Royal Birkdale Golf Club

Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Green 12
Place data
Coordinates:	53 ° 37 '18.8 "  N , 3 ° 1' 56.1"  W Coordinates: 53 ° 37 '18.8 "  N , 3 ° 1' 56.1"  W.
Playable since:	1922
Extensions:	1935
Par:	72
Length:	6817 yards
Character:	Left

The Royal Birkdale Golf Club , Royal Birkdale for short , is a premium golf club in Great Britain . It is located on the coast of St George's Canal near the city of Southport between Liverpool and Blackpool and is one of the regular venues for the Open Championship , the oldest and most traditional golf tournament in the world.

history

The Birkdale Golf Club was founded in 1889 and already in the year it was founded allowed women to become members and use the courses. The course of the Birkdale Golf Club was initially built as a 9-hole course elsewhere in 1889 and was expanded to 18 holes at its current location 20 years later. In 1935 a new club house was built with a course renovation and on November 7, 1951 the royal status of a royal golf club was awarded.

The first hosting of an Open in Royal Birkdale was planned for 1940, but had to be postponed to 1946 due to the war with the hosting of the somewhat smaller British Amateur Championships .

In the post-war years, Royal Birkdale was also the venue for team competitions. Great American successes were celebrated here as early as 1948 with the Curtis Cup and in 1951 with the Walker Cup . During the 1960s, the club hosted the Ryder Cup twice . It was not until 2008 that the Irish Pádraig Harrington was the first European to end the dominance of non-European successes in Royal Birkdale and to defend the title he had won in Carnoustie the previous year .

The Ryder Cup

Place before an open

While the American success in 1965 was still safe (19.5-12.5), the Cup experienced a premiere in Royal Birkdale in 1969 with the first draw in its history. Nevertheless, the United States were allowed to keep the trophy as defending champions. As a special gesture of sporting fairness, Jack Nicklaus ' given put on the last hole to be played went down in golf history, as a possible wrong put by Tony Jacklin would have meant another American victory.

The Open Championship

So far, the British Open in Royal Birkdale has been held 9 times.

year	winner	nationality	Score
			R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1954	Peter Thomson	Australia	72	71	69	71	283 (−5)
1961	Arnold Palmer	United States	70	73	69	72	284 (−4)
1965	Peter Thomson	United States	74	68	72	71	285 (−3)
1971	Lee Trevino	United States	69	70	69	70	278 (−10)
1976	Johnny Miller	United States	72	68	73	66	279 (−9)
1983	Tom Watson	United States	67	68	70	70	275 (−9)
1991	Ian Baker-Finch	Australia	71	71	64	66	272 (−8)
1998	Mark O'Meara	United States	72	68	72	68	280 (E)
2008	Pádraig Harrington	Ireland	74	68	72	69	283 (+3)

The Women's Open Championship

In contrast to other venues for the British Open, Royal Birkdale made it possible for women to hold their own championships at an early stage and several times. As early as 1909, it was the venue for the Ladies 'British Open in Match Play and was also popular in modern ladies' golf tournaments for hosting The Women's Open Championship .

year	winner	nationality	Score
			R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1982	Marta Figueras-Dotti (amateur)	Spain					311
1986	Laura Davies	England					283
2000	Sophie Gustafson	Sweden					282
2005	Jeong Jang	South Korea	68	66	69	69	272
2010	Yani Tseng	Taiwan	68	68	68	73	277
2014	Mo Martin	United States	69	69	77	72	287

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} www.royalbirkdale.com , Official Homepage Royal Birkdale Golf Club
2. ^ Steve Newell: The World Atlas of Golf . Hamlyn, London 2010, pp. 86-87. ISBN 9780600621904
3. ^ The Open - Royal Birkdale 2008 , Official Program.
4. ↑ ^{a b} www.rydercup.com , Rydercup official homepage.