LOVELY summer-like weather prevailed at Hoylake, in the month of May, for the week in which, for the first time on this course, the open championship was played. Cloudless skies overhead, and the hot sun tempered by a gentle easterly breeze, that eased the outward journey and did not seriously impede the homeward, made the weather conditions perfect, for players and spectators alike. The course was in first-rate order, if a trifle on the hard side, and the putting greens, especially, would have been much improved by a clay's rain.

For a few days previous to the event, the combatants had been gathering from near and from far. Professional competitions, organised during the previous week by the neighbouring clubs at Wallasey and Southport, helped to relieve the monotony of practice at Hoylake, and the results of these were eagerly scanned, as affording some index of the prevalent form of the players.

The championship fell to be played on the Wednesday and Thursday, but by the Sunday previous, almost all the competitors, of whom there were 88, were at Hoylake, and all day long - there being no Sunday play at Hoylake - the links were dotted over with little groups of golfers, inspecting the course, and discussing the probabilities of the coming event. At the "Old Alps," quite early, was a group comprised of Mr. J. E. Laidlay, Mr. C. Hutchings, Mr. H. H. Hilton, Andrew Kirkaldy, J. H. Taylor, W. Auchterlonie, J. Kay, the two Simpsons, and Willie Park - a pretty strong galaxy of golfers. Andrew Kirkaldy, though he had not yet played over the course, expressed the opinion that the putting greens "were jist the kin' that he liked "; and how accurately he had diagnosed their suitability for himself, he proved, next morning, by going round in 76. Taylor had done a 73 the previous week, but he now seemed a bit off colour, and ascribed that marvellous performance to luck on the greens. He and the other professionals seemed to fancy most the chances of Harry Vardon, last year's champion, who had been first at Southport, the previous day, and who was in magnificent form. Mr. Hilton, who knows Hoylake and its possibilities better perhaps than any other player, gave it as his opinion, that two 79's and two 8o's, would win, and that while an individual score of 76 might be returned, two rounds of 75 would not be done throughout the competition. Little he recked, as he stood there, that he was to prove, in his own proper person, the falsity of his predictions in each particular. But we must not anticipate. Willie Park and Mr. Laidlay were engaged in an animated discussion on putting, in which department of the game they both found themselves, for the moment, out of form, and were administering to each other, sundry hints and prescriptions, for their respective varieties of this distressing malady. Elsewhere, were to be seen the two Vardons, with their finely cut features and fists like legs of mutton, and the stalwart form of Braid, towering above a group in which were cheery Ben Sayers from North Berwick, and Davie Brown and Willie Fernie, two former champions. With the exception of Mr.

H. Hutchinson and Douglas Rolland no golfing figure of note was absent. In the club-house, the chances of the amateurs were favourably entertained. With Mr. Ball and Mr. Hilton playing on their own green, with Mr. Tait, Mr. Laidlay, and Mr. Mure Fergusson all to the fore, it was felt that the professionals would not have things all their own way, as had so often previously been the case.

Monday and Tuesday were again glorious days, though Jack Morris's prayers for rain remained unanswered, and the putting greens became more and more fiery. From morning till night the air was alive with the crack of clean-hit balls, and some excellent scores were made in practice, though Andrew Kirkaldy's score of 76 on Monday morning, was not beaten before Wednesday, when the competition opened.

The first round produced nothing sensational in the way of scores. Mr. John Ball and A. Herd returned cards of 78 each; Mr. Tait and Davie Brown 79 each; and Mr. Hilton, J. Braid, and G. Pulford took 80. Mr. Laidlay and J. H. Taylor were 82 each, Harry Vardon 84, while Willie Park put himself completely out of the running with a 91.

The afternoon saw the best all-round play of the competition. Mr. Hilton returned a magnificent card of 75, which was immediately surpassed by a 74 - an absolutely perfect score - by J. Braid. Ben Sayers greatly improved his position with a 78. Mr. Tait again did 79, a score which was equalled by G. Pulford, Peter McEwan, and T. Renouf.

The results of the first day's play left the competition a very open one, and was remarkable in that three amateurs were to be found in the first six. The following list shows the respective scores of the first six: -

The first round on Thursday - another perfect day - seemed to be, on the face of it, a disastrous one for the two leaders, for Mr. Hilton took 84, and J. Braid 82. Mr. Ball spoiled his chance with an 88. Pulford, Herd, and Mr. Tait improved their positions with two 79's and an 80, respectively, so that, at the completion of the third round, the position of the leaders was as follows: -

All this promised a close and exciting finish, and the onlookers were not disappointed in this respect. Mr. Tait was the first of the likely ones to finish his fourth round. By steady and beautiful golf, he handed in another score of 79, bringing his grand aggregate to 317; and this score, in the opinion of many, gave him a very strong position. This fine score, however, was not long allowed to go unchallenged. It was soon reported that Mr. Hilton was playing in surprising form. Starting in the most sensational way, with 18 for the first five holes, he accomplished the outward journey in 38 strokes - a performance which he even excelled coming homewards, and he finished, full of running, in 75, making his grand aggregate 314, or three better than Mr. Tait's. This brilliant effort completely altered the aspect of events, and all interest was now transferred to the doings of Braid, who, with Pulford and A. Herd alone, had any chance of beating Mr. Hilton's total. When Mr. Hilton finished, Braid was at the "Rushes" hole, and hither, helter-skelter, sped Mr. Hilton's crowd, all agog with excitement. They learned that Braid's score to the 13th hole was 55, so that he only required to complete the remaining five holes in 22 strokes, or three under fives, to beat Mr. Hilton. Holing out in magnificent style at the "Field" hole in four, he still further improved his chance, and 18 to win, or 19 to tie, was now the comparatively easy task he had before him. The "Lake" hole he played steadily in five, leaving one five and two fours for the remaining three holes. But alas ! the "Dun" hole proved disastrous to his chances. A raking tee shot, followed by a superb brassy, in which he crossed the corner of the field and lay about 30 yards short of the green, seemed to make a five certain. The approach to this green, however, is of the most tricky description, and Braid's ball, though beautifully struck, got a bad fall on the hard green, and shot past the hole, some 10 yards, into the rough ground beyond the green. He failed to get his long putt dead, and took six to hole out. Even yet, two fours would enable him to tie a three and a four seemed too much to hope for - but owing to weakness on the green at the 17th hole, he took five, so that even to tie with Mr. Hilton, he had to do the last hole in three. His second shot to the hole-side with his cleek was a beauty, and looked as if it were going to lie dead. It rolled some yards past, however, and as he failed to hole the long putt, he lost the championship by two strokes, finishing one stroke behind Mr. Hilton. Pulford and Herd, though again returning good scores of 79 and 80, had to be content with third and fourth places, Pulford tieing with Mr. Tait for third place. The final scores were as follows: -