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1956 / Royal Liverpool
With his victory at Royal Liverpool in 1956, Peter Thomson became the first player to win three successive titles since The Open was extended to 72 holes.
The last player to win The Open three times in a row was Bob Ferguson in 1880-82, while the feat was also achieved by Jamie Anderson (1877-79).
Young Tom Morris won four in a row between 1868 and 1872, there being no Open in 1871.
Thomson had won his first title by one stroke, his second by two and now his third by three from Belgium’s Flory van Donck.
In a truly international field, Argentina’s Roberto de Vicenzo was third and South Africa’s Gary Player was fourth on his debut in The Open.
John Panton was the leading home player in fifth place, while 49-year-old three-time Champion Golfer Henry Cotton tied for sixth place.
Poor weather made scoring tricky in the early stages but Dennis Smalldon led with an opening 68 only to slump to a 79 the next morning when the conditions were at their worst.
Player and Cotton both had 76s and van Donck a 74 but Thomson took advantage of being out in better weather in the afternoon to record a second successive 70.
He was one ahead of de Vicenzo, who put himself out of contention with a 79 in the third round, when Thomson’s 72 extended his lead to three.
Both Thomson, after dropping shots early on but characteristically steadying himself, and van Donck had 74s on the final afternoon to give the 26-year-old Australian victory with a total of 286.
De Vicenzo rallied with a 70 but could not quite catch van Donck, who had first played in The Open in 1938 and was to be a runner-up again on his last appearance in 1959.
Name
Finish
R1
R2
R3
R4
Total
Par
John PANTON
5
74
76
72
70
292
-
Enrique BERTOLINO
6
69
72
76
76
293
-
Mike SOUCHAK
8
74
74
74
72
294
-
Antonio CERDA
8
72
81
68
73
294
-
Harry WEETMAN
10
72
76
75
72
295
-
Christy O'CONNOR SR
10
73
78
74
70
295
-
Dai REES
13
75
74
75
73
297
-
Bruce CRAMPTON
13
76
77
72
72
297
-
Angel MIGUEL
13
71
74
75
77
297
-
John JACOBS
16
73
77
76
72
298
-
Jack HARGREAVES
17
72
80
75
73
300
-
Dave THOMAS
17
70
78
77
75
300
-
Al BALDING
17
70
81
76
73
300
-
Charlie WARD
17
73
75
78
74
300
-
Ricardo ROSSI
17
75
77
72
76
300
-
Gerry DE WIT
22
76
73
74
78
301
-
Adina Test
22
70
76
77
78
301
-
Ken BOUSFIELD
22
73
77
76
75
301
-
Jimmy ADAMS
25
75
76
76
75
302
-
Laurie AYTON JR
25
74
78
78
72
302
-
Eric MOORE
25
75
75
78
74
302
-
Syd SCOTT
28
78
74
74
77
303
-
Ken ADWICK
28
77
76
74
76
303
-
D.F. SMALLDON
28
68
79
78
78
303
-
Bernard HUNT
31
75
73
81
75
304
-
Alfonso ANGELINI
31
73
80
76
75
304
-
Ching-Po CHEN
33
78
74
77
76
305
-
Alberto SALAS
33
79
72
78
76
305
-
Mario GONZALES
33
72
81
75
77
305
-
Michio ISHII
36
74
77
77
78
306
-
Jimmy MARTIN
36
74
79
78
75
306
-
Joe CARR
36
73
77
79
77
306
-
Christy GREENE
36
76
75
79
76
306
-
Carlos CELLES
40
71
82
78
76
307
-
Sebastian MIGUEL
40
72
78
84
73
307
-
Bill SHANKLAND
40
72
78
79
78
307
-
Harry BRADSHAW
43
76
76
81
75
308
-
T.H.T. FAIRBAIRN
43
80
73
81
74
308
-
Frank MILLER
43
72
78
78
80
308
-
Trevor WILKES
46
74
78
85
75
312
-
Jack WILKSHIRE
47
77
74
85
77
313
-
Martin POSE
Wd
76
75
85
-
-
-
J.W. JONES
M/C
76
78
-
-
-
M/C
Peter GILL
M/C
78
76
-
-
-
M/C
Ralph MOFFITT
M/C
75
79
-
-
-
M/C
W.R. SHARP
M/C
75
79
-
-
-
M/C
Norman SUTTON
M/C
73
81
-
-
-
M/C
William BRANCH
M/C
75
79
-
-
-
M/C
Eric GREEN
M/C
74
81
-
-
-
M/C
J.D. PRITCHETT
M/C
80
75
-
-
-
M/C
Francoise SAUBABER
M/C
75
80
-
-
-
M/C
Stan LEONARD
M/C
72
83
-
-
-
M/C
T. MCNAUGHTON
M/C
75
80
-
-
-
M/C
Peter ALLISS
M/C
78
77
-
-
-
M/C
Aldo CASERA
M/C
73
83
-
-
-
M/C
J.K. TATE
M/C
74
82
-
-
-
M/C
H. LEES
M/C
81
75
-
-
-
M/C
Cherif El SAYED
M/C
76
80
-
-
-
M/C
Ross WHITEHEAD
M/C
75
82
-
-
-
M/C
John BURTON
M/C
75
82
-
-
-
M/C
Frank PHILLIPS
M/C
75
82
-
-
-
M/C
Tom HALIBURTON
M/C
78
79
-
-
-
M/C
George HOWARD
M/C
79
79
-
-
-
M/C
T. GARDNER
M/C
80
78
-
-
-
M/C
Celestino TUGOT
M/C
74
84
-
-
-
M/C
Horace LESTER
M/C
74
85
-
-
-
M/C
Eddie LARGE
M/C
80
79
-
-
-
M/C
Jimmy HITCHCOCK
M/C
75
84
-
-
-
M/C
Alec SHEPPERSON
M/C
82
77
-
-
-
M/C
Alan THIRLWELL
M/C
77
83
-
-
-
M/C
J. WADE
M/C
79
81
-
-
-
M/C
Ray HAYDEN
M/C
77
83
-
-
-
M/C
Roger COTTON
M/C
77
83
-
-
-
M/C
Neil COLES
M/C
78
82
-
-
-
M/C
Peter BUTLER
M/C
80
81
-
-
-
M/C
Hector THOMSON
M/C
77
84
-
-
-
M/C
Robert JARMAN
M/C
85
77
-
-
-
M/C
Yoshiro HAYASHI
M/C
81
82
-
-
-
M/C
Pete BURKE
M/C
78
85
-
-
-
M/C
J.T.S. BROCKLEY
M/C
79
84
-
-
-
M/C
Noel FOGARTY
M/C
78
85
-
-
-
M/C
Eddie WHITCOMBE
M/C
79
84
-
-
-
M/C
Ray WILKINSON
M/C
82
82
-
-
-
M/C
Fred BULLOCK
M/C
87
77
-
-
-
M/C
Harry MCILREE
M/C
82
82
-
-
-
M/C
Thomas SPENCE
M/C
81
85
-
-
-
M/C