[Matt_Ward]

ROYAL BIRKDALE TO HOST 2008 OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

Royal Birkdale has been named by The R&A as the venue for the 2008 Open Championship which will be played from 17 to 20 July.

The Open has been to Birkdale on eight previous occasions and it was in 1954, the first, that Peter Thomson won the first of his five Open Championship titles. Eleven years later, in 1965 at Birkdale, he rounded off his collection of Open wins with a further triumph that he described as his greatest win?

Then, Thomson finally broke the final round log-jam of 13 players, all of whom had a chance to win, with his second shot to the 510-yard 17th which hit the flag when he was just one shot clear of the field. Birkdale was a great favourite of Thomson and he lovingly described it as an over-sized layout but not a monster?

"Royal Birkdale has endeared itself to all of the world's top golfers," said Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of The R&A. "And we must remember that with his win there in 1961, Arnold Palmer is rightly credited with starting the renaissance of The Open. We are delighted to be returning in 2008."

In giving details of the 2008 Open, David Hill, Director of Championships of The R&A said: "Royal Birkdale is a venue which in addition to setting a rigorous examination of the abilities of all golfers, also has a first-class infrastructure which is capable of coping with large numbers of spectators."

"Almost 200,000 people watched Mark O'Meara winning in 1998 and we are delighted that the golfing public in Lancashire and the surrounding areas will again be given the opportunity of viewing 156 of the world's leading players in 2008."

Graham Haywood, Chief Executive of Sefton Council said: "I am delighted that The Open Championship will be returning to Royal Birkdale, Southport in 2008. The event is very special and of enormous benefit to the area, particularly our marketing of the area as England's Golf Coast. It was a tremendous success in 1998 when it was last at Royal Birkdale and I am sure 2008 will be even better".

Other players to have won at Birkdale are Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Ian Baker-Finch and most recently, in 1998, Mark O'Meara who defeated Brian Watts of the United States in a four-hole play-off.

Royal Birkdale was founded in 1889 and eight years later, in 1897 moved to its present home at Birkdale Hills. Much of the present layout was modelled on a design by Hawtree & J H Taylor Ltd in the 1920s and to complement the course which threads its way through mighty sand dunes, the present-day clubhouse was constructed in 1935 on elevated ground behind the 18th green.

Previous Winners at Royal Birkdale

1954 - Peter Thomson 72, 71, 69, 71, 283
1961 - Arnold Palmer 70, 73, 69, 72, 284
1965 - Peter Thomson 74, 68, 72, 71, 285
1971 - Lee Trevino 69, 70, 69, 70, 278
1976 - Johnny Miller 72, 68, 73, 66, 279
1983 - Tom Watson 67, 68, 70, 70, 275
1991 - Ian Baker-Finch 71, 71, 64, 66, 272
1998 - Mark O'Meara 72, 68, 72, 68, 280

[Mike_Cirba]

Isn't Birkdale sort of the Oak Hill of Britain?

Serviceable, but hardly an architectural wonderland.  

[Matt_Ward]

Maybe the folks on the other side of the pond can speak to this but does the R&A really consider any layouts that are a bit off the usual suspect list?

I mean Carnoustie seems to be back on the rota -- I wonder is Kingsbarns or other courses being considered? Might a future Open ever return to Northern Ireland?

Is there a Bethpage Black type course ready to be inserted into the Championship selection process?

[ForkaB]

Mike

That is the conventional wisdom (at least the GCA version).  Howver........just because Birkdale doesn't have particularly lumpy fairways (as some of the Soup Nazis of links golf on this site seem to feel that it it MUST) does not mean that it is not a great golf course.  It is.  Great routing, options, variety, thrilling golf shots.   Better than Sandwich, I still think, particularly on reflection on the anomalies of the 2003 Open.  But, we'll see in 4 years.  As always, my mind is open!

[Mike_Cirba]

Rich;

It just always seems to be one of those places that requires constant architectural f*cking with, as if something is always not quite right.  

Didn't someone completely re-do the greens a few years back, and then someone else came and re-did them the next go round.  Then there are the usual par fives to par fours, holes that seem set between the dunes rather than actually utilizing them for golf, and I believe some other more significant hole changes if memory serves.

Remember, I'm a big defender of Muirfield, so tell me why I'd like it.  

[ForkaB]

Matt

The rota is pretty much set for eternity (if your definition of "eternity" is generational, rather than eternal).  Kingsbarns could hold the Open but it never will, as long as The Old Course exists.  They could hold great Opens at places like Westward Ho! or Dornoch or even Rye or even a composite of Royal Aberdeen and Murcar, but they never will.  The R&A is not into moving the Open into places that are unconventional or remote.  It is called a "rota" for a reason.  What goes around, comes around, and the circle is the perfect manifestation of our existence.........

[Matt_Ward]

Rich:

That's my point -- how does a major championship r-e-a-l-l-y know if any of the new potential sites are worthy if known are ever selected?

I'm not arguing that old time favorites that have proven themselves be abandoned just for the sake of doing so but how bout a new entrant -- you named a few of them. s there a built-in bias to avoiding new courses or do the new courses not pursue this aggressively?

I just think it would add a good bit of interest to such a situation -- I can remember when Turnberry / Ailsa Course was included and that Open in 1977 still rates among the finest ever.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Rich,  

I agree with you about Birkdale's merits.  It is more straightforward and fairer than Sandwich.  There's more excitement for the one-off amateur visitor to Sandwich with its vintage feel, the odd blind shot, humpy-bumpy fairways and many an unkind bounce, but, as we saw last summer in the Open, fairways which simply refuse to accept and hold a good drive are too capricious for such an event.  Clearly there is none of that at Birkdale.  

The Birkdale greens are fun.  I think Martin Hawtree did a good job with them when he redesigned them after the Baker-Finch Open.  Certainly there are lots of approach-shot options and you need a very steady hand in recovery work from just off the putting surface.  Perhaps there are no single great holes but in my opinion it adds up to a great whole.  

Birkdale has the best natural spectator views of all the Open courses with the fairways laid out in the bottoms of the valleys, below the dunes.  Perhaps the course would be more exciting if it climbed on and off the dunes a little more than it does but the pros respect it for its fairness, as they also do Muirfield.

I had heard that the school next door was being sticky about letting its grounds be used for tented village/media park but presumably they have solved this.  Generally speaking the road and rail access is good, off-course parking and courtesy bus arrangements are good (as also at Lytham) and there are decent local airports.  There is plenty of hotel and guest house accommodation within easy reach.  Happily, because there is so much spare land at Birkdale, no lasting damage seems to be done to the fragile sand dunes and their valuable wildlife habitats.

I suppose Kingsbarns might come up for consideration, but (I don't know it personally) does it have all the extra space needed to house an Open?  I can't think of a public course (apart from The Old Course, that is) which could ever be worthy of consideration in the manner of Bethpage Black unless they were to do a massive rebuilding job on the Troon Municipals and South Ayrshire public funds would not run to that.

What is needed is another course in the south of England, and Deal and Saunton are the names most frequently thrown into that hat.  The only Welsh course in the really top flight is Royal Porthcawl and it simply isn't big enough, golf-wise and space-wise.  I'm sure Portrush has been considered, but I read that the Senior Open played there wasn't a great success.  It has the space, having two courses, and there are decent final qualifying venues locally (Portstewart, Castlerock, Ballycastle and perhaps one or two over the border into Donegal).  It certainly doesn't have the transport or hotel infrastructure to cope.  Royal County Down isn't in the frame - space, transport, hotels, other local qualifying courses.

The Amateur Championship was played at Portmarnock in the late 40s, so there is a precedent for going outside the UK, and it would have the effect of stopping so many referring to it as the 'British' Open.  We pedants like to get these things right!

[Keith Durrant]

Is Turnberry still on the rota or is it odds-on to hold the Championsip in 2009?

The rota essentially seems to alternate between Scotland and England with the exception that TOC should hold it every 5 years. With the addition of Hoylake to the rota (2006), each of the courses would hold the Championship every 10 years (ex.TOC).

Can you seriously consider that Kingsbarns could rank alongside (or replace on the rota) TOC, Carnoustie, Muirfield, Troon and Turnberry?

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I don't think they use the word rota, which implies a regularly returning pattern.  The word they use is roster which is simply a list or register.

[ForkaB]

Mark

Great linguistic call re rota/roster!  I think that the mind set is somewhere in between the two.

Kingsbarns does have the space to hold an Open (it is surrounded by the farms of the guy who sold them the land for the course), and it is a great golf track (probably the bst in Ffie, including TOC), and the R&A has a financial interest in the course, but...can you really see them holding an Open there at the expense of TOC?  No way, IMHO.

However, great thought (which was raised a few mphs ago her --by you?) about expanding the horizons of the R&A and THE Open.

Why not Portmarnock, or even Morfontaine or even Hirono or wherever else that is NOT under the purew of the USGA for THE Open?  It is just an historic anomaly that the home of golf happens to be in Scotland, is it not?  Is it not even more of an anomaly that THE Open is and has been played only in England (excepting the world class anomaly of Portrush) when it is not played in Scotland?

All that being said, Birkdale is a GREAT venue.

[klangone]

I think Portmarnock would be a great venue......there is plenty of room (they have had the Irish Open there) and it could hold its own against the technology and greatest players in the world!

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Great ideas, Rich, but remember it must be a links.  Morfontaine and Hirono are thereby ruled out.   Did I hear mention of Royal Melbourne?  But, then, it's mid-winter is Oz in July.  What is there is Iceland these days?

[Paul_Turner]

Matt

Would love to see The Open return to Portrush.  Then we'd have no more of this "British Open" nonsense    The UK Open

I think the routing of Birkdale is its weakness, because all the holes are routed through the valleys between the dunes.  Compare this with Rye and Sandwich which have these holes too, but also others that go up and over dunes at many different angles...much more variety.  I've played/walked Birkdale several times (as a student in Liverpool) I still think it's probably the least interesting of the Open courses...haven't played Troon.  That said, I wouldn't take it off the rota, it's still very good.

Its gotta be links, that's half the appeal of our Open.

Turnberry is off the rota.  I have no idea why.

[THuckaby2]

Mike

That is the conventional wisdom (at least the GCA version).  Howver........just because Birkdale doesn't have particularly lumpy fairways (as some of the Soup Nazis of links golf on this site seem to feel that it it MUST) does not mean that it is not a great golf course.  It is.  Great routing, options, variety, thrilling golf shots.   Better than Sandwich, I still think, particularly on reflection on the anomalies of the 2003 Open.  But, we'll see in 4 years.  As always, my mind is open!

Richard:  As misguided as you are about putting methods and skill with such, you are right on about this golf course, which is wonderful.  Keep up the good work.

Your idol,

TH

[Mike_Cirba]

Tom Huckaby;

What do you like most about Birkdale?  

What am I missing from the TV tower?  

Thanks!

[THuckaby2]

Aw heck Mike - it's been almost 6 years since I played there, but... I recall a lot of damn fine golf holes.  #6 is a VERY tough long par 4, where one has to go around a huge hump, or over it if one is very long... the par threes are all very strong... it also sort of builds to a crescendo with a very strong finish... 10 is a wonderful sharp dogleg, something you don't see all that much on other links... those are all things I remember liking a lot.  But it has been awhile.

TH

[klangone]

I believe the roads around Turnberry are the reason for the no return.  They obviously have a beautiful hotel.......enough rooms and all that.

[Dan Grossman]

I having only played three British Open courses (Birkdale, Lytham and Carnoustie), I would have to say that Birkdale was my least favorite of the three.  Although, much of my disdane for the course stems from the atmosphere.  But, that being said, I never got "excited" about any of the shots I had to hit.  

I found Lytham to be a far superior course, mostly because I was petrified as to where my golf ball might end up after I hit it.  Due to the bunkers and hummocks in the fairway, making a confident swing is no easy task!  I felt the complete opposite at Birkdale.  I just bashed 2-irons down the fairway, hit wedge on to the greens and tried to make putts.

[Mike_Cirba]

Dan;

That's the feeling I get from watching play at Birkdale.  

It seems to be missing holes that provide the sense of adventurous excitement that other Open venues do.  It seems more like an American US Open track where trouble is to the sides of bowling alley fairways, every green is bunkered at 7 and 5 o'clock, and the greensites are pretty uneventful.  

The one attempt to create a Mackenzie style green with two shelves looks pretty blase'.      

[Paul_Turner]

In the years I've been on GCA (4?) I can't think of many glowing reports on Birkdale.  They're usually in a "slightly disappointed" vein, like Dan's.  Interestingly, the old boys like Darwin and Allen never had Birkdale up there with the likes of Sandwich; more of a modern taste.

My fave holes are: 1, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 16, 18.
And it is a great spectating course.  The dunes are probably the most beautiful in England and I wonder what an architect like Mack, Colt, Simpson et al would have produced?  

I really want to play West Lancs, which is nearby.  Nobody appears to bother to include it in their schedule, but I've only heard good things about the course even if it isn't very photogenic.  Formby is the beauty of the region.

[Dan Grossman]

Paul -

West Lancs was neat, but my least favorite course that we played in NW England. (Birkdale, Lytham, Hillside, Formby & West Lancs).  It is a very good and testing golf course, but lacks something.  You aren't kidding about the photogenic qualities BTW, you can barely tell my pictures are of a golf course!  

If I had to order them, it would go:

1.  Lytham
big gap
2. tie (Formby / Birkdale)
3. Hillside
4. West Lancs

[THuckaby2]

Hmmm... I guess putting it in context with other courses like this is the best way to assess it.  I've played all on the current rota except St. George's, Hoylake and Lytham, and well... as I assess this I do put Birkdale just about at the bottom of these.  That being said, think about the company there - each one of them are all-world courses in the world's top 50.  I'd say Birkdale might fall just outside of this, but that's not a knock in my book - it is still a damn fine golf course.  I think it DOES have a sense of adventurous excitement, most definitely... the routing achieves this most definitely. When I see Paul Turner list all those favorite holes, well... that's a lot of golf holes.

I'd rave about the course, sure.  I loved it.  

TH

[Matt_Ward]

Paul:

I have to wonder what the reluctance would be to go back to Northern Ireland and play Dunluce / Portrush.

I can only surmise the reasons have to be attached to the political fallout.

Clearly, the course has enough teeth to handle the world's best -- given the bowling alley width fairways hemmed in by hay on all sides.

On another related subject does anyone know why Turnberry is more of an outsider now as far as future sites are concerned?

Thanks ...

[Paul_Turner]

Tom

Those are my favourite holes at Birkdale, not my favourite holes anywhere.  In my mind, none of those match up with the best holes at the other famous links.  The 12th is probably the best hole there?  Although your choice of the 6th might be my choice too.

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