1890 Open Championship: John Ball wins at Prestwick Golf Club
John Ball (an amateur) won the 1890 Open Championship at Prestwick Golf Club, Scotland with 164, by 3 strokes over Archie Simpson and Willie Fernie.
Updated October 23, 2026
See 1890 in The Open room, or every year on The Open winners list.
- Dates
- 11 September 1890
- Course
- Prestwick Golf Club, Scotland
- Edition
- 30th Open Championship
- Format
- 36 holes of stroke play
- Field
- 39
- Purse
- £29.50
- Trophy
- Claret Jug
- Champion
- John Ball · age 28 · England · amateur · born Hoylake, England
- Champion's title
- 1st Open title
- How he got in
- open entry (no qualifying)
- Winning score
- 82-82 = 164 · won by 3 strokes
- Runners-up
- Archie Simpson (167), Willie Fernie (167)
- Low amateur
- John Ball (winner) (164)
Top 10 as recorded
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Ball Jr (a) | 82 | 82 | 164 |
| T2 | Archie Simpson | 85 | 82 | 167 |
| T2 | Willie Fernie | 85 | 82 | 167 |
| T4 | Andrew Kirkaldy | 81 | 89 | 170 |
| T4 | Willie Park Jr | 90 | 80 | 170 |
| 6 | Horace Hutchinson (a) | 87 | 85 | 172 |
| T7 | David Grant | 86 | 87 | 173 |
| T7 | Hugh Kirkaldy | 82 | 91 | 173 |
| 9 | W. McEwan | 87 | 87 | 174 |
| 10 | David Brown | 85 | 90 | 175 |
What happened at the 1890 Open Championship
Ball became the first amateur and the first Englishman to win the Open.
Needing to play the last four holes in 20 to beat Fernie's 167, Ball took 18 (5-4-5-4).
Ball needed the last four holes in 20 and took 18, but no single hole is named.
How this was built
Every value is shown as recorded in GNN's The Open data. A value no source confirmed is left out; nothing is estimated. Where sources disagree, the organizer's own record is used.
Data: the-open.json (The Open room's data), with GNN's Open Championship addendum tables L (top ten by round), H (deciding hole), W (final-day weather).