The 1948 Open Championship was the 77th Open Championship, held 30 June to 2 July at Muirfield in Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland. Henry Cotton, age 41, won his third and final Open title, five strokes ahead of runner-up and defending champion Fred Daly.

Qualifying took place on 28–29 June, Monday and Tuesday, with 18 holes at Muirfield and 18 holes at the number 1 course Gullane. The number of qualifiers was limited to a maximum of 100, and ties for 100th place would not qualify. Henry Cotton led on 138; the qualifying score was 152 and 97 players advanced. Cotton had led the qualification in 1935, the previous time the Open had been held at Muirfield.

Charlie Ward, Sam King, and Flory Van Donck shot 69 to share the first round lead. Cotton opened with a 71, then led by four strokes after a 66 in the second round, one off his own tournament record set in 1934. While scoring conditions in the first two rounds were ideal, with five other rounds of sub-70 in the second, the change in weather on the final day caused scores to soar. The maximum number of players making the cut after 36 holes was again set at 40, and ties for 40th place were not included. The cut was at 148 (+6) and 36 players advanced.

Over the final two rounds, the lowest round was 70. Cotton carded rounds of 75-72 to set a clubhouse lead of 284 that no one came close to matching. Fred Daly came closest with a 289, five shots behind.

Roberto De Vicenzo made his Open Championship debut and finished in third place. Over the next two years he followed with another third and a runner-up finish. He won the title nineteen years later, in 1967.

Wednesday, 30 June 1948

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Sam King	69	−2
	Flory Van Donck
	Charlie Ward
T4	Roberto De Vicenzo	70	−1
	Frank Jowle
T6	Henry Cotton	71	E
	Reg Horne
	Norman Von Nida
T10	Fred Daly	72	+1
	Arthur Lacey
	Lawson Little
	Walter Lyle
	Norman Sutton

Source:

Thursday, 1 July 1948

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Henry Cotton	71-66=137	−5
T2	Sam King	69-72=141	−1
	Charlie Ward	69-72=141
T4	Arthur Lees	73-69=142	E
	Flory Van Donck	69-73=142
T6	Fred Daly	72-71=143	+1
	Roberto De Vicenzo	70-73=143
	Alf Padgham	73-70=143
	Norman Von Nida	71-72=143
T10	Dick Burton	74-70=144	+2
	Jack Hargreaves	76-68=144
	Dai Rees	73-71=144
	Reg Whitcombe	77-67=144

Source:

Friday, 2 July 1948 (morning)

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Henry Cotton	71-66-75=212	−1
1	Alf Padgham	73-70-71=214	+1
T3	Roberto De Vicenzo	70-73-72=215	+2
	Sam King	69-72-74=215
	Arthur Lees	73-69-73=215
	Flory Van Donck	69-73-73=215
T7	Fred Daly	72-71-73=216	+3
	Charlie Ward	69-72-75=216
	Alan Waters	75-71-70=216
10	Jack Hargreaves	76-68-73=217	+4

Source:

Friday, 2 July 1948 (afternoon)

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money (£)
1	Henry Cotton	71-66-75-72=284	E	150
2	Fred Daly	72-71-73-73=289	+5	100
T3	Roberto De Vicenzo	70-73-72-75=290	+6	41 ¼
	Jack Hargreaves	76-68-73-73=290
	Norman Von Nida	71-72-76-71=290
	Charlie Ward	69-72-75-74=290
T7	Johnny Bulla	74-72-73-72=291	+7	15
	Sam King	69-72-74-76=291
	Alf Padgham	73-70-71-77=291
	Flory Van Donck	69-73-73-76=291

Source:

• Muirfield 1948 (Official site)

56°02′31″N 2°49′16″W / 56.042°N 2.821°W / 56.042; -2.821