1891 Open Championship: Hugh Kirkaldy wins at Old Course, St Andrews
Hugh Kirkaldy won the 1891 Open Championship at Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland with 166, by 2 strokes over Andrew Kirkaldy and Willie Fernie.
Updated October 23, 2026
See 1891 in The Open room, or every year on The Open winners list.
- Dates
- 6 October 1891
- Course
- Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland
- Edition
- 31st Open Championship
- Format
- 36 holes of stroke play
- Field
- 84
- Purse
- £28.50 · winner's share £10
- Trophy
- Claret Jug
- Champion
- Hugh Kirkaldy · age 23 · Scotland · born St Andrews, Scotland
- Champion's title
- 1st Open title
- How he got in
- open entry (no qualifying)
- Winning score
- 83-83 = 166 · won by 2 strokes
- Runners-up
- Andrew Kirkaldy (168), Willie Fernie (168)
- Final-day weather
- cold, windy and wet: "On a day of cold winds and driving rain"
- Low amateur
- Samuel Mure Fergusson (170)
Top 11 as recorded
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hugh Kirkaldy | 83 | 83 | 166 |
| T2 | Andrew Kirkaldy | 84 | 84 | 168 |
| T2 | Willie Fernie | 84 | 84 | 168 |
| 4 | Samuel Mure Fergusson (a) | 86 | 84 | 170 |
| 5 | W.D. More | 84 | 87 | 171 |
| 6 | Willie Park Jr | 88 | 85 | 173 |
| 7 | David Brown | 88 | 86 | 174 |
| T8 | Harold Hilton (a) | 89 | 86 | 175 |
| T8 | Willie Auchterlonie | 85 | 90 | 175 |
| T10 | Ben Sayers | 91 | 85 | 176 |
| T10 | Tom Vardon | 89 | 87 | 176 |
What happened at the 1891 Open Championship
Played in cold wind and driving rain, this was the last 36-hole Open, and the brothers Hugh and Andrew Kirkaldy finished first and joint second.
Hugh's 166 set the record for an Open at St Andrews, and one of his rounds had no 6s, a first at St Andrews.
No hole is named in the R&A narrative.
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).