Palmer Plays in Fourth Playoff in 1963

Three-way playoff at Western Open was the fifth playoff of the 1963 PGA TOUR season

Aug 18, 2022

We’re headed into the second week of the FedEx Playoff Series with the BMW Championship at Wilmington Country Club in Wilmington, DE. This tournament shares DNA with what was the third longest running tour event, and a major tournament in its prime, the Western Open. Rich in history, we’re going to backspin to 1963 when Arnold Palmer was having a great year despite major tournament disappointments.

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Palmer Wins 18 Hole Playoff to Capture Western Open Title

Arnold Palmer with the Western Open Trophy

It’s late in the day, Saturday, July 28th, 1963, and 51-year-old Sam Snead, playing in the next to last group, has just finished the third round in the Western Open having shot a 68. Added to his first round 71 and second round 68, Snead’s total was 207.

In the final group on this windy Saturday was Arnold Palmer. The crowd for the day was announced at 15,700 and it’s a good bet that most of these folks were around the 18th green at the par 71 Beverly Country Club in Chicago, IL, to watch Arnie finish his round.

Since opening with a first round 73 in which he had 38 putts, he added a 67 in the second round needing only 30 putts. He now faced an 18-foot putt that would give him another 67 and put him into a tie with Snead. It would be his 29th putt of the round. To the delight of the crowd, Palmer stroked the putt into the hole.

A gusty 20 mile an hour wind provided a challenge for many of the players including Fred Hawkins, the leader after the first and second rounds. His third round 76 put him in with a total of 211, four strokes behind Palmer and Snead. Julius Boros was tied with Bobby Nichols, Harold Kneece and Charles Sifford at 213. Jack Nicklaus was another stroke back tied with Jacky Cupit and Jim Ferree. It was setting up for an exciting final round on Sunday.

Palmer’s hot and cold putter turned cold on him right from the get-go in Sunday’s final round as he three putted the first green. He was unable to rebound from this start as his round included only two birdies against four bogeys. Two of those bogeys came on the 69th and 70th holes.

Jack Nicklaus vaulted into contention behind a very hot putter. He dropped putts from 35, 15, 12, 8, and 4 feet for birdies while avoiding carding any bogeys. He posted a 65, the best score of the tournament, posted a four-round total of 280, and sat back to watch the finish.

Sam Snead’s putter turned cold as he shot a front nine 40 and added a 35 on the back for a 75 and a four-round total of 282. Julius Boros’ round featured three birdies and one bogey as he finished with a 67 and tied Nicklaus at 280.

Palmer faced a 20-foot birdie putt at the 72nd hole to win the tournament. He failed to drop the putt and his round of 73 gave him a four-round total of 280. The Western Open would be decided in a three-man 18-hole affair on Monday.

This was the fifth playoff on the PGA TOUR in 1963 with Palmer being involved in four of them—in an eight week stretch. He beat Paul Harney in a sudden death playoff at the Thunderbird Classic in June, lost to Julius Boros in the U.S. Open, also in June, and defeated Tommy Aaron in an 18-hole playoff at the Cleveland Open the first week of July. This playoff would match the top three money winners to this point in the 1963 season.

Now things got strange.

An estimated crowd of 10,200, most of them recruits into “Arnie’s Army,” showed up for the Monday playoff. Palmer pulled out to a two-stroke lead over both Boros and Nicklaus by the time the threesome completed the 14th hole. Boros then pulled even with Palmer with birdies on the 15th and 16th hole.

Now things got strange.

The 17th hole at Beverly Country Club is a par three that measures 205-yards with a tricky, rolling green. All three players selected a 2-iron for the shot. Boros, coming off a birdie at the 16th hole, hits first and sails his shot over the green. His ball winds up in the deep rough. Nicklaus hits a fine shot that ends up five feet from the cup. Palmer pulls his shot into a bunker guarding the green.

Palmer exploded from the bunker and watched as his ball rolled 35 feet past the hole. Boros then chunks his chip, barely got it onto the putting surface and now faced a 40-foot putt on the challenging green. Boros putts first and runs his putt three feet past the hole. Palmer then hits his putt four feet past the hole.

Nicklaus can now make up the two-stroke deficit that he started the hole with by making his five-foot birdie putt. His putt catches a piece of the cup but refuses to fall. In fact, it’s a power lip out and the ball rolls four feet away. Palmer makes his bogey putt and then Nicklaus steps up and misses his par putt. Boros then misses his putt resulting in a double bogey five.

“Arnie, you can thank all of us, can’t you?”

Both Palmer and Boros hit the green in regulation at the par five 18th hole. Palmer missed his 12-footer and taps in for par. Boros faced a seven-foot putt that broke sharply to continue the playoff. He missed the putt and Palmer was the winner of the $11,000 first-place prize while Boros and Nicklaus won $4,450 each. The Western Open was the sixth title that Palmer won in 1963 and his total money winnings were at $96,955.

“From where I went out of that trap on the 17th,” Palmer said after his round, “that bogey looked awfully good. I was trying to make my four and that’s all. I thought Jack would make his two, or a three at worst, and would be right back in it.”

“I shouldn’t have missed it,” Nicklaus said.

“Arnie, you can thank all of us, can’t you?” quipped Boros.

“It looked like nobody wanted to win it,” Palmer admitted.

But with a putter that ran alternately hot and cold, Palmer was able to add the Western Open to his fine 1963 record that saw him top the money leading list with a total of $128,230 becoming the first player to crack the $100,000 barrier on the PGA TOUR. Boros won the Player of the Year award.

Watch the last hole of the 1963 Western Open Playoff HERE.

Arnold Palmer (l) and Julius Boros (r) at the 1963 World Series of Golf (photo: Getty Images)

The Western Open has a rich history. See this week’s Bonus Story for more.

Be sure to checkout The Best of 1963, our playlist this week. Listen HERE .

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Tour Backspin Quiz | Rank The Tournament Purse

Rank the purses of these 1963 PGA TOUR events from smallest to largest.

Thunderbird Classic

Western Open

Whitemarsh Open

Bing Crosby National Pro-Am

Answer below

Bonus Story

The Western Open was founded in 1899 preceding the start of the PGA TOUR and for many years was considered a major championship. By the time of the playing of the last edition of the tournament in 2007, it was the third oldest PGA TOUR event behind the Open Championship and the U.S. Open.

The tournament was put on by the Western Golf Association, a rival to the United States Golf Association, especially in the Midwest and Western states. The list of champions is a veritable who’s who of the best golfers from each era.

In 1975, lightning struck Lee Trevino, Bobby Nichols, Jerry Heard, Jim Ahern and Tony Jacklin. We’ve written about that incident, and you can read it HERE.

In 2007 the Western Open was renamed to the BMW Championship and became part of the four event FedEx Cup Playoff Series and the Western Golf Association continues to run the event.