Spectator Information / Future Venues

2008 July 17-20 Lancashire Course, Royal Birkdale, Merseyside. www.royalbirkdale.com Royal Birkdale The course is at the southern edge of Southport in Merseyside. The Open has been played eight times at Royal Birkdale since it was added to the list of championship courses in 1954.  That year Peter Thomson won the first of three Opens in succession, returning in 1965 to add his fifth and final title.  Arnold Palmer's victory in 1961 is recognised as the turning point in the fortunes of The Open, giving new life and international impact to the Championship.  Only Ian Baker-Finch in 1991 has broken the run of American successes achieved by Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson and Mark O'Meara.  Royal Birkdale Golf Club has occupied its present site since 1897, nine years after the club was founded.  The basis of today's design, with fairways snaking between huge sand dunes, was created in the 1920s.  In preparation for the 1965 Open and Ryder Cup the clubhouse was extended, a new par-three 12th hole created and the closing holes re-developed.  The course was also the scene of the dramatic halved Ryder Cup encounter in 1969. View accommodation information 2009 July 16-19 Ailsa Course, Turnberry, Ayrshire http://www.turnberry.co.uk/ Turnberry Built as a luxury hotel and golf course development by the Glasgow and South Western Railway Company in 1903, Turnberry became a landing strip for planes of the Royal Flying Corps during the first world war and for Beaufighters and Liberators on anti-submarine and convoy protection patrols during the second global conflict. A massive two-year rebuilding programme led to the re-designed Ailsa course being opened in 1951. A decade later Michael Bonallack won the Amateur Championship over the spectacular links and in 1977 Turnberry played host to its first Open Championship. In brilliant sunshine Jack Nicklaus played the two final rounds in 65-66, losing by a single shot to Tom Watson in a dramatic head-to-head contest, with the rest of the field trailing 11 shots behind. The weather and the course were tougher propositions when the Championship returned in 1986. After a brutal first day, conditions were still bad enough to allow only 15 players to beat par in the second round. But Greg Norman defied the elements and played one of the truly great Championship rounds, opening up a significant lead with a 63, to claim his first major title by five shots. There was a much closer finish in 1994 when Jesper Parnevik of Sweden dropped a shot at the last and was overtaken by Nick Price who holed a monstrous eagle putt at the 17th hole of the final round to win with rounds of 69-66-67-66. 2010 July 15-18 Old Course, St Andrews, Fife http://www.standrews.org.uk St Andrews The 150th anniversary of The Open Championship will be marked by a return to St Andrews. The 2010 Championship will be the 28th Open played over the Old Course since 1873. Although the course has been lengthened with the creation of new tees over the past decade, the Old Course is essentially unchanged from the days of Old Tom Morris. Golf has been played over this same stretch of linksland for more than 600 years. From J H Taylor and James Braid, through the eras of Bobby Jones and Sam Snead, to Peter Thomson and Bobby Locke and on to Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods - all the great names in golf have trodden the fairways of St Andrews and carried away the famous silver claret jug from the historic grey stone city on Scotland's east coast. 2011 Royal St George’s www.royalstgeorges.com Royal St George’s The first course outside Scotland to stage The Open Championship is set in a vast area of natural linksland on the Kent coast near to the ancient town of Sandwich. Founded in 1887 by Laidlaw Purves, an eminent Scottish consultant ophthalmologist at Guy’s Hospital in London, it played host to the Amateur Championship in 1892 and to The Open two years later. J H Taylor was the winner with a score of 326, the highest four-round total ever recorded in the Championship. Harry Vardon bettered that by 16 shots in 1899 and won again at Sandwich in 1911. Walter Hagen led the American invasion with victory in 1922 and again in 1928, and Henry Cotton restored home fortunes in 1934 before Bobby Locke started his run of four titles with a play-off win over Harry Bradshaw in 1949. American Bill Rogers was the winner when the Championship returned to Royal St George’s after a gap of 32 years, swiftly followed by Sandy Lyle’s 1985 triumph. Greg Norman set a blistering pace with rounds of 66-68-69-64 to win by two shots from Nick Faldo in 1993 and 10 years later Ben Curtis claimed The Open title at his first attempt. 2012 Royal Lytham & St Annes www.royallytham.org Royal Lytham & St Annes The Lancashire club could hardly have had a better introduction to Championship golf than the victory by legendary American amateur Bobby Jones when The Open was first played there in 1926. Bobby Locke (1952), Peter Thomson (1958) and Bob Charles (1963) were the next three winners before Tony Jacklin signalled the revival of British golf in 1969 with the first home victory since Max Faulkner 18 years earlier at Royal Portrush. Gary Player was next on the podium at Lytham before Seve Ballesteros lit the fuse of European golf with a brilliant short game display in 1979 to finish three shots clear of Jack Nicklaus and Ben Crenshaw. He returned for his third Open title in 1988, closing with a round of 65 to win by two from Nick Price with Nick Faldo in third place, six shots behind. Tom Lehman became the first American professional winner at Lytham, his six-shot overnight lead trimmed to two by Mark McCumber and Ernie Els on the final day in 1996, and fellow US pro David Duval was three strokes clear of Niclas Fasth of Sweden in winning the Championship in 2001.

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