[1] Eight golfers contested the event, with Willie Park, Sr. winning the championship by 2 shots from Tom Morris, Sr. Prestwick Golf Club organised the event, "to be played for by professional golfers".

Golf clubs in Scotland and England were invited to name and send up to three of their best players to compete.

"Cawdies, i.e. Professional Players, not Keepers of Links" were eligible and had to produce a certificate of respectability from their club.

[3] James Ogilvie Fairlie was the principal organizer of this inaugural Open Championship.

In a proposed competition for a "Challenge Belt", Fairlie sent out a series of letters to Aberdeen, Blackheath, Bruntsfield, Carnoustie Panmure, Dirleton Castle, Innerleven, Montrose, North Berwick, Perth, Musselburgh and St. Andrews (as noted in Prestwick Golf Club Archive), inviting a player known as a "respectable caddie" to represent each of the clubs in a tournament to be held on 17 October 1860.