Jack Fleck

Jack Fleck, 32, a municipal-course pro from Davenport, Iowa, playing his first full year on the tournament tour, made two birdies on the last four holes to tie Ben Hogan and then beat him in a playoff at the Lake Course of the Olympic Country Club, San Francisco. Hogan, 43, appeared to have won his fifth Open when he finished with 287,but he never was ahead in the playoff and trailed by three strokes after ten holes.

However, he was only one stroke behind as they went to the 18th tee, but there his foot slipped and he drove his ball into very deep rough far to the left. It took him three strokes to move it back to the fairway. Fleck scored 69, Hogan 72. Fleck's first four rounds were 76-69-75-67-287; there were only seven rounds below the par of 70 in the Championship, and he made three of them.

Exemptions from sectional qualifying were reduced; of the former Champions, only the last five individuals to win remained eligible to play at San Francisco, and of the leaders in the previous year only the first ten, other than former Champions, remained exempt.