Hal Sutton

Hal Sutton, 22, of Shreveport, Louisiana, was four under par for 28 holes as he defeated Bob Lewis, Jr., of Warren, Ohio, 9 and 8, in the final match at the Country Club of North Carolina, in Pinehurst.

Using the format introduced a year earlier, 282 players competed at the site, playing 36 holes of stroke play over two days to determine the 64 competitors for match play. Two golf courses were used during stroke play-the Country Club of North Carolina and the No. 2 course of the Pinehurst Country Club. Fred Couples, of Seattle, Washington, was the medalist, at 139, with a round of 69 at the Pinehurst Country Club and 70 at the Country Club of North Carolina.

Sutton shot 145 and Lewis shot 146. Lewis was a former professional golfer who was reinstated two years previously. At 35, he was the oldest player to reach the semifinal round and the oldest to reach the final since the Amateur was restored to match play in 1973. For 109 holes of match play, Sutton was 13 under par. For 145 holes, including the stroke play rounds, he was 12 under par. Lewis was two over par for 108 holes of match play and two more over par for the 36 holes of stroke play.

In the final match, Sutton played the first nine in 35 strokes, one under par, and held a two hole lead. He won three more holes on the second nine, and at the end of 14 holes was 5 up. Lewis won his first hole of the match at the 15th with a par 4 as Sutton three-putted from 70 feet. They went to lunch with Sutton 5 up. After lunch, Lewis did not win another hole. Sutton went 6 up with a par 3 at the third, where Lewis hit his tee shot into the water, won the sixth with another par and then birdied both the eighth and ninth holes. The match ended when both players parred the 10th hole.

William C. Campbell, the 1964 Champion, made his 34th appearance in the Amateur championship, a record surpassed only by Charles Evans, Jr., who played in 50. The USGA accepted a record 4,008 entries, surpassing the previous record of 3,916 in 1979.