1892 Open Championship

1892 Open Championship

Tournament information
Dates	22–23 September 1892
Location	Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland
Course(s)	Muirfield
Statistics
Field	60 players[1]
Cut	none
Prize fund	£110
Winner's share	£35
Champion
Harold Hilton (a)
305
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Muirfield

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Location in Scotland

The 1892 Open Championship was the 32nd Open Championship, held 22–23 September at Muirfield in Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland. Harold Hilton, an amateur, won the Championship by three strokes from another amateur John Ball and two professionals: Sandy Herd and Hugh Kirkaldy. This was the second win by an amateur following Ball's victory in 1890.

The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers had previously hosted the Open six times on the public nine-hole Musselburgh Links before building the private 18-hole course at Muirfield. The Muirfield course had only been completed nine months before the Championship. The 1892 Open was the first to be contested over 72 holes and the first to take place on two days. 36 holes were played each day. As in previous years the order of play was determined by a draw but it was decided that a different draw would be used on the two days.

After the announcement that the Open would move from Musselburgh to Muirfield, a number of local golfers protested about the change of venue. When the Honourable Company refused to change the venue back to Musselburgh, these members determined to run their own "open" competition on the same days as the official event. By offering much higher prize money, they hoped to induce the leading professionals to play in their "open". This, however, resulted in a large increase in the prize money for the official event from £30 in 1891 to over £100. Realising that the leading players would play in the official Open, the Musselburgh Open Tournament was moved to an earlier date (14 and 15 September) so that the professionals could compete in both events.^[2][3]