The 1879 Open Championship was the 19th Open Championship, held 27 September at the Old Course at St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. Jamie Anderson won the Championship for the third successive time, by three strokes from Jamie Allan and Andrew Kirkaldy.

Play started at 10:00 am in fine conditions. In the first round Anderson reach the turn in 41 and his round of 84 gave him a two shot lead over Andrew Kirkaldy. In the afternoon he again reached the turn in 41. Andrew Kirkaldy and Jamie Allen were amongst the early starters and with four holes left to play it was known that Anderson needed four fives to win the Championship. He holed a long putt at the 15th and with steady play at the 16th and 17th and a four at the last he won comfortably. Allan and Kirkaldy had an 18-hole play-off two days later to decide who took the second and third place prize money.

Final leaderboard

Source:

Saturday, 27 September 1879

Place	Player	Score	Money
1	Jamie Anderson	84-85=169	£10
T2	Jamie Allan	88-84=172	Playoff
	Andrew Kirkaldy	86-86=172
4	George Paxton	89-85=174
5	Tom Kidd	87-88=175
6	Bob Ferguson	89-87=176
7	James Morris	92-87=179
T8	Willie Fernie	92-89=181
	Jack Kirkaldy	92-89=181
	James Rennie	93-88=181

There were 15 cash prizes.

Playoff

Monday, 29 September 1879

Allan and Kirkaldy played an 18-hole play-off two days later. Kirkaldy scored 91 to Allan's 92 and took the second prize of £6, Allan taking the third prize of £5. Playoffs for other positions are mentioned but details are not known.