1889 Amateur Championship: Johnny Laidlay wins at St Andrews Links (Old Course)
Johnny Laidlay won the 1889 Amateur Championship at St Andrews Links (Old Course) in St Andrews, Fife, beating Leslie Balfour-Melville 2 & 1 in the final.
Updated 23 October 2026
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- Edition
- 5th
- Dates
- 7 May 1889 to 9 May 1889
- Course
- St Andrews Links (Old Course), St Andrews, Fife
- Format
- match play
- Champion
- Johnny Laidlay · age 28 · Scotland · Muirfield
- Champion's title
- 1st Amateur Championship title
- Runner-up
- Leslie Balfour-Melville · age 35 · Scotland
- Final
- 2 & 1 (18-hole final)
- Match-play field
- 40
- Losing semifinalists
- John Ball and W. S. Wilson
- Defending champion
- John Ball · lost in semifinals
- Entries
- 40
What happened at the 1889 Amateur Championship
Semi-final: Johnny Laidlay and John Ball finished all square; the 19th was halved and Ball, bunkered at the 20th, lost the hole and the match
Final: Laidlay took the lead at the 3rd hole and never lost it, beating Leslie Balfour 2 & 1
The draw
Every match is recorded through the quarterfinal; earlier rounds are partial (round of 16 (6 of 8 matches with full result)).
The final, 1889 Amateur Championship
| Winner | Beaten | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Laidlay | def. | Leslie Balfour-Melville | 2 & 1 |
Semifinals, 1889 Amateur Championship
| Winner | Beaten | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Laidlay | def. | John Ball | won on 20th hole |
| Leslie Balfour-Melville | def. | W. S. Wilson | 5 & 4 |
Quarterfinals, 1889 Amateur Championship
| Winner | Beaten | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Laidlay | def. | Allan Macfie | 2 & 1 |
| John Ball | def. | J. P. Henderson | 4 & 3 |
| W. S. Wilson | def. | Henry Lamb | 2 & 1 |
| Leslie Balfour-Melville | def. | W. Doleman | 2 & 1 |
Round of 16, 1889 Amateur Championship
| Winner | Beaten | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allan Macfie | def. | J. C. Baldwin | 6 & 5 |
| Johnny Laidlay | def. | Harold Hilton | 1 up |
| J. P. Henderson | def. | Thomas Gilroy | 2 & 1 |
| John Ball | def. | Charles Anderson | unknown |
| Henry Lamb | def. | David I. Lamb | unknown |
| W. S. Wilson | def. | Gregor MacGregor | 1 up |
| Leslie Balfour-Melville | def. | W. H. Burn | 5 & 3 |
| W. Doleman | def. | Archibald R. Paterson | 2 & 1 |
How this was built
Every value is shown as recorded in GNN's Amateur Championship data set (research collected through 20 October 2026). "unknown" means no source confirmed it; nothing is estimated. Where sources disagree, the R&A's own record is used.
Values found only on Wikipedia, kept and flagged: champion_nationality, runner_up_nationality.
Data: the-amateur.json.