Irish Championship Meeting Professional Tournament
| Location | Ireland |
|---|---|
| Established | 1894 |
| Month played | September |
| Final year | 1901 |
| Sandy Herd | |
The Irish Championship Meeting Professional Tournament was a series of golf tournaments played in Ireland. The Irish Championship Meeting had been instituted in 1892 by the Golfing Union of Ireland. The main event was the Irish Amateur Open Championship but in a number of years a professional tournament was also held at the meeting. A total of 6 tournaments were held between 1894 and 1901.
Andrew Kirkaldy won the first of these tournaments, in 1894 at Royal Dublin Golf Club. The 1895 and 1896 tournaments were won by Sandy Herd, while Willie Fernie won in 1897. There was no tournament in 1898 but at Portmarnock Golf Club in 1899 Harry Vardon won convincingly, beating J.H. Taylor 13 & 11 in the final. The final tournament was held at Royal Dublin Golf Club in 1901 and was won by Sandy Herd who beat Harry Vardon by 1 hole, having been 6 down after the morning round.
The 1894 Irish Championship Meeting was held at the Royal Dublin Golf Club, Dollymount from 4 to 8 September. A handicap event was held on the first day with the Irish Amateur Open Championship taking place on the next three days. On the final day, a Saturday, the Royal Dublin Club arranged a 36-hole stroke-play tournament for both amateurs and professionals with total prize money of £50. There were 10 prizes, with the first 5 of these being available to both amateurs and professionals, the remaining 5 being for professionals only. Since professionals occupied the first five places, none of the prize money went to the amateurs. The Kirkaldy brothers, Andrew and Hugh, led after the first round with scores of 78. George Pulford, an English professional, was the brothers' only challenger in the second round. He scored 76 but finished a shot behind Hugh Kirkaldy and took third prize. John Ball, who had won the Irish Amateur Open Championship the previous day, was the leading amateur, although 11 strokes behind the winner.
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