1862 British Open Winner and Scores
Winner: Old Tom Morris, 163
Where it was played: Prestwick Golf Club, Ayrshire, Scotland
Tournament dates: Sept. 11, 1862
Leaders after first round: Old Tom Morris, 52
Leader after second round: Old Tom Morris, 107
What Happened at the 1862 Open Championship
Willie Park Sr. won the first Open Championship in 1860. Old Tom Morris won the second. And at the 1862 British Open, those two finished 1-2 — although Morris' victory over Park was by a whopping 13 shots. Morris thus staked his claim over Park as the best golfer alive at that time. (They eventually won four Opens each.)Morris' 13-stroke margin of victory remains, today, the tournament record for the British Open, making it surely the oldest record in golf still standing. Among all four professional majors of today, only Tiger Woods' 15-shot win at the 2000 U.S. Open tops Morris' 13-shot victory at the 1862 Open.
But it's perhaps a record less impressive than it first appears: There were only four professionals entered in the 1862 Open. Another two amateurs completed the 36 holes (three rounds of 12 holes each around Prestwick), while the results of another two amateurs who entered have been lost to history.
Still, Old Tom Morris won the championship and set a record that still stands today.
Morris' win spurred on the Morris-Park family golf duel. According to the R&A, "Park was so incensed at the margin of his defeat that later in the year he challenged Morris to an eight-round head-to-head encounter. It proved another triumph for Morris, who won by two holes over two rounds at Musselburgh, by five at Prestwick, by four at North Berwick and by six at St Andrews for a crushing 17-hole victory overall."
1862 British Open Final Scores
| Tom Morris Sr. | 52-55-56—163 |
| Willie Park Sr. | 59-59-58—176 |
| Charlie Hunter | 60-60-58—178 |
| William Dow | 60-58-63—181 |
| a-James Knight | 62-61-63—186 |
| a-J.F. Johnston | 64-69-75—208 |
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