[1] Two Scottish golfers contested the final, with Alexander Stuart beating John Andrew by one hole.
Considerable interest was added by the entry of John Ball, a three-time winner of the Amateur Championship and the 1890 Open champion.
Ball played again but lost at the last-32 stage to Ranald Gilroy, a young Scottish golfer.
Hilton was surprisingly beaten in the semi-final by John Williamson, losing at the final hole.
[14][15] Hilton played again at Portmarnock in 1903 but lost in the quarter-finals to local player Henry Boyd.
[16] Boyd became the first Irish finalist but lost a close match to George Wilkie by one hole.
However it failed to do so and Henry Boyd and James Mitchell, the losing finalists in 1903 and 1904 met in the 1905 final.
[19] Herbert Barker won in 1906, beating the 1904 champion, James Worthington, in an all-English final.
[21][22] Lionel Munn became the second Irish winner in 1909, beating the Scot, Robert Garson, in the final.
[26] Charles Palmer won in 1913, beating Lou Phillips, an ex-Welsh rugby union international, in the final.
[27] The championship resumed in 1919 and was won by the English golfer Carl Bretherton who beat Tommy Armour in the final at Portrush.
[28] Political troubles in Ireland saw a reduction in the number of leading non-Irish amateurs competing and the 1920 event produced the first all-Irish final with Noel Martin winning.
[33][34][35] The 1936 event clashed with the Walker Cup in which McLean and Thomson were playing and the championship produced an all-Irish final won by Joe Brown.
The Irish close championship was moved to the late August date and the amateur open was cancelled.