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1861 Open Championship

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1861 Open Championship
Tournament information
Dates26 September 1861
LocationPrestwick, South Ayrshire, Scotland
Course(s)Prestwick Golf Club
Statistics
Field18 players
Champion
Scotland Tom Morris, Sr.
163
← 1860
1862 →
Tom Morris, Sr. winner of the Challenge Belt in 1861

The 1861 Open Championship was a golf competition held at Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland. It was the second Open Championship and the first to open to amateurs as well as professionals. Ten professionals and eight amateurs contested the event, with Tom Morris, Sr. winning the championship by 4 shots from Willie Park, Sr.

As in 1860 the contest was held over three rounds of the twelve-hole links course. There was no prize money, the winner receiving the Challenge Belt for the next year. Whereas the 1860 event was only open to professionals, from 1861 it was "open to all members of established golf clubs and professionals".[1]

Following the success of the first event there was a large entry of 18. The Dunn brothers travelled from London for the event while a number of gentlemen entered. The professionals played in five pairs.[2]

Park led by two at the start of the final round. However, at the 2nd hole Park attempted to "cross the Alps" in two but he landed in a hazard and lost three strokes, who later played the same hole more conservatively. Morris increased his lead to two at the 4th hole but by the 6th they were level. Morris picked up shots on Park at the 8th, 9th and 10th holes to go three ahead and further increased the lead to four when he holed the short 11th in two strokes. Park had finished on 167 but at the last Morris's tee shot landed in some long grass at the edge of a pool of water. Rather than take a penalty drop he elected to play the ball and kept his four shot lead.[2][3]

Final leaderboard

Source: [4]

Place Player Country Score
1 Tom Morris, Sr.  Scotland 54-56-53=163
2 Willie Park, Sr.  Scotland 54-54-59=167
3 Willie Dow  Scotland 59-58-54=171
4 Davie Park  Scotland 58-57-57=172
5 Robert Andrew  Scotland 58-61-56=175
6 Peter McEwan, Sr.  Scotland 56-60-62=178
7 Willie Dunn, Sr.  Scotland 61-59-60=180
8 James Ogilvie Fairlie (a)  Scotland 184
9 George Daniel Brown  England 60-65-60=185
10 Robert Chambers, Jr. (a)  Scotland 187

Individual round scores are only known for the professionals.

References

  1. ^ "Prestwick Golf Club". Fife Herald. 19 September 1861. Retrieved 21 December 2014 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ a b "The Prestwick Golf meet. - The Challenge Belt". Fife Herald. 3 October 1861. Retrieved 21 December 2014 – via British Newspaper Archive. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "The Open - 2nd Open - Prestwick 1861". Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  4. ^ 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. Vol. 1. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3360-5.