The first Open Championship was played at the Prestwick Golf Club at Ayr in Scotland.  Eight Scottish professionals entered and played 36 holes in a single day.  Willie Park, senior was the first winner, shooting a 174.  The championship was opened to amateurs as well as professionals the following year.  (By John Osborne)  
Source Citation
Francis Murray, The British Open: A Twentieth Century History of Golf's Greatest Championship (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000), 11.
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Type
    Education/Culture

    How to Cite This Page: "Willie Park, Sr. wins the first British Open by shooting 174 over 36 holes," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hddev.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/32035.