At present, the golf community is only concerned about one thing: the 2024 Open Championship. From its history to its future, anything and everything is being discussed all over the internet. And just so that you don’t fall behind, here is a unique fact: Three amateurs have won this major title six times combined. Yes, you heard it right. The amateurs are not only allowed in the event, but they have also been winners! Impeccable, right?

How amateurs get to check on their skill and luck depends on various qualifiers and exemptions. According to the Open’s official exemption list, the following categories are eligible to play in the Major this season:

1. The amateur champion for 2024
2. The US Amateur Champion for 2023
3. The European Amateur Champion for 2024
4. The Mark H. McCormack Medal (Men’s World AMATEUR GOLF RANKING) winner for 2023
5. The Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion 2023
6. The Latin America Amateur Champion 2024
7. The Open Amateur Series winner in 2024
8. The Africa Amateur Champion 2024

Given such opportunities, this season of the Open Championship will have several stunning amateurs on the greens. Among those who earned the spot through final qualifiers are: English golfers Dominic Clemons and Matty Dodd-Berry; Spanish golfers Luis Masaveu and Jaime Montojo Fernandez; and Irish golfer Liam Nolan.

Apart from them, South African golfer Altin Van Der Merwe has won an exemption after winning the very first edition of the Africa Amateur Championship. This 27-year-old amateur golfer will be joined by another young golfer who made history of his own, Tommy Morrison. Morrison, although only 19, stands 6 feet 9 inches tall and is the very first American to ever win the European Amateur Championship.

The Mexican golfer Santiago De La Fuente got an exemption following his 64 shots at the Latin American Amateur in Panama. The list also includes Jasper Stubbs and Calum Scott, winners of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and the Open Amateur Series, respectively.

The world no. 1 amateur, Gordon Sargent, can certainly not be missed out on the list. Along with the rest of them, the Danish golfer Jacob Skov Olesen has also earned a spot after winning the Amateur Championship this year. But who were those legendary amateurs who won the Open before?

Amateur Open Champions so far

The very first amateur to win the Open title was John Ball Jr. An Englishman who made a stark difference almost a century after the event’s professional wins in 1977. According to the Open, “He was inducted posthumously into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1977 for becoming the first amateur and Englishman to win the Championship, and a blue plaque was fitted at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club in 2018 to commemorate his achievements.”

Harold Hilton, a 4-time The Amateur Championship and one-time U.S. Amateur champion, was a devout member at the Royal Liverpool. The golfer won two Open Championships, once in 1892 and then again in 1897. His last win was on his own golf course at the Royal Liverpool.

However, the most recent amateur win in the major was over 90 years ago, in 1930. It was the only American golfer, Bobby Jones. He won the title not once, but three times. His first win came in 1926 at Royal Lytham & St Annes. The very next year, he defended his title in St. Andrews with a six-stroke lead. The 1930 win came at Royal Liverpool, where he scored 291 and was two strokes ahead.

With so many potentials this year, do you think anyone can quench the amateur-winning drought of 90 years?