Irish Amateur Open Championship

The Golfing Union of Ireland was founded in late 1891 and organised their first championship meeting at Portrush in 1892, which included an open amateur championship. The championship was held from 7 to 9 September. There were 32 entries, with two 18-hole match-play rounds on each of the first two days and an 18-hole final on the third day.[1] Two Scottish golfers contested the final, with Alexander Stuart beating John Andrew by one hole.[2]

The 1893 championship was held from 13 to 15 September. There were 35 entries which meant that three preliminary matches were required.[3] The final was extended to 36 holes. Considerable interest was added by the entry of John Ball, a three-time winner of the Amateur Championship and the 1890 Open champion. He went on to win the event, winning the final 8&7.[4] Ball reached the final again in 1894 at Royal Dublin, this time winning the final 9&7, adding the title to the Amateur Championship he had won earlier in the year.[5] On six occasions between 1894 and 1901, the Irish Championship Meeting included a professional tournament as well as the Amateur Championship. The 1895 championship at Portrush attracted 64 entries and the event was expanded to four days. Ball played again but lost at the last-32 stage to Ranald Gilroy, a young Scottish golfer.[6] Gilroy lost in the semi-final to William B. Taylor who went on the win the final 13&11.[7] Taylor retained the title in 1896, again winning the final by a large margin, this time 9&8.[8]

Harold Hilton made his first appearance in 1897 at Royal Dublin and won the title.[9] William B Taylor won the third time in 1898, although only beating Richard Dallmeyer at the 37th hole. All his three successes came in the absence of John Ball and Hilton.[10] Ball and Hilton both played in 1899 at Portmarnock. Hilton was surprisingly beaten in the semi-final by John Williamson, losing at the final hole.[11] Ball beat Williamson 12&11 in a one-sided final.[12] Ball was unable to defend his title in 1900 as he was serving in the Second Boer War. Hilton won the title, beating Sidney Fry 11&9 in the final.[13] Hilton retained the title in 1901 and again in 1902, his fourth win.[14][15] Hilton played again at Portmarnock in 1903 but lost in the quarter-finals to local player Henry Boyd. Boyd completed the first 8 holes in 30 strokes to be 5 holes up and eventually won 3&2.[16] Boyd became the first Irish finalist but lost a close match to George Wilkie by one hole.[17] The 1904 final was contested between James Worthington and James Mitchell. Mitchell led by 3 holes after the morning round but Worthington won 9 of the 14 holes in the afternoon to win 6&4.[18]

The 1905 meeting was moved to early August to try to attract more of the leading British golfers. However it failed to do so and Henry Boyd and James Mitchell, the losing finalists in 1903 and 1904 met in the 1905 final. Boyd won the match 3&2 and became the first Irish winner.[19] Herbert Barker won in 1906, beating the 1904 champion, James Worthington, in an all-English final.[20] Two Scots won in 1907 and 1908, Douglas Brown followed by James Mitchell, the 1904 and 1905 runner-up.[21][22] Lionel Munn became the second Irish winner in 1909, beating the Scot, Robert Garson, in the final. Munn led by 5 holes after the morning round and was still 4 up with 9 holes to play. The match, however, went to the final hole, Munn winning by two holes.[23] Munn retained the title in 1910, beating Gordon Lockhart in the final. Munn led by 8 holes after the morning round and won 9&7.[24] Munn won the third successive time in 1911, beating Michael Scott in the final. Scott was recently returned from Australia where he had enjoyed considerable success. Munn led by one hole after the morning round but dominated in the afternoon, winning 7&6.[25] There was an all-Scottish final in 1912, with Gordon Lockhart winning.[26] Charles Palmer won in 1913, beating Lou Phillips, an ex-Welsh rugby union international, in the final.[27]

The championship resumed in 1919 and was won by the English golfer Carl Bretherton who beat Tommy Armour in the final at Portrush.[28] Political troubles in Ireland saw a reduction in the number of leading non-Irish amateurs competing and the 1920 event produced the first all-Irish final with Noel Martin winning.[29] Martin won again in 1923 and with Charles Hezlet winning in 1926 and 1929 and Wilson Smyth, Alfred Lowe, Edwin Spiller and Roy McConnell also winning, the 1920s produced eight Irish winners. the two non-Irish winners were Tony Torrance, who won in 1925 and Seymour Noon who won in 1928.[30][31] The early 1930s produced a series of non-Irish winners. William Sutton won an all-English final in 1930 and there were five successive Scottish winners from 1931 to 1935.[32] Eric McRuvie won in 1931 with Jack McLean winning in 1932 and 1933 and Hector Thomson in 1934 and 1935.[33][34][35] The 1936 event clashed with the Walker Cup in which McLean and Thomson were playing and the championship produced an all-Irish final won by Joe Brown.[36] There were further Irish winners in 1937 and 1938 with wins by Johnnie Fitzsimmons and Jimmy Bruen.[37][38] The 1939 event was due to start at Portmarnock on 4 September but was cancelled following the start of World War II.

The event resumed in 1946. A Scot, Alex Kyle, reached the final in 1946 but otherwise all finals from 1946 to 1957 were contested by Irish players.[39] Joe Carr won four times and was in three other finals. Cecil Ewing won twice in 1948 and 1951, while Norman Drew won in 1952 and 1953.[40][41] In an attempt to attract more overseas players, the championship became a 72-hole stroke-play event in 1958. Planned for three days in late-August it was extended to four days by bad weather, and was won by Tom Craddock.[42] Johnny Duncan won in 1959, five strokes ahead of Archibald Gordon.[43] In late June 1960, Portmarnock hosted the Canada Cup. The Irish close championship was moved to the late August date and the amateur open was cancelled. Later in 1960 the GUI decided to discontinue the event, despite protests from the Leinster delegates.

The event was revived at Fota Island in 1995 and was won by Pádraig Harrington. Louis Oosthuizen won in 2002 while Rory McIlroy lost in a playoff in 2006.

Year	Champion	Score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up	Venue	Ref
2022	Colm Campbell	289	Playoff	Matthew McClean	The Island
2021	Peter O'Keeffe	217	Playoff	Nicola Gerhardsen	European Club
2020	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland					[44]
2019	James Newton	275	5 strokes	Conor Purcell	County Sligo
2018	Robin Dawson	282	4 strokes	Alex Gleeson John Gough	Royal County Down
2017	Peter O'Keeffe	286	3 strokes	Chris Maclean Tom Sloman	County Down
2016	Colm Campbell	272	1 stroke	Jack Hume	Royal Dublin
2015	Gavin Moynihan	284	3 strokes	Cormac Sharvin	Royal Dublin
2014	Jamie Savage	288	2 strokes	Tom Gandy Gary McDermott Cormac Sharvin Robbie van West	Royal Dublin
2013	Robbie Cannon	295	Playoff	Gavin Moynihan Graeme Robertson	Royal Dublin
2012	Gavin Moynihan	295	1 stroke	Robin Kind	Royal Dublin
2011	Rhys Pugh	294	Playoff	Gordon Stevenson	Royal Dublin
2010	Alan Dunbar	292	1 stroke	Kris Nicol	Royal Dublin
2009	Gavin Dear	289	2 strokes	Wallace Booth	Royal Dublin
2008	Pedro Figueiredo	278	7 strokes	Conor Doran Billy Hemstock Keir McNicoll	Royal Dublin
2007	Lloyd Saltman	291	2 strokes	Richard Kilpatrick	Royal Dublin
2006	Antti Ahokas	291	Playoff	Rory McIlroy	Portmarnock
2005	Richie Ramsay	283	2 strokes	Darren Crowe	Carton House (O’Meara course)
2004	Craig Smith	289	1 stroke	Sean McTernan	Carton House (Montgomerie course)
2003	Noel Fox	282	2 strokes	Stuart Manley	Royal Dublin
2002	Louis Oosthuizen	283	1 stroke	Paul Bradshaw	Royal Dublin
2001	Richard McEvoy	277	Playoff	Michael Hoey	Royal Dublin
2000	Noel Fox	284	3 strokes	Ken Kearney Michael McDermott	Royal Dublin
1999	Gary Cullen	282	1 stroke	Jody Fanagan	Royal Dublin
1998	Michael Hoey	286	2 strokes	Gary Cullen	Royal Dublin
1997	Keith Nolan	279	6 strokes	Richie Coughlan Noel Fox	Fota Island
1996	Keith Nolan	286	2 strokes	Peter Lawrie	Fota Island
1995	Pádraig Harrington	283	4 strokes	Garth McGimpsey	Fota Island
1960–94: Not played
1959	Johnny Duncan	313	5 strokes	Archibald Gordon	Royal County Down	[43]
1958	Tom Craddock	294	1 stroke	Joe Carr Billy Hulme	Royal Dublin	[42]
1957	Ian Bamford	37 holes		Billy Meharg	Royal Portrush	[45]
1956	Joe Carr	1 up		James Mahon	Portmarnock	[39]
1955	John Fitzgibbon	1 up		Billy Hulme	Royal County Down	[46]
1954	Joe Carr	6 and 4		Cecil Ewing	Royal Dublin	[47]
1953	Norman Drew	4 and 3		Billy O'Sullivan	Killarney	[41]
1952	Norman Drew	5 and 4		Cecil Beamish	Royal Portrush	[48]
1951	Cecil Ewing	2 and 1		Joe Carr	Portmarnock	[40]
1950	Joe Carr	40 holes		Cecil Ewing	County Sligo	[49]
1949	Billy O'Sullivan	2 up		Brennie Scannell	Killarney	[50]
1948	Cecil Ewing	1 up		Joe Carr	Royal County Down	[51]
1947	John Burke	1 up		Joe Carr	Royal Dublin	[52]
1946	Joe Carr	3 and 1		Alex Kyle	Royal Portrush	[53]
1940–45: Not played due to World War II
1939	Cancelled due to declaration of war				Portmarnock
1938	Jimmy Bruen	9 and 8		James Mahon	Royal County Down	[38]
1937	Johnnie Fitzsimmons	4 and 3		Robert McKinna	Royal Dublin	[37]
1936	Joe Brown	39 holes		Billy O'Sullivan	Portmarnock	[36]
1935	Hector Thomson	5 and 4		Jack McLean	Royal Portrush	[35]
1934	Hector Thomson	3 and 2		Harry Bentley	Portmarnock	[54]
1933	Jack McLean	3 and 2		Eric Fiddian	Royal County Down	[34]
1932	Jack McLean	9 and 8		Joe Brown	Royal Dublin	[55]
1931	Eric McRuvie	7 and 5		Donald Soulby	Royal County Down	[33]
1930	William Sutton	4 and 3		Douglas Fiddian	Portmarnock	[32]
1929	Charles Hezlet	1 up		Jack Lang	Royal Portrush	[56]
1928	Seymour Noon	1 up		Edwin Spiller	Royal Dublin	[31]
1927	Roy McConnell	5 and 3		Donald Soulby	Royal County Down	[57]
1926	Charles Hezlet	7 and 6		Roy McConnell	Portmarnock	[58]
1925	Tony Torrance	4 and 3		Charles Hezlet	Royal Portrush	[30]
1924	Edwin Spiller	3 and 1		John MacCormack	Royal Dublin	[59]
1923	Noel Martin	1 up		Charles Hezlet	Royal County Down	[60]
1922	Alfred Lowe	6 and 4		James Henderson	Royal Portrush	[61]
1921	Wilson Smyth	2 up		Joe Gorry	Royal County Down
1920	Noel Martin	6 and 5		Charles Robertson	Portmarnock	[29]
1919	Carl Bretherton	4 and 3		Tommy Armour	Royal Portrush	[28]
1914–18: Not played due to World War I
1913	Charles Palmer	4 and 3		Lou Phillips	Royal Dublin	[27]
1912	Gordon Lockhart	11 and 9		Patrick Jenkins	Royal County Down	[26]
1911	Lionel Munn	7 and 6		Michael Scott	Portmarnock	[25]
1910	Lionel Munn	9 and 7		Gordon Lockhart	Royal Portrush	[24]
1909	Lionel Munn	2 up		Robert Garson	Royal Dublin	[23]
1908	James Mitchell	3 and 2		Hugh Cairnes	Royal County Down	[22]
1907	Douglas Brown	2 and 1		Sidney Fry	Portmarnock	[21]
1906	Herbert Barker	6 and 4		James Worthington	Royal Portrush	[20]
1905	Henry Boyd	3 and 2		James Mitchell	Royal Dublin	[19]
1904	James Worthington	6 and 4		James Mitchell	County Down	[18]
1903	George Wilkie	1 up		Henry Boyd	Portmarnock	[17]
1902	Harold Hilton	5 and 3		William Hamilton	Royal Portrush	[15]
1901	Harold Hilton	6 and 4		Peter Dowie	Royal Dublin	[14]
1900	Harold Hilton	11 and 9		Sidney Fry	County Down	[13]
1899	John Ball	12 and 11		John Williamson	Portmarnock	[12]
1898	William Taylor	37 holes		Richard Dallmeyer	Royal Portrush	[10]
1897	Harold Hilton	6 and 5		Stuart Anderson	Royal Dublin	[9]
1896	William Taylor	9 and 8		David Anderson	County Down	[8]
1895	William Taylor	13 and 11		John Williamson	Royal Portrush	[7]
1894	John Ball	9 and 7		David Low	Royal Dublin	[5]
1893	John Ball	8 and 7		Stuart Anderson	County Down	[4]
1892	Alexander Stuart	1 up		John Andrew	Royal Portrush	[2]

The 1892 final was played over 18 holes. From 1893 finals were played over 36 holes.

Source:[62][63]

• Official website