1860 Open Championship

The 1860 Open Championship was a golf competition held at Prestwick Golf Club, in Ayrshire, Scotland. It is now regarded as the first Open Championship. Until his death in 1859, Allan Robertson was regarded as top golfer in the world. The Open Championship was created to determine his successor.[1] Eight golfers contested the event, with Willie Park, Sr. winning the championship by 2 shots from Tom Morris, Sr.

1860 Open Championship
Tournament information
Dates17 October 1860
LocationPrestwick, South Ayrshire, Scotland
Course(s)Prestwick Golf Club
Statistics
Field8 players
Champion
Willie Park, Sr.
174
Prestwick
Location in Scotland
James Ogilvie Fairlie, principal organizer of the inaugural 1860 Open Championship, c.1847
Willie Park, Sr. wearing the Challenge Belt

Prestwick Golf Club organised the event, "to be played for by professional golfers". Golf clubs in Scotland and England were invited to name and send up to three of their best players to compete. The contest was over three rounds of the twelve-hole links course. The prize for winning was the Challenge Belt; a player winning the belt three successive years would keep it. "Cawdies, i.e. Professional Players, not Keepers of Links" were eligible and had to produce a certificate of respectability from their club.[2] George Daniel Brown was the only Englishman to play in the event.[3]

James Ogilvie Fairlie was the principal organizer of this inaugural Open Championship. In a proposed competition for a "Challenge Belt", Fairlie sent out a series of letters to Blackheath, Perth, Edinburgh, Musselburgh and St. Andrews, inviting a player known as a "respectable caddie" to represent each of the clubs in a tournament to be held on 17 October 1860.[4]

The pairings were Tom Morris, Sr. (Prestwick) and Robert Andrew (Perth), Willie Park Sr. (Musselburgh) and Alexander Smith (Bruntsfield), William Steel (Bruntsfield) and Charlie Hunter (Prestwick St Nicholas), George Daniel Brown (Blackheath) and Andrew Strath (St Andrews).[5]

Course

HoleNameYards
1Back of Cardinal578
2Alps385
3Tunnel (Red)167
4Wall448
5Sea Hedrig440
6Tunnel (White)314
7Green Hollow144
8Station166
9Burn395
10Lunch House213
11Short132
12Home417
Yardage3,799

Final leaderboard

Source: [6]

PlacePlayerCountryScore
1Willie Park, Sr. Scotland55-59-60=174
2Tom Morris, Sr. Scotland58-59-59=176
3Andrew Strath Scotland180
4Robert Andrew Scotland191
5George Daniel Brown England192
6Charlie Hunter Scotland195
7Alexander Smith Scotland196
8William Steel Scotland232

See also

References

  1. "The Coming of The Open - History of The Open Golf Championship". Golf Today. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  2. "Challenge Belt". Fife Herald. 11 October 1861. Retrieved 21 December 2014 via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. "The story of the first Englishman to play in the Open Championship, told by David Malcolm and Peter Crabtree" (PDF). British Golf Collectors’ Society. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  4. Joy, David (June 2003). "Prestwick Golf Club". Links Magazine. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  5. "Prestwick Golf Club - The Challenge Belt". Fife Herald. 25 October 1861. Retrieved 21 December 2014 via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. Brenner, Morgan G. (2009). The Majors of Golf: Complete Results of the Open, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and the Masters, 1860-2008. 1. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3360-5.
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