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Antique Golf Clubs from Scotland
Open Championship
<< 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 >>

Year Venue


1873: St Andrews

 Player Score
1Tom Kidd179
2Jamie Anderson180
3Bob Kirk183
 Young Tom Morris183
5Davie Strath187
6Walter Gourlay188
7Old Tom Morris189
8Henry Lamb (a)192
9Willie Fernie194
  Bob Martin194

Although it is ‘golf’s oldest major’, the low prize money meant it was not a huge attraction to the professionals of the day. The Fife Herald reporting on the event has more to say about the weather and the large turn out of spectators, noting that ‘the list of competitors is remarkable chiefly for the absence of the names of professional players from a distance, the majority of the competitors being amateurs’. There were 26 entrants and only three were professionals from outwith St Andrews including Old Tom’s nephew, Jack, up from Hoylake,

Young Tom, of course, was the hot favourite. However, at the end of the first round, it was three other St Andrews men who tied for the lead on 91, Jamie Anderson, Tom Kidd and Bob Kirk. Tom Kidd shot 88 in the second round and finished one shot ahead of Anderson who took a 9 on the heather hole after being bunkered. For his win, Tom Kidd was awarded the princely sum of £11 and, as a St Andrews caddie, it was perhaps surprising that he went to Musselburgh the following year to defend his title as his wages (of 1s 6d per round) meant that expenses generally confined his tournament play to Fife.