicon Arthur Lacey
	Template:Flagicon Lawson Little
	Template:Flagicon Walter Lyle
	Template:Flagicon Norman Sutton

Source:

Second round

Thursday, 1 July 1948

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Template:Flagicon Henry Cotton	71-66=137	−5
T2	Template:Flagicon Sam King	69-72=141	−1
	Template:Flagicon Charlie Ward	69-72=141
T4	Template:Flagicon Arthur Lees	73-69=142	E
	Template:Flagicon Flory Van Donck	69-73=142
T6	Template:Flagicon Fred Daly	72-71=143	+1
	Template:Flagicon Roberto De Vicenzo	70-73=143
	Template:Flagicon Alf Padgham	73-70=143
	Template:Flagicon Norman Von Nida	71-72=143
T10	Template:Flagicon Dick Burton	74-70=144	+2
	Template:Flagicon Jack Hargreaves	76-68=144
	Template:Flagicon Dai Rees	73-71=144
	Template:Flagicon Reg Whitcombe	77-67=144

Source:

Third round

Friday, 2 July 1948 (morning)

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Template:Flagicon Henry Cotton	71-66-75=212	−1
1	Template:Flagicon Alf Padgham	73-70-71=214	+1
T3	Template:Flagicon Roberto De Vicenzo	70-73-72=215	+2
	Template:Flagicon Sam King	69-72-74=215
	Template:Flagicon Arthur Lees	73-69-73=215
	Template:Flagicon Flory Van Donck	69-73-73=215
T7	Template:Flagicon Fred Daly	72-71-73=216	+3
	Template:Flagicon Charlie Ward	69-72-75=216
	Template:Flagicon Alan Waters	75-71-70=216
10	Template:Flagicon Jack Hargreaves	76-68-73=217	+4

Source:

Final round

Friday, 2 July 1948 (afternoon)

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money (£)
1	Template:Flagicon Henry Cotton	71-66-75-72=284	E	150
2	Template:Flagicon Fred Daly	72-71-73-73=289	+5	100
T3	Template:Flagicon Roberto De Vicenzo	70-73-72-75=290	+6	41 ¼
	Template:Flagicon Jack Hargreaves	76-68-73-73=290
	Template:Flagicon Norman Von Nida	71-72-76-71=290
	Template:Flagicon Charlie Ward	69-72-75-74=290
T7	Template:Flagicon Johnny Bulla	74-72-73-72=291	+7	15
	Template:Flagicon Sam King	69-72-74-76=291
	Template:Flagicon Alf Padgham	73-70-71-77=291
	Template:Flagicon Flory Van Donck	69-73-73-76=291

Source:

External links

• Muirfield 1948 (Official site)