Royal Birkdale Golf Club is a golf course in Southport, England. 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 eleven times between 1954 and 2026. 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), Jordan Spieth, and Ryan Fox.

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.

History Founded in 1889 as Birkdale Golf Club, the club was awarded "Royal" status in 1951. Birkdale Golf Club moved to a new site in Birkdale Hills in 1894, and a new distinctive art deco clubhouse was built in 1935. In early 1939, Birkdale was nominated as the venue for the 1940 Open Championship but the Second World War started in September 1939 and the Championship was cancelled.

In 1946, the club finally hosted its first big championship, 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. Frederick G. Hawtree and champion golfer J.H. Taylor are the two people most responsible for the current routing, 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. 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."British Open Preview 2008", Ronald Whitten, Golf Digest, July 2008. The course was ranked as the 18th-best in the world outside the United States, in the 2007 rankings by Golf Digest magazine.Golf Digest, May 2007.

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.

In 2013, the club hosted the Senior Open Championship.

In the run-up to the 2026 Open Championship, a number of alterations were made to the course, most notably: The bow-shaped fairway of the 5th hole was straightened out. The green of the 7th hole was raised. The 14th hole was removed from the course. The 15th hole was lengthened and became the new 14th hole. A new par-3 15th hole was built, with the clubhouse as backdrop. Bunkers were dug out or filled in around the course.

Open Championship The Open Championship was first held at Royal Birkdale in 1954 and has hosted eleven times. YearWinnerParScoreWinner'sshare (£) R1 R2 R3 R4 Total1954 Peter Thomson 1st73 72716971283 (−9)7501961 Arnold Palmer 1st72 70736972284 (−4)1,4001965 Peter Thomson 5th7374687271285 (−7)1,7501971 Lee Trevino 1st7369706970278 (−14)5,5001976 Johnny Miller 7272687366279 (−9)7,5001983 Tom Watson 5th7167687070275 (−9)40,0001991 Ian Baker-Finch 7071716466272 (−8)90,0001998 Mark O'Meara 7072687268280 (E)PO300,0002008 Pádraig Harrington 2nd7074687269283 (+3)750,0002017 Jordan Spieth 70 65696569268 (−12)1,420,0002026 Ryan Fox 70 72 68 62 68 270 (–10) 2,388,000

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, subsequent figures in pounds are rounded estimates.

Women’s British Open Winners of the Women's British Open at Royal Birkdale. The course was the first on the men's rota to be placed into the women's rota. YearWinnerWinner'sshare ($)1982 Marta Figueras-Dotti (a) (10,350) 1986 Laura Davies 12,9002000 Sophie Gustafson 178,0002005 Jeong Jang280,0282010 Yani Tseng1st408,7142014 Mo Martin474,575

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

Lengths of the course for previous Opens:

2017: , par 70 2008: , par 70 1998: , par 70 1991: , par 70 1983: , par 71

1976: , par 72 1971: , par 73 1965: , par 73 1961: , par 72 1954: , par 73

See also List of golf clubs granted Royal status

References

External links

Video Tour: Every Hole at Royal Birkdale - by Golf Digest