"Use your brain, not your endurance." -- Peter Thomson
Peter William Thomson (born 23 August 1929) is an Australian golfer. He is best remembered for his five wins in The Open Championship.
He was born in Melbourne. Thomson's Open Championship wins came in 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, and 1965. He was the only man to win the tournament for three consecutive years in the 20th century.
Thomson was a prolific tournament champion around the world, winning the national championships of ten countries, including the New Zealand Open nine times. He competed on the PGA Tour in 1953 and 1954 with relatively little success (finishing 44th and 25th on the Money List), and after that was an infrequent competitor. However in 1956, playing in just eight events, he won the rich Texas International, and achieved his best finish in one of the three majors staged in the United States (fourth at the U.S. Open), to finish ninth on the Money List.
In the era that Thomson won his first four Open Championships, it was true that very few of the leading professionals from the United States travelled to Britain to play in that event. At that time, the prize money in the Open was insufficient even for an American to cover expenses if he won. However, Thomson demonstrated with his win in 1965 that he could beat a field of the world's very best players, as that victory came against a field that included Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tony Lema, three of the top four American golfers from the 1964 Money List.
Thomson enjoyed a successful senior career. In 1985 he won nine times on the Senior PGA Tour in the United States, and finished top of the money list. His last tournament victory came at the 1988 British PGA Seniors Championship. He was president of the Australian PGA from 1962 to 1994 and a victorious non-playing captain of the international team in the 1998 Presidents Cup.
He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1988.
Thomson was a guest at the presentation ceremony of the 135th Open Championship, which was won by Tiger Woods. The event marked the 50th anniversary of Thomson's third Open victory.
Among golf's top players, Thomson has perhaps been the most active as a golf writer, having contributed to the Melbourne Age for some 50 years, since the early 1950s. He was for many years the club professional at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club, one of the world's top courses. Thomson has designed several golf courses in Australia.
"A light, tender, sensitive touch is worth a ton of brawn.""The difference between winning and losing is always a mental one.""You can think best when you're happiest."
1956 (2) Texas International Open, The Open Championship
1958 (1) The Open Championship
1965 (1) The Open Championship
Major championships are shown in bold. The Open Championship was not sanctioned by the PGA Tour in Thomson's era, but pre 1995 British Open wins were retrospectively classified as PGA Tour wins in 2002.
Australasia wins (34)
1947 Australian Foursomes Shield (with H.R. Payne)
1948 Victoria Amateur Championship
1950 New Zealand Open
1951 Australian Open, New Zealand Open
1952 Victorian PGA, Mobilco Tournament
1953 New Zealand Open, New Zealand PGA Championship, Victorian PGA
1953 Ampol Tournament
1955 New Zealand Open, Pelaco Tournament, Speedo Tournament
1956 Pelaco Tournament
1958 Victorian Open, Pelaco Tournament
1959 New Zealand Open, Pelaco Tournament, Cole 3,000 Tournament
1960 New Zealand Open, Wills Masters
1961 New Zealand Open, Adelaide Advertiser, New South Wales Open
1965 New Zealand Open
1967 New Zealand Caltex Tournament, Australian PGA Championship, Australian Open
1968 West End Open, Victorian Open
1971 New Zealand Open
1972 Australian Open
1973 Victorian Open
European wins (26)
1954 News of the World Match Play, The Open Championship
1955 The Open Championship
1956 The Open Championship
1957 Yorkshire Evening News Tournament
1958 Dunlop Tournament (United Kingdom), Daks Tournament (tie with Harold Henning), The Open Championship
1959 Italian Open, Spanish Open
1960 Yorkshire Evening News Tournament, Daks Tournament, Bowmaker Tournament, German Open
1961 News of the World Match Play, British Masters, Esso Golden Tournament (tied with Dave Thomas)
1962 Piccadilly Tournament, Martini International
1965 Daks Tournament, The Open Championship
1966 News of the World Match Play
1967 News of the World Match Play, Alcan International
1968 British Masters
1970 Martini International (tie with Douglas Sewell)
The Open Championship wins are repeated here. Only the last win was an official European Tour event as the tour formally started in 1972.
Other wins (8)
1954 Canada Cup (with Kel Nagle)
1959 Canada Cup (with Kel Nagle)
1960 Hong Kong Open
1964 Indian Open, Philippine Open
1965 Hong Kong Open
1966 Indian Open
1976 Indian Open
Senior PGA Tour wins (11)
1984 (2) World Seniors Invitational, General Foods PGA Seniors' Championship
1985 (9) The Vintage Invitational, American Golf Carta Blanca Johnny Mathis Classic, MONY Senior Tournament of Champions, The Champions Classic, Senior Players Reunion Pro-Am, MONY Syracuse Senior's Classic, du Maurier Champions, United Virginia Bank Seniors, Barnett Suntree Senior Classic
1 Defeated Dave Thomas in 36-hole playoff: Thomson (139), Thomas (143)
Results timeline
DNP = Did not playDQ = DisqualifiedCUT = missed the half-way cut"T" indicates a tie for a placeGreen background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.