1965 U.S. Open

Tournament information
Dates	June 17–21, 1965
Location	Town and Country, Missouri
Course(s)	Bellerive Country Club
Organized by	USGA
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	70
Length	7,191 yards (6,575 m) [1]
Field	150 players, 51 after cut
Cut	150 (+10)
Prize fund	$123,890 [2]
Winner's share	$26,000
Champion
Gary Player
282 (+2), playoff
←  1964 1966 →

The 1965 U.S. Open was the 65th U.S. Open, held June 17–21 at Bellerive Country Club in Town and Country, Missouri, a suburb west of St. Louis. Gary Player of South Africa defeated Kel Nagle of Australia in an 18-hole playoff to win his only U.S. Open title. Player was the first foreign-born winner of the U.S. Open since 1927, and the win completed his career Grand Slam at age 29. ^[3] It was the fourth of his nine major titles. The 1965 U.S. Open was the first U.S. Open broadcast on color television.^{[ citation needed]}

The five-year-old course at Bellerive was the U.S. Open's longest to date at 7,191 yards (6,575 m), and had the potential to reach 7,500 yards (6,860 m). ^[4] The quality of the young course's turf varied, with burned out or diseased areas which the USGA did not allow relief from. ^[4] The field consisted of 136 professionals and 14 amateurs, with the top fifty and ties advancing after 36 holes. ^{[1] [5]} This was the first time that the U.S. Open was scheduled for four days, with the final round on Sunday. Previously the third and fourth rounds were both played on Saturday. ^[4] The U.S. Women's Open also changed to this format, held two weeks later in early July.

Course layout

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Yards	435	446	164	470	465	195	401	580	416	3,562	460	373	460	198	405	456	218	606	453	3,629	7,191
Par	4	4	3	4	4	3	4	5	4	35	4	4	4	3	4	4	3	5	4	35	70

Final round and playoff

In the final round on Sunday, Player owned a three-stroke lead over Nagle with just three holes to play. But while Player double-bogeyed the par-3 16th hole, Nagle birdied the 17th. As Player reached the 18th tee, he knew he needed a birdie to win outright, as Nagle had parred the final hole for 282 (+2). Player had a 28-foot (8.5 m) putt for birdie, but left it 4 inches (10 cm) short and tapped in for a 72-hole tie. ^{[3] [6]} In the 18-hole playoff on Monday afternoon, Player built a five-shot lead after eight holes and held on to win by three strokes, 71 to 74. He won the championship with fiberglass-shafted golf clubs. ^[7]

With his win, Player joined Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan as the only to win all four professional major championships, the career Grand Slam. Jack Nicklaus completed the feat himself the next year at the 1966 British Open. Player was also the first foreign-born winner of the U.S. Open in 38 years, since Scotland's Tommy Armour won in 1927.

Arnold Palmer missed the 36-hole cut by two strokes, the only time from 1962 to 1967 that he placed outside the top-5 at the U.S. Open. Defending champion Ken Venturi was hampered by numbed fingers ^{[4] [8]} and missed the cut by ten strokes. ^[9]

Purse donated

The winner's share was $25,000 and both playoff participants received a $1,000 bonus, taken from the gate receipts of the Monday gallery of 6,790. Player donated his winner's share to cancer research ($5,000) and junior golf ($20,000) in the United States, fulfilling an earlier pledge to thank the people of America; ^[10] his mother died of cancer when he was eight years old. ^[7] Player paid his caddy $2,000 with his playoff bonus and $1,000 from his pocket. ^[11]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, June 17, 1965

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Kel Nagle	68	−2
T2	Deane Beman (a)	69	−1
	Mason Rudolph
T4	Rex Baxter	70	E
	Lou Graham
	Gary Player
7	Gordon Jones	71	+1
T8	Miller Barber	72	+2
	Julius Boros
	Gay Brewer
	Bruce Devlin
	Raymond Floyd
	Ron Howell
	Steve Opperman
	Dudley Wysong

Source: ^[12]

Second round

Friday, June 18, 1965

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Gary Player	70-70=140	E
T2	Kel Nagle	68-73=141	+1
	Mason Rudolph	69-72=141
4	Deane Beman (a)	69-73=142	+2
5	Frank Beard	74-69=143	+3
T6	Raymond Floyd	72-72=144	+3
	Gene Littler	73-71=144
T8	Rex Baxter	70-75=145	+5
	Bruce Devlin	72-73=145
	Gordon Jones	71-74=145

Source: ^{[13] [14]}

Third round

Saturday, June 19, 1965

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Gary Player	70-70-71=211	+1
T2	Frank Beard	74-69-70=213	+3
	Kel Nagle	68-73-72=213
4	Mason Rudolph	69-72-73=214	+4
5	Al Geiberger	70-76-70=216	+6
T6	Julius Boros	72-75-70=217	+7
	Gay Brewer	72-74-71=217
	Bruce Devlin	72-73-72=217
	Gene Littler	73-71-73=217
	Dudley Wysong	72-75-70=217

Source: ^[9]

Final round

Sunday, June 20, 1965

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ( $)
T1	Gary Player	70-70-71-71=282	+2	Playoff
	Kel Nagle	68-73-72-69=282
3	Frank Beard	74-69-70-71=284	+4	9,000
T4	Julius Boros	72-75-70-70=287	+7	6,500
	Al Geiberger	70-76-70-71=287
T6	Bruce Devlin	72-73-72-71=288	+8	4,500
	Raymond Floyd	72-72-76-68=288
T8	Tony Lema	72-74-73-70=289	+9	2,500
	Gene Littler	73-71-73-72=289
	Dudley Wysong	72-75-70-72=289

Scorecard

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	4	3	4	4	3	4	5	4	4	4	4	3	4	4	3	5	4
Player	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	E	E	E	+1	+1	E	E	E	E	+2	+2	+2
Nagle	+3	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+2	+2	+1	+1	+1	+3	+3	+2	+2

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Source: ^[15]

Playoff

Monday, June 21, 1965

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ( $)
1	Gary Player	33-38=71	+1	26,000
2	Kel Nagle	38-36=74	+4	13,500

• Included in earnings is a playoff bonus of $1,000 each, from the playoff gate receipts. ^[11]

Scorecard

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	4	3	4	4	3	4	5	4	4	4	4	3	4	4	3	5	4
Player	E	−1	−2	−1	−1	−1	−1	−2	−2	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	E	+1
Nagle	+1	E	E	E	+2	+2	+3	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+4	+4	+4	+4	+4	+4

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Source: ^[7]

References

External links

• USGA Championship Database

38°39′36″N 90°28′59″W / 38.66°N 90.483°W / 38.66; -90.483