1963 U.S. Open (golf)

1963 U.S. Open

Tournament information
Dates	June 20–23, 1963
Location	Brookline, Massachusetts
Course(s)	The Country Club
Organized by	USGA
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	71
Length	6,870 yards (6,282 m)[1]
Field	148 players, 51 after cut
Cut	152 (+10)
Prize fund	$88,550[2]
Winner's share	$17,500
Champion
Julius Boros
293 (+9), playoff
← 1962 1964 →

The 1963 U.S. Open was the 63rd U.S. Open, held June 20–23 at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb southwest of Boston. Julius Boros won his second U.S. Open title in an 18-hole Sunday playoff with Jacky Cupit and Arnold Palmer.^[3] The U.S. Open returned to The Country Club for the first time in fifty years to celebrate the golden anniversary of Francis Ouimet's playoff victory in 1913.^[4][5] Boros won eleven years earlier in 1952, and won a third major at age 48 at the PGA Championship in 1968.

At 43, Boros was the second-oldest winner in U.S. Open history, and only a month younger than Ted Ray when he won the 1920 Open. For Palmer, it was the second consecutive year he lost in a playoff at the Open.^[4]

High winds made scoring conditions extremely difficult throughout the entire week, especially on Saturday during the final two rounds, when gusts approached 50 mph (80 km/h).^[4] The winning score of 293 remains the highest in post-World War II U.S. Open history, while the 77.4 final-round scoring average set a record for the post-war era, later broken in 1972 at Pebble Beach. For the first time in U.S. Open history, no amateur made the cut.

Defending champion and Masters winner Jack Nicklaus missed the cut by a stroke; his next missed cut at the U.S. Open came 22 years later in 1985. He rebounded in the next two majors in 1963, missing the playoff at the Open Championship in England by a stroke for third place and won the PGA Championship in Dallas the following week.

This U.S. Open was played the week after Father's Day.

Composite Course

Hole	Name	Yards	Par		Hole	Name	Yards	Par
1	Polo Field	455	4		10	Stockton	435	4
2	Cottage	190	3		11	Primrose 1&2	445	4
3	Pond	440	4		12	Primrose 8	470	4
4	Hospital	340	4		13	Primrose 9	420	4
5	Newton	415	4		14	Quarry	530	5
6	Bakers	300	4		15	Liverpool	420	4
7	Plateau	200	3		16	Clyde	175	3
8	Corner	380	4		17	Elbow	365	4
9	Himalayas	505	5		18	Home	385	4
Out		3,225	35		In		3,645	36
					Total		6,870	71

Thursday, June 20, 1963

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Bob Gajda	69	−2
2	Jacky Cupit	70	−1
T3	Julius Boros	71	E
	Lionel Hebert
	Tony Lema
	Davis Love Jr.
T7	Walter Burkemo	72	+1
	Don January
	Paul Kelly
	Dean Refram

Source:^[6]

Friday, June 21, 1963

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Jacky Cupit	70-72=142	E
	Dow Finsterwald	73-69=142
	Arnold Palmer	73-69=142
T4	Walter Burkemo	72-71=143	+1
	Dean Refram	72-71=143
T6	Julius Boros	71-74=145	+3
	Tony Lema	71-74=145
	Davis Love Jr.	71-74=145
T9	Bruce Crampton	74-72=146	+4
	Don January	72-74=146
	Billy Maxwell	73-73=146

Source:^[7][8]

Saturday, June 22, 1963   (morning)

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Jacky Cupit	70-72-76=218	+5
T2	Walter Burkemo	72-71-76=219	+6
	Tony Lema	71-74-74=219
	Arnold Palmer	73-69-77=219
T5	Julius Boros	71-74-76=221	+8
	Bruce Crampton	74-72-75=221
	Dow Finsterwald	73-69-79=221
	Paul Harney	78-70-73=221
	Billy Maxwell	73-73-75=221
T10	Davis Love Jr.	71-74-78=223	+10
	Dan Sikes	77-73-73=223

Source:^[9][10]

Saturday, June 22, 1963   (afternoon)

Cupit owned the 54-hole lead by a stroke over Palmer, Tony Lema, and Walter Burkemo, with Boros in a group three behind. Boros recorded two birdies on his final three holes to post a 72 and 293 total. Cupit still held the lead until a double-bogey on the 17th dropped him into a tie with Boros and Palmer. He then missed a 12-foot (3.7 m) putt for birdie at the last that would have won the championship.^[11] Playing several groups in front of the final group of Jacky Cupit and Dow Finsterwald, Paul Harney came to the 18th hole at 9-over and went over the back of the green in two. Harney then chipped to some 11 feet below the hole and left his par putt one roll short dead center. Had that putt dropped, he would've been in the playoff the next day with Cupit, Palmer and Boros.

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T1	Julius Boros	71-74-76-72=293	+9	Playoff
	Jacky Cupit	70-72-76-75=293
	Arnold Palmer	73-69-77-74=293
4	Paul Harney	78-70-73-73=294	+10	5,000
T5	Bruce Crampton	74-72-75-74=295	+11	3,166
	Tony Lema	71-74-74-76=295
	Billy Maxwell	73-73-75-74=295
T8	Walter Burkemo	72-71-76-77=296	+12	1,875
	Gary Player	74-75-75-72=296
10	Dan Sikes	77-73-73-74=297	+13	1,550

Source:^[9]

Sunday, June 23, 1963

Boros took command early in the playoff and had a three-stroke lead at the turn. Palmer took himself out of contention with a triple-bogey at 11, while Cupit bogeyed the same hole. Boros cruised to the win from there, carding a 70 to Cupit's 73 and Palmer's 76.^[3]

First prize was $16,000, and each of the three playoff participants received a bonus of $1,500 from the playoff gate receipts.^[2]

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Julius Boros	70	−1	17,500
T2	Jacky Cupit	73	+2	8,500
	Arnold Palmer	76	+5

• Included in earnings is a playoff bonus of $1,500 each, from the playoff gate receipts.^[2]
• Previously, three-way playoffs determined a third-place finisher (last in 1950); non-winners now tied for second.

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

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Triple bogey+

Source:^[5][12]

• GolfCompendium.com – 1963 U.S. Open
• USGA Championship Database
• USOpen.com - 1963

42°18′54″N 71°08′53″W / 42.315°N 71.148°W / 42.315; -71.148