The 1895 Open Championship was the 35th Open Championship, held 12–13 June at the Old Course at St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. Defending champion J.H. Taylor won the Championship for the second time, by four strokes from runner-up Sandy Herd.
Harry Vardon, one of the early starters, led after the first round with an 80 but had an 85 in the afternoon to finish the day on 165. Herd had the best round of the afternoon with a 77 and led overnight on 159, five strokes clear of Taylor and Andrew Kirkaldy on 164.
Herd played steadily in the third round and finished with 82 to lead on 241. Taylor, playing in the last group, scored 80 to finish on 244. The Championship resolved into a battle between Herd and Taylor. Herd started well but took seven at the 5th. Playing in wind and rain, Herd eventually scored 85 to finish on 326. Taylor need an 81 to win and after 12 holes had only taken 49 strokes. Despite taking six at the next two holes he reached the 17th tee needing to take 12 or less to win. Playing carefully he scored five at the dangerous 17th and then four at the last to win by four strokes and retain the title. His 78 was the best round of the afternoon by four shots, the next best being an 82 by Ben Sayers.
First day leaderboard Wednesday, 12 June 1895 PlacePlayerScore1 Sandy Herd 82-77=159T2 Andrew Kirkaldy 81-83=164 J.H. Taylor 86-78=164T4 Willie Fernie 86-79=165 George Pulford 84-81=165 Harry Vardon 80-85=165 Tom Vardon 82-83=1658 James Kinnell 84-83=1679 Laurie Auchterlonie (a) 84-84=168T10 David Anderson Jr. 86-83=169 Alfred Toogood 85-84=169 Laurie Waters 86-83=169
Final leaderboard Source:
Thursday, 13 June 1895 PlacePlayerScoreMoney1 J.H. Taylor 86-78-80-78=322 £302 Sandy Herd 82-77-82-85=326 £203 Andrew Kirkaldy 81-83-84-84=332 £104 George Pulford 84-81-83-86=334 £75 Archie Simpson 88-85-78-85=336 £5T6 David Anderson Jr. 86-83-84-84=337 £3 6s 8d David Brown 81-89-83-84=337 Willie Fernie 86-79-86-86=337T9 Ben Sayers 84-87-85-82=338 £2 Alfred Toogood 85-84-83-86=338 Harry Vardon 80-85-85-88=338 Tom Vardon 82-83-84-89=338
References
External links St Andrews 1895 (Official site)