1892 British Open Winner and Scores
Winner: Harold Hilton, 305
Where it was played: Muirfield in Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland
Tournament dates: Sept. 22-23, 1892
Leader after first round: Horace Hutchinson, 74
Leader after second round: Horace Hutchinson, 152
Leader after third round: John Ball, 229
What Happened in the 1892 Open Championship
The 1892 British Open was the site of two significant firsts:- It was the first major golf tournament played over four rounds over and 18-hole course;
- and it was the first Open played at Muirfield.
Muirfield, still part of the Open rota today, was brand new in 1892, having opened only nine months previous to this championship. It was built by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, and Muirfield took the place of the Company's former home, the 9-hole Musselburgh Links, in the Open rota.
The winner was amateur Harold Hilton. This was the first of Hilton's two British Open victories (he also won the 1897 British Open). He remained an amateur throughout his golf career, also winning four British Amateur and one U.S. Amateur championships.
Hilton was the second amateur to win the Open. The first to do so — John Ball — was runner-up to Hilton by three strokes here (tied with Sandy Herd and Hugh Kirkaldy).
Another amateur, Horace Hutchinson, was the 36-hole leader at 152, seven strokes better than Hilton. But Hutchinson soared to scores of 86 and 80 in the final two rounds. Hilton, meanwhile, carded the best score of the tournament, a 72, in the third round to move into second place, one behind Ball.
And Hilton put together another fine score in the final round, a 74, to finish three clear of Ball, Herd and Kirkaldy.
1892 British Open Final Scores
| a-Harold Hilton | 78-81-72-74—305 |
| a-John Ball | 75-80-74-79—308 |
| Sandy Herd | 77-78-77-76—308 |
| Hugh Kirkaldy | 77-83-73-75—308 |
| James Kay | 82-78-74-78—312 |
| Ben Sayers | 80-76-81-75—312 |
| Willie Park Jr. | 78-77-80-80—315 |
| Willie Fernie | 79-83-76-78—316 |
| Archie Simpson | 81-81-76-79—317 |
| a-Horace Hutchinson | 74-78-86-80—318 |
| Jack White | 82-78-78-81—319 |
| Tom Vardon | 83-75-80-82—320 |
| a-Edward Blackwell | 81-82-82-76—321 |
| Andrew Kirkaldy | 84-82-80-75—321 |
| a-Samuel Mure Fergusson | 78-82-80-82—322 |
| David Anderson Jr. | 76-82-79-87—324 |
| a-Robert T. Boothby | 81-81-80-82—324 |
| Ben Campbell | 86-83-79-76—324 |
| a-F.A. Fairlie | 83-87-79-76—325 |
| William McEwan | 79-83-84-79—325 |
| W.D. More | 87-75-80-84—326 |
| a-Garden Smith | 84-82-79-81—326 |
| a-Freddie Tait | 81-83-84-78—326 |
| David Brown | 77-82-84-85—328 |
| George Douglas | 81-83-86-79—329 |
| Douglas McEwan | 84-84-82-79—329 |
| a-Ernly Blackwell | 79-81-84-86—330 |
| a-Leslie Balfour Melville | 83-87-80-81—331 |
| Jack Simpson | 84-78-82-87—331 |
| Charlie Crawford | 79-85-85-84—333 |
| David Grant | 85-82-84-83—334 |
| Albert Tingey | 84-83-81-86—334 |
| Willie Campbell | 87-84-84-80—335 |
| a-David Leitch | 85-88-79-84—336 |
| Walter Kirk | 87-82-84-84—337 |
| a-J.M. Williamson | 88-82-82-85—337 |
| Jack Ferguson | 86-86-83-83—338 |
| a-L.S. Anderson | 93-85-81-81—340 |
| a-Alexander Stuart | 87-84-84-85—340 |
| James Martin | 93-80-85-86—344 |
| a-J. McCulloch | 85-84-90-85—344 |
| Joseph Dalgleish | 88-88-81-88—345 |
| a-John LOW | 84-93-83-86—346 |
| a-David Anderson | 92-88-80-87—347 |
| a-E.M. Fitzjohn | 88-94-84-84—350 |
| David Clark | 91-93-88-87—359 |
| George Sayers | 89-94-87-89—359 |
| a-A.H. Molesworth | 91-89-87-93—360 |
| Tom Chisholm | 90-93-90-90—363 |
| Tom Morris Sr. | 91-90-91-92—364 |
| a-Ernest Lehmann | 100-86-91-90—367 |
| Fred Fitzjohn | 105-95-83-89—372 |
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1891 British Open - 1893 British Open
Sources:
(Book titles are affiliate links; commissions earned)
Brenner, Morgan. The Majors of Golf, Volume 2, 2009, McFarland and Company.
Liverpool Evening Express. "Victory of Mr. Harold Hilton, Remarkable Scoring," September 24, 1892.
TheOpen.com. "1892 / Muirfield," The R&A, https://www.theopen.com/previous-opens/32nd-open-muirfield-1892.
The R&A. Royal and Ancient Championship Records 1860-1980, Peter Ryde editor, 1981, Royal and Ancient Golf Club St. Andrews.
