Royal Birkdale Golf Club

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Royal Birkdale Golf Club in the town of Southport, England, is one of the clubs in the Open Championship rotation. The club has hosted The Open eight times since 1954, with the next championship to be held in 2008. Previous winners of the Open at Royal Birkdale are Mark O'Meara, Ian Baker-Finch, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer and Peter Thomson (on two separate occasions). Birkdale is the only course in the Open rotation that has never had a champion from the United Kingdom.

Royal Birkdale has also hosted the Ryder Cup, the Walker Cup, and the Curtis Cup.

[edit] History

Founded as Birkdale Golf Club in 1889, the club had to wait until 1951 for it to get the "Royal" status. In 1946 the club hosted its first big championship in The Amateur Championship. During this time the club also hosted the 1948 Curtis Cup, in which the United States team were victorious, and the 1951 Walker Cup, which also fell into the hands of the United States. Several constructions, including a move in 1894 and a new clubhouse in 1935 also kept the members busy. During the 60's the club played host to two Ryder Cups, one in 1965 and another in 1969. In the 1965 edition, the United States took the cup in a playoff between Arnold Palmer and Julius Boros. The Ryder Cup of 1969 however ended in a tie, when Jack Nicklaus generously gave a short putt to Tony Jacklin.

[edit] Open Championships

The Open Championship has been held at Royal Birkdale eight times, since it was first staged there in 1954. The championship is also scheduled to be held there in 2008.

Year	Winner	Notes
1954	Peter Thomson	Thomsons first of five Open titles.
1961	Arnold Palmer	First of two Opens in a row.
1965	Peter Thomson	Thomsons last of his five Open titles.
1971	Lee Trevino	First of two Opens in a row.
1976	Johnny Miller	His only Open Championship win, by 6 strokes.
1983	Tom Watson	Watsons last of five Open titles.
1991	Ian Baker-Finch	His first and only major title.
1998	Mark O'Meara	Second major of the year after his Masters win.
2008