1956 Open Championship

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Short descriptionTemplate:Template other 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.

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. 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. 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.

Round summaries

First round

Wednesday, 4 July 1956

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

Second round

Thursday, 5 July 1956

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

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

Third round

Friday, 6 July 1956 - (morning)

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

Final round

Friday, 6 July 1956 - (afternoon)

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

Amateur: Carr (+22).

External links

• Royal Liverpool 1956 (Official site)