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Year in Review

1888 in golf

Weeks

Two championships in our record: one men’s major and one amateur championship.

1888, drawn the way the papers pictured golf then: a wood engraving.

The year, week by week

Each dot is a championship at the week it finished. Click a dot for its front page, or a week to see it on the world.

This week

    Every championship of 1888 in our record, in full

    The majors

    1 Men’s majors

    1. Men's major

      The Open

      Old Course, St Andrews, St Andrews

      2 of 5 researched

      Winner

      Jack Burns

      171Total
      1 strokeMargin

      Runner-up: David Anderson Jr, Ben Sayers

      To par not yet researched.

      The golfer

      b. 1859-01-07, St Andrews, Scotland; Scotland; age 29 at the win (year page); 1st major (card's count)

      Jack Burns’s player card · Source

      Top 10

      Not yet researched

      What’s in the bag

      No bag on file yet

      From the papers

      No clipping yet

    0 Women’s majors

    No women’s major yet. The first in our record is the Women's Western Open, 1930.

    The amateurs

    1 Men’s amateur

    1. Men's amateur championship

      The Amateur

      Prestwick Golf Club, Prestwick

      2 of 5 researched

      Winner

      John Ball

      5 & 4 (18-hole final)Final

      Runner-up: Johnny Laidlay

      To par and margin not yet researched.

      The golfer

      b. 1861-12-24, Hoylake, England; England; age 26 at the win (year page)

      John Ball’s player card · Source

      Top 10

      Not yet researched

      What’s in the bag

      No bag on file yet

      From the papers

      No clipping yet

    0 Women’s amateur

    No women’s amateur in our record for 1888.

    Year in Review

    1888 in golf: the year in review

    Two championships in our record: one men’s major and one amateur championship.

    To be written The synopsis of 1888: 150 to 250 words on the season’s story, its turning points and why it mattered, written from sourced research.

    The men’s majors

    • The Open: Jack Burns, Old Course, St Andrews, St Andrews

    To be written How each was won: the leader after 54 holes, the decisive shot, the runner-up, the weather.

    The amateur championships

    • The Amateur: John Ball, Prestwick Golf Club, Prestwick

    To be written The amateur season: champions, finals, and who went on to turn professional.

    Around the tours

    2 tour events are laid out week by week for 1888.

    To be written Money lists, players of the year, rookies and the shape of each tour’s season, from the tours’ own records.

    Players of the year

    To be written Who defined 1888: their wins, their near misses, and what the year meant for their career.

    Firsts, records and farewells

    To be written First-time major winners, scoring records, youngest and oldest champions, last appearances, events played for the first or last time.

    The game in 1888

    To be written Equipment, rules and course changes, prize money, television and the business of golf that year.

    Questions about 1888 in golf

    Who won the 1888 Amateur?
    John Ball won the 1888 Amateur at Prestwick Golf Club, Prestwick.
    Who won the 1888 Open?
    Jack Burns won the 1888 Open at Old Course, St Andrews, St Andrews.
    How many majors were played in 1888?
    One in our record: one men’s and no women’s.

    Every count above is from Golf Network News’s record; the parts marked “To be written” are filled only from sourced research.

    How this page works

    Every championship here comes from Golf Network News's own record: the rooms for the majors, the women's majors, the amateur championships and the team cups. A part that says it is not yet researched is exactly that. We fill it from sourced material, never with a guess.

    The picture at the top is drawn in code for each year. It is printed the way golf was printed that year: wood engravings before 1900, newsprint halftones to 1945, hand-tinted plates to 1969, colour film to 1999, and digital light since. The names engraved in the numerals are that year's champions.

    Every view has its own address: the year, the tours, the event and a traced champion are kept in the link, so you can share exactly what you see.