1894 Amateur Championship: John Ball wins at Royal Liverpool Golf Club
John Ball won the 1894 Amateur Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, Merseyside, beating Samuel Mure Fergusson 1 up in the final.
Updated 23 October 2026
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- Edition
- 10th
- Dates
- 25 April 1894 to 27 April 1894
- Course
- Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, Merseyside
- Format
- match play
- Champion
- John Ball · age 32 · England · Royal Liverpool
- Champion's title
- 4th Amateur Championship title
- Runner-up
- Samuel Mure Fergusson · Scotland
- Final
- 1 up (18-hole final)
- Match-play field
- 64
- Losing semifinalists
- Johnny Laidlay and Freddie Tait
- Defending champion
- Peter Anderson · lost in round of 32
- Entries
- 64
What happened at the 1894 Amateur Championship
Second round: Freddie Tait beat Horace Hutchinson at the 19th hole, then beat Harold Hilton 1 up in the quarter-finals
Final: John Ball beat Samuel Mure Fergusson by one hole for his fourth title
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, 1894 Amateur Championship
| Winner | Beaten | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Ball | def. | Samuel Mure Fergusson | 1 up |
Semifinals, 1894 Amateur Championship
| Winner | Beaten | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Ball | def. | Johnny Laidlay | 5 & 3 |
| Samuel Mure Fergusson | def. | Freddie Tait | 4 & 3 |
Quarterfinals, 1894 Amateur Championship
| Winner | Beaten | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Laidlay | def. | Allan Macfie | 4 & 3 |
| John Ball | def. | T. T. Gray | 6 & 5 |
| Freddie Tait | def. | Harold Hilton | 1 up |
| Samuel Mure Fergusson | def. | C. E. Dick | 3 & 2 |
Round of 16, 1894 Amateur Championship
| Winner | Beaten | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allan Macfie | def. | Charles Hutchings | 6 & 5 |
| Johnny Laidlay | def. | J. Hornby | 5 & 4 |
| John Ball | def. | J. Fairclough | 5 & 4 |
| T. T. Gray | def. | Leslie Balfour-Melville | unknown |
| Harold Hilton | def. | John Ball | unknown |
| Freddie Tait | def. | R. B. Sharp | 5 & 3 |
| Samuel Mure Fergusson | def. | J. P. Henderson | 1 up |
| C. E. Dick | def. | H. H. Harley | 5 & 3 |
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.