In 1894 the
Melbourne Golf Club (later Royal Melbourne) founded the "Victorian Golf Cup" open to "all amateurs in Australasia". The Victorian Golf Cup rapidly established itself as the most important tournament in Australia, and was regarded as the
Amateur Championship of Australia. The
Australian Golf Union was formed in 1898 and organised its first championship meeting at
Royal Sydney Golf Club in May 1899, the main event being the Amateur Championship. Although the Victorian Golf Cup continued in 1899, the Amateur Championship at the AGU championship immediately replaced it with the Amateur Championship of Australia. Despite some initial confusion, the Victorian Golf Cup became established as the Amateur Championship of Victoria. In 1897 and 1898, the Victorian Golf Cup was played as a 72-hole stroke-play event, and the same format was used in 1899.
Jim Howden was the winner, by 3 strokes, with a score of 354.
Hugh MacNeil, a Scottish-born New Zealander who had recently moved to Sydney was the winner with a score of 328. Riddell won for the second time in 1903, this time by 27 strokes. Scott immediately showed that he was one of the leading golfers in Australia, winning the inaugural
Australian Open and, later in 1904, the Victorian championship. As a result, the Victorian Amateur Championship was played as part of the
Metropolitan Golf Club's annual meeting. Following closely after the Australian championship meeting, many of the leading Victorian golfers could not attend for business reasons. The championship was won by
Gordon Burnham, an
Aide-de-Camp to the
Governor-General of Australia.
Ivo Whitton was a runner-up in 1911 but didn't play in 1912, 1913 or 1914. When the championship resumed in 1919, after
World War I, Whitton was the winner, 8 strokes ahead of
Bruce Pearce. Whitton retained his title, beating Pearce in the final. Whitton didn't play in 1921 but won again in 1922, 1923 and 1924, a run of 5 wins in 6 years. The number of qualifiers was increased to 16 in 1929, with 4 days of 36-hole match play.
Harry Williams dominated the 1930s, winning 5 times between 1931 and 1939. In 1939 there was a return to the 36-hole stroke-play stage, but with 32 qualifiers. All matches were then over 36 holes. 1946 saw a return to the format used in 1937 and 1938.
Peter Thomson won in 1948, his last before turning professional. Many of the leading players complained about the arrangement and the format was revised in 1952, with the leading 16 amateurs in the
Victorian Close Championship qualifying, all matches being over 36 holes.
Eric Routley won the championship in 1952, the first of six wins in the event. From 1957 the
Victorian Open acted as the qualifying event. In 1964 the number of qualifiers was increased to 32, with the first two rounds of match-play being over 18 holes.
John Lindsay was a three-time winner, in 1968, 1970 and 1983, as was
Mike Cahill who won three years in a row from 1971 to 1973.
Neil Titheridge won the championship two years in succession, in 1961 and 1962.
Don Reiter won in 1967 and 1974 and was followed by his brother
Alan in 1976. The 1990s saw a number of wins by players who went on to have successful professionals careers.
Robert Allenby in 1990,
Stuart Appleby in 1991,
Geoff Ogilvy in 1997 and
Aaron Baddeley in 1998, all won on the
PGA Tour in America and reached the top-20 of the world rankings. A number of other winners would later reach the top-100 of the world rankings, including
Mike Clayton,
Bradley Hughes and
Craig Spence, who each won the championship twice, and
Marcus Fraser,
James Morrison and
Cameron Davis. ==Winners==