Since it was established in 1860, the Open Championship has been almost entirely dominated by professional victors.
Only three amateur golfers have managed to upset the professional circuit and emerge victorious, for a total of six victories, although the feat has not been repeated for more than 90 years.
The most recent non-professional to take the Open crown was Bobby Jones, a three-time Open champion who last won in 1930. As the sport continued to thrive in the U.S. and Europe, professional golf boomed and produced a long, historic line of champion golfers.
The professional circuit reached every corner of the globe, delivering England’s Henry Cotton, South Africa’s Bobby Locke and Gary Player, Australia’s Peter Thomson, Americans Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, and Spain’s Seve Ballesteros, each of whom won a minimum of three Opens across their careers.
However, in the first 70 years of the championship, three amateurs showed it was possible to clinch the Open crown, starting with John Ball Jr. in 1890.
Winning the Open was an undoubted highlight of Ball’s illustrious career, alongside the eight Amateur Championships he accrued from 1888 to 1912.
Ball, who died at age 78 in 1940, was inducted posthumously into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1977 for becoming the first amateur and Englishman to win the championship, and a blue plaque was fitted at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club in 2018 to commemorate his achievements.
During his youth, Ball frequently visited the Merseyside club to play golf and practice, as his father owned the Royal Hotel nearby in Hoylake.
Thanks to his regular attendance at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Ball made a fast start to his amateur career, finishing fifth in the Open when he was only 16 years old.
When he won the Open in 1890, Ball shrugged off stiff competition from “champion golfers” Willie Fernie and Willie Park Jr. to finish with a total of 164 and clinch the Claret Jug by three strokes.
Read about the other amateurs to have been crowned “champion golfer of the year” HERE.
The R&A