1938 Amateur Championship: Charlie Yates wins at Troon Golf Club (Old Course; now Royal Troon)

Charlie Yates won the 1938 Amateur Championship at Troon Golf Club (Old Course; now Royal Troon) in Troon, South Ayrshire, beating Cecil Ewing 3 & 2 in the final.

Updated 23 October 2026

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Edition: 49th
Dates: 23 May 1938 to 28 May 1938
Course: Troon Golf Club (Old Course; now Royal Troon), Troon, South Ayrshire
Format: match play
Champion: Charlie Yates · age 24 · United States
Champion's title: 1st Amateur Championship title
Runner-up: Cecil Ewing · Ireland
Final: 3 & 2 (36-hole final)
Losing semifinalists: Ross Somerville and Hector Thomson
Defending champion: Robert Sweeny Jr. · lost to T. Robb 6 & 4 (second or third round; cable of 25 May mixes the two rounds)

What happened at the 1938 Amateur Championship

Semi-final: Yates beat 1936 champion Hector Thomson at the 19th before an unruly gallery of 5,000; in the final Ewing was 1 up at lunch before Yates won 3 & 2

First round: in a near-gale the championship committee took the unprecedented step of shortening three holes during play, because players could not drive over the sandhills and balls were lost in the gorse

Final, Charlie Yates v Cecil Ewing, 3 & 2. Ewing was 1 up at lunch; Yates came back to win 3 & 2

The draw

Every match is recorded through the quarterfinal; earlier rounds are partial (round of 16 (0 of 8)).

The final, 1938 Amateur Championship

Winner		Beaten	Result
Charlie Yates	def.	Cecil Ewing	3 & 2

Semifinals, 1938 Amateur Championship

Winner		Beaten	Result
Charlie Yates	def.	Hector Thomson	won on 19th hole
Cecil Ewing	def.	Ross Somerville	2 up

Quarterfinals, 1938 Amateur Championship

Winner		Beaten	Result
Charlie Yates	def.	Cyril Tolley	3 & 2
Cecil Ewing	def.	J. B. Stevenson	1 up
Hector Thomson	def.	Leonard Crawley	won on 20th hole
Ross Somerville	def.	Harry Hattersley	2 up

Round of 32, 1938 Amateur Championship

Winner		Beaten	Result
Harry Hattersley	def.	Robert Neill	2 & 1
J. McGregor	def.	M. J. Ryan	2 & 1

Round of 64, 1938 Amateur Championship

Winner		Beaten	Result
Harry Hattersley	def.	G. B. Peters	4 & 2
M. J. Ryan	def.	J. C. Wilson	2 & 1
Jack Goodman	def.	Briscoe	6 & 5
J. N. Reynard	def.	T. McKay	1 up

Round of 128, 1938 Amateur Championship

Winner		Beaten	Result
Charlie Yates	def.	Johnny Fischer	won on 19th hole
Briscoe	def.	Marvin Ward	won on 20th hole
Jack Goodman	def.	Ray Billows	4 & 2
Harry Hattersley	def.	John Morrison	5 & 4
Ross Somerville	def.	Ogilvie	7 & 6
Francis Ouimet	def.	Tweddle	4 & 3

First round, 1938 Amateur Championship

Listed as the record names this round; it cannot be placed in the bracket (no match-play field size is on record).

Winner		Beaten	Result
Harry Hattersley	def.	Alec Hill	2 up
Robert Sweeny Jr.	def.	J. Horden	4 & 2
E. P. Kyle	def.	Len Nettlefold	5 & 4
Cyril Tolley	def.	Alexander Russell	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.

Data: the-amateur.json.