How it unfolded
On 17 October 1860, eight professionals gathered at Prestwick Golf Club to decide who would succeed the late Allan Robertson as the game's best player. There was no prize money; the winner received the Challenge Belt of red Moroccan leather with a silver buckle. Prestwick's course had 12 holes, so the field played three rounds in one day for 36 holes. Musselburgh's Willie Park Sr. shot 55, 59 and 60 for 174; Old Tom Morris, Prestwick's greenkeeper and virtual home-course champion, posted 58, 59 and 59 for 176 and finished two back. Andrew Strath was third at 180. The following year the event declared itself open to golfers worldwide and allowed amateurs, fixing the name The Open. Morris won four more times; his son Young Tom Morris won three straight from 1868, keeping the belt permanently and forcing a one-year gap in 1871 before the Claret Jug replaced it in 1872.
Why it still matters
Every modern golf championship branches from this day. Starting as a professionals-only match and opening to all comers the very next year gave golf its identity as an open competition ranked by skill alone. It is page one of the oldest major and the place where trophy and honour mattered more than cash — a habit the sport never lost.