1892 Open Championship: Harold Hilton wins at Muirfield
Harold Hilton (an amateur) won the 1892 Open Championship at Muirfield, Gullane, Scotland with 305, by 3 strokes over John Ball (a) and Sandy Herd and Hugh Kirkaldy.
Updated October 23, 2026
See 1892 in The Open room, or every year on The Open winners list.
- Dates
- 22 September 1892 to 23 September 1892
- Course
- Muirfield, Gullane, Scotland
- Edition
- 32nd Open Championship
- Format
- 72 holes of stroke play
- Field
- 60
- Purse
- £110
- Trophy
- Claret Jug
- Champion
- Harold Hilton · age 23 · England · amateur · born West Kirby, England
- Champion's title
- 1st Open title
- How he got in
- open entry (no qualifying)
- Winning score
- 78-81-72-74 = 305 · won by 3 strokes
- Runners-up
- John Ball (a) (308), Sandy Herd (308), Hugh Kirkaldy (308)
- 54-hole leader
- John Ball (a) (229) · Harold Hilton was 2 strokes back
- Low amateur
- Harold Hilton (winner) (305)
Top 10 as recorded
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harold Hilton (a) | 78 | 81 | 72 | 74 | 305 |
| T2 | Hugh Kirkaldy | 77 | 83 | 73 | 75 | 308 |
| T2 | John Ball Jr (a) | 75 | 80 | 74 | 79 | 308 |
| T2 | Sandy Herd | 77 | 78 | 77 | 76 | 308 |
| T5 | Ben Sayers | 80 | 76 | 81 | 75 | 312 |
| T5 | James Kay | 82 | 78 | 74 | 78 | 312 |
| 7 | Willie Park Jr | 78 | 77 | 80 | 80 | 315 |
| 8 | Willie Fernie | 79 | 83 | 76 | 78 | 316 |
| 9 | Archie Simpson | 81 | 81 | 76 | 79 | 317 |
| 10 | Horace Hutchinson (a) | 74 | 78 | 86 | 80 | 318 |
What happened at the 1892 Open Championship
This was the first Open played over 72 holes and the first held at Muirfield, which the Honourable Company had opened only nine months earlier.
Hilton was seven shots behind the halfway leader, amateur Horace Hutchinson, then shot a third-round 72, the best of the day, to get within two.
The Open notes Hilton "could afford a 6 at the final hole and still win by three", so no hole decided it.
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).