1905 Open Championship: James Braid wins at Old Course, St Andrews
James Braid won the 1905 Open Championship at Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland with 318, by 5 strokes over Rowland Jones and J.H. Taylor.
Updated October 23, 2026
See 1905 in The Open room, or every year on The Open winners list.
- Dates
- 7 June 1905 to 9 June 1905
- Course
- Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland
- Edition
- 45th Open Championship
- Format
- 72 holes of stroke play
- Field
- 148
- Made the cut
- 43 (cut at 172)
- Purse
- £125 · winner's share £50
- Trophy
- Claret Jug
- Champion
- James Braid · age 35 · Scotland · born Earlsferry, Scotland
- Champion's title
- 2nd Open title
- How he got in
- open entry (no qualifying)
- Winning score
- 81-78-78-81 = 318 · won by 5 strokes
- Runners-up
- Rowland Jones (323), J.H. Taylor (323)
- 54-hole leader
- James Braid (237)
Top 10 as recorded
| Pos. | Player | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Braid | 81 | 78 | 78 | 81 | 318 |
| T2 | Rowland Jones | 81 | 77 | 87 | 78 | 323 |
| T2 | J.H. Taylor | 80 | 85 | 78 | 80 | 323 |
| 4 | James Kinnell | 82 | 79 | 82 | 81 | 324 |
| T5 | Arnaud Massy | 81 | 80 | 82 | 82 | 325 |
| T5 | Ernest Gray | 82 | 81 | 84 | 78 | 325 |
| 7 | Robert Thomson | 81 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 327 |
| 8 | J. Sherlock | 81 | 84 | 80 | 83 | 328 |
| T9 | Tom Simpson | 82 | 88 | 78 | 81 | 329 |
| T9 | Harry Vardon | 80 | 82 | 84 | 83 | 329 |
What happened at the 1905 Open Championship
Braid went onto the railway line at the 15th and 16th in the final round and took 6 on each.
Players disliked the Old Course's new pot bunkers and called them "spittoons".
Braid took 6 at both the 15th and 16th in the final round after going onto the railway line, but still won by five.
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).