Royal Birkdale Golf Club

Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Clubhouse in 2005
Club information
Location in Southport, Merseyside,
north of Liverpool, England
Royal Birkdale Golf Club (England)
Coordinates 53°37′19″N 3°01′59″W / 53.622°N 3.033°W / 53.622; -3.033
Location Southport, England
Established 1889 (1894)
Type Private
Total holes 18
Tournaments hosted The Open Championship
The Amateur
Senior British Open
Women's British Open
Website royalbirkdale.com
Designed by Frederick G. Hawtree
J.H. Taylor
Par 70
Length 7,156 yards (6,543 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.

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

Founded 129 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.

Open Championship

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

YearWinnerParScoreWinner's
share (£)
R1R2R3R4Total
1954Australia Peter Thomson 1st7372716971283 (−9)750
1961United States Arnold Palmer 1st7270736972284 (−4)1,400
1965Australia Peter Thomson 5th7374687271285 (−7)1,750
1971United States Lee Trevino 1st7369706970278 (−14)5,500
1976United States Johnny Miller7272687366279 (−9)7,500
1983United States Tom Watson 5th7167687070275 (−9)40,000
1991Australia Ian Baker-Finch7071716466272 (−8)90,000
1998United States Mark O'Meara7072687268280 (E)PO300,000
2008Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington 2nd7074687269283 (+3)750,000
2017United States Jordan Spieth7065696569268 (−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,[8] subsequent figures in pounds are rounded estimates.[9]

Women’s British Open

Winners of the Women's British Open at Royal Birkdale.

YearWinner
1982Spain Marta Figueras-Dotti (a)
1986England Laura Davies
2000Sweden Sophie Gustafson
2005South Korea Jeong Jang
2010Taiwan Yani Tseng1st
2014United 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

Royal Birkdale Golf Club [10]
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 4484224511993464991774584163416 40243618349920054243856747337407156
Par Championship 44434434434 4434354543670
Par Men's 44434534435 4434354553772
White 4504184062003434881774134103305 40837818143319954437052747235126817
Yellow 4303973731793164751403984003105 35535215942215749935850946532766355
Women's 4183913271643044401143563582872 35831714542213739229345244129575829
Par Women's 54434534436 4435354553874


Lengths of the course for previous Opens:[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Branden Grace shoots first 62 in a major". ESPN. 22 July 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 "Royal Birkdale Golf Club - Club History". Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  3. ↑ "Golf Championships for 1940". The Times. 21 January 1939. p. 4.
  4. 1 2 "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. ↑ "Open Championship: Royal Birkdale prize money to be paid in US dollars, not sterling". BBC.com. 5 July 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  9. ↑ "GBP/USD - Pound to Dollar". FX Empire. 24 July 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  10. ↑ "Scorecard". Royal Birkdale Golf Club. Retrieved July 17, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Media guide". The Open Championship. 2011. p. 203. Archived from the original on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  12. ↑ "Palmer takes British crown". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. 16 July 1961. p. 1B.
  13. ↑ "Peter Thomson wins British Open with 283". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. 10 July 1954. p. 11.

Coordinates: 53°37′19″N 3°01′59″W / 53.622°N 3.033°W / 53.622; -3.033

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