October 17, 1860: eight men, 36 holes, one belt — and the man who built the course lost
On 17 October 1860 eight professionals played 36 holes in one afternoon at Prestwick for a £25 belt and no prize money, and Willie Park Sr. beat Old Tom Morris, the greenkeeper who had laid out the course, by two strokes.
At noon on Wednesday 17 October 1860, eight men met outside the Red Lion Hotel in Prestwick, on the Ayrshire coast. 1
They walked to the first tee of a twelve-hole links and played three rounds of it, thirty-six holes, in a single afternoon. 1
The winner was paid nothing. The prize was a belt. 2
The championship is now 72 holes over four days in high summer, with a prize fund beyond what those eight men could picture. 1
The championship began because the best player had died
Allan Robertson of St Andrews made feathery balls, leather cases stuffed with feathers, and was the finest golfer of his time. He died in September 1859, aged 43. 13
Who had taken his place was in dispute. Some said Tom Morris, who kept the green at Prestwick. Plenty said Willie Park of Musselburgh. 1
Major James Ogilvie Fairlie of Coodham, who had helped found Prestwick in 1851, wrote to clubs across Scotland and England proposing a competition to settle it. 14
The Earl of Eglinton, Prestwick's first captain, suggested a belt be commissioned for the winner. 5
Eight men, drawn by letter
Prestwick asked each club to send up to three of its best professionals, and the invitation went out for "known & respectable Cadies". 14
Eight came. George Daniel Brown travelled up from Blackheath in London, the longest journey in the field. Tom Morris lived across the street. 1
The competition was folded into the club's autumn meeting, where the visitors could caddie for the members.
The prize was a belt with conditions attached
The Challenge Belt was red morocco leather, with a silver buckle and silver panels of golfing scenes. 5
The rules were written for a trophy that had to keep circulating. 5
The winner had to leave it with the club treasurer unless he lodged a guarantee that it would be on the table at the next competition. 5
Holding it for a year was the prize. Winning it three times in succession made it his own property. 15
One afternoon, with the sun as the clock
Play began at noon. Two rounds, then lunch back at the Red Lion, then a third round through the afternoon. 1
Sunset at Prestwick that day came at 17:16, and three rounds had to be finished by then. 1
The links had twelve holes and measured 3,799 yards. 4
The first was a 578-yard hole called Back of Cardinal, and three rounds came to about 11,400 yards. 4
The pairs went out with a marker each. Before the start the umpire, Sir Robert Hay, read the club's rules to the field. 1
The local man lost in his own sand
Morris was 39, Prestwick's Keeper of the Green, and the man who had laid out the course. He also struck the first shot of the championship. 18
They matched each other with 59 in the second round, and Park still led at lunch. 1 Morris then came home in 59 again, for 176. 2
Park arrived at the last green with a 30-foot putt and two putts to win; three would have meant a tie. He holed the 30-footer. 24
So it finished 174 to 176. Park of Musselburgh was the first Champion Golfer, and Morris was second on his own ground. 23
The Ayrshire Advertiser was in no doubt where he had lost it. 1
The oldest hands on the links had never seen Morris "come to grief so often", the paper wrote. 1
Bunker's Hill, the paper noted, was "an engagement which he has very seldom to fight". 1
The Open's own account is plainer. Morris was "finding too many of the bunkers that he created and tended by his own hands". 2
Six under fives
There was no par to measure against. Prestwick was reckoned in fives, so the target for 36 holes was 180. 1
Park's 174 was reported as six under fives. 1
Behind the top two the field was wide. Andrew Strath finished third on 180. William Steel of Bruntsfield was last on 232, fifty-eight strokes behind Park. 24
The belt's own rule cost the championship a year
Morris won the belt in 1861, the year amateurs were let in and the event was advertised as open to the whole world. 1
The field rose by half, to twelve. 1
Old Tom's son, Tom Morris Jr., then won it three years running, in 1868, 1869 and 1870, and the belt became his to keep. 35
That left the championship with no trophy to play for, and so there was no Open in 1871. 5
Prestwick, the Royal and Ancient and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers put up £30 between them for a new trophy, the Claret Jug. It was awarded from 1872. 35
The belt passed to the Royal and Ancient after Old Tom Morris died in 1908, and it is kept at St Andrews with the jug. 5
Prestwick staged the championship 24 times. The last of those, in 1925, was won by Jim Barnes for a first prize of £75. 3
Eight men turned up at the Red Lion in 1860 to settle an argument, and Prestwick's members put up £25 to make the answer official. 1
The man who lifts the Claret Jug each July is still called the Champion Golfer of the Year. 1
References
- 1
- 21860 — Prestwick, The Open Championship
theopen.com
- 3The Open Championship at Prestwick — Prestwick Golf Club
prestwickgc.co.uk
- 41860 Open Championship — Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
- 5Challenge Belt — Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
- 6Willie Park Senior wearing the Championship Belt — Wikimedia Commons
commons.wikimedia.org
- 7Willie Park Sr. — Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
- 8Old Tom Morris — Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
- 9Old Tom Morris 1860 — Wikimedia Commons
commons.wikimedia.org
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