Royal Birkdale Golf Club

Royal Birkdale Golf Club

Clubhouse in 2008
Club information
Royal Birkdale Golf Club is located in Southport
Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Location in Southport, Merseyside,
north of Liverpool, England
Royal Birkdale Golf Club is located in England
Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Royal Birkdale Golf Club (England)
Coordinates53°37′19″N 3°01′59″W / 53.622°N 3.033°W / 53.622; -3.033
LocationSouthport, England
Established1889 (1894)
TypePrivate
Total holes18
Events hostedThe Open Championship
The Amateur
Senior British Open
Women's British Open
Websiteroyalbirkdale.com
Designed byFrederick G. Hawtree
J.H. Taylor
Par70
Length7,156 yards (6,543 m)
Par72
Length6,817 yards (6,233 m)

Royal Birkdale Golf Club is a golf course in the United Kingdom in North West England, located in Southport, Merseyside. It is one of the clubs in the rotation for both the Open Championship and Women's British Open and has hosted the Open Championship ten times from 1954 through 2017. Winners of the Open at the course include Pádraig Harrington, Mark O'Meara, Ian Baker-Finch, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer, Peter Thomson (twice) and Jordan Spieth. The course is scheduled to hold Open Championship again in 2026.

Royal Birkdale hosted the women's tournament for a sixth time in 2014, and was the site of the Senior Open Championship in 2013. It has also hosted the Ryder Cup (1965, 1969), the Walker Cup (1951), and the Curtis Cup (1948). Other courses in the Open rota near Liverpool are Royal Liverpool Golf Club (Hoylake) and Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club.

On 22 July 2017, in the third round of the 2017 Open Championship, Branden Grace became the first man in major championship history to record a score of 62 in a single round.[1]

History

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Founded 135 years ago as Birkdale Golf Club in 1889, the club was awarded "Royal" status in 1951.[2] Birkdale Golf Club moved to a new site in Birkdale Hills in 1894,[2] and built a new distinctive art deco clubhouse in 1935.[2] In early 1939, Birkdale was nominated as the venue for the 1940 Open Championship[3] but the Second World War started in September 1939 and the Championship was cancelled.

In 1946, the club finally hosted its first big championship in the Amateur Championship, won by Irishman Jimmy Bruen. During the immediate postwar era, the club also hosted the 1948 Curtis Cup and the 1951 Walker Cup, both won by the United States. With these successful stagings of important events, Royal Birkdale was felt to be ready for its first Open Championship in 1954 and has continued on the Open rota ever since.

Three generations of the Hawtree family of golf course architects have worked on the course.[4] Frederick G. Hawtree and champion golfer J.H. Taylor are the two people most responsible for the current routing,[4] following the valleys between the very large dunes which dominate the property. The arrangement makes for excellent spectator conditions during major events. Frederick W. Hawtree, the son of Frederick G, performed some modifications in the 1960s and in 1993 Martin Hawtree, son of Frederick W., improved and modernised the layout further, with all 18 of the club's greens being completely rebuilt, to improve turf and drainage following the 1991 Open Championship.[5] Only relatively minor tweaking, such as the addition of a few new bunkers and back tees, has been deemed necessary in advance of the last two Open Championships.[6] The course was ranked as the 18th best in the world outside the United States, in the 2007 rankings by Golf Digest magazine.[7]

During the 1960s, the club hosted the Ryder Cup twice, in 1965 and in 1969. The United States won in 1965 by the score of 19½–12½, but in 1969 the competition ended in a 16–16 tie when Jack Nicklaus generously conceded a short putt to Tony Jacklin to halve their match, which later became known as "The Concession." As defending champions in a tie, the U.S. retained the trophy; they kept it for another sixteen years, until 1985.

In 2013, the club hosted the Senior Open Championship.[8][9]

Open Championship

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The Open Championship was first held at Royal Birkdale in 1954 and has hosted ten times.

Year Winner Par Score Winner's
share (£)
R1 R2 R3 R4 Total
1954 Australia Peter Thomson 1st 73 72 71 69 71 283 (−9) 750
1961 United States Arnold Palmer 1st 72 70 73 69 72 284 (−4) 1,400
1965 Australia Peter Thomson 5th 73 74 68 72 71 285 (−7) 1,750
1971 United States Lee Trevino 1st 73 69 70 69 70 278 (−14) 5,500
1976 United States Johnny Miller 72 72 68 73 66 279 (−9) 7,500
1983 United States Tom Watson 5th 71 67 68 70 70 275 (−9) 40,000
1991 Australia Ian Baker-Finch 70 71 71 64 66 272 (−8) 90,000
1998 United States Mark O'Meara 70 72 68 72 68 280 (E)PO 300,000
2008 Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington 2nd 70 74 68 72 69 283 (+3) 750,000
2017 United States Jordan Spieth 70 65 69 65 69 268 (−12) 1,420,000
  • Note: For multiple winners of The Open Championship, superscript ordinal identifies which in their respective careers.

The Open began paying in U.S. dollars in 2017,[10] subsequent figures in pounds are rounded estimates.

Women’s British Open

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Winners of the Women's British Open at Royal Birkdale. The course was the first on the men's rota to be placed into the women's rota.

Year Winner
1982 Spain Marta Figueras-Dotti (a)
1986 England Laura Davies
2000 Sweden Sophie Gustafson
2005 South Korea Jeong Jang
2010 Taiwan Yani Tseng1st
2014 United States Mo Martin
Notes
  • For multiple winners of the Women's British Open, superscript ordinal identifies which in their respective careers.
  • Years in bold signify editions that were recognised as majors by the LPGA Tour (2001–present).
    Since its inception in 1979, the Ladies European Tour (LET) has recognised the Women's British Open as a major.

Scorecard

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Royal Birkdale Golf Club [11]
Tee Rating/Slope 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
2017 Open Championship 448 422 451 199 346 499 177 458 416 3416 402 436 183 499 200 542 438 567 473 3740 7156
Par Championship 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 4 4 34 4 4 3 4 3 5 4 5 4 36 70
Par Men's 4 4 4 3 4 5 3 4 4 35 4 4 3 4 3 5 4 5 5 37 72
White 450 418 406 200 343 488 177 413 410 3305 408 378 181 433 199 544 370 527 472 3512 6817
Yellow 430 397 373 179 316 475 140 398 400 3105 355 352 159 422 157 499 358 509 465 3276 6355
Women's 418 391 327 164 304 440 114 356 358 2872 358 317 145 422 137 392 293 452 441 2957 5829
Par Women's 5 4 4 3 4 5 3 4 4 36 4 4 3 5 3 5 4 5 5 38 74


Lengths of the course for previous Opens:[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Branden Grace shoots first 62 in a major". ESPN. 22 July 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "Royal Birkdale Golf Club - Club History". Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  3. ^ "Golf Championships for 1940". The Times. 21 January 1939. p. 4.
  4. ^ a b "Hawtree Limited - Projects: Royal Birkdale Golf Course". Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  5. ^ "Hawtree Limited - Royal Birkdale Golf Course". Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  6. ^ British Open Preview 2008, by Ronald Whitten, Golf Digest magazine, July 2008.
  7. ^ Golf Digest magazine, May 2007.
  8. ^ "Senior Open Championship presented by Rolex – Results". European Tour. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  9. ^ "Past results, The Senior Open". PGA Tour. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  10. ^ "Open Championship: Royal Birkdale prize money to be paid in US dollars, not sterling". BBC.com. 5 July 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  11. ^ "Scorecard". Royal Birkdale Golf Club. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  12. ^ "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. p. 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  13. ^ "Palmer takes British crown". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. 16 July 1961. p. 1B.
  14. ^ "Peter Thomson wins British Open with 283". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. 10 July 1954. p. 11.
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