The 137th edition of the British Open Golf Championship begins Thursday at the storied Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England, alongside the Lancashire coast. It was 10 years ago that the Open Championship was last played at Birdkdale, and what a difference a decade can make.
Mark O”Meara captured his second major title of the year in 1998, outlasting journeyman Brian Watts in a playoff. Tiger Woods, with one major title to his name, was rebuilding his golf swing. An English teenager, amateur Justin Rose, stole the show by holing out for birdie from the gunk on the final hole to finish in fourth place, just two strokes shy of the O”Meara-Watts playoff.
A regular on the British Open golf course rotation for more than 60 years, Royal Birkdale fits the bill for Open sites as a links-style course. However, it is a most unique design when compared to other links courses. First built in 1932 by British golf course architect Frederic G. Hawtree, the golf course was new even though the site was not. Hawtree and his partner, J.H. Taylor of Great Triumvirate fame, redid the entire old Birkdale course, making it a bonafide championship venue. Hawtree, who had been in the golf course architecture business since 1912, routed the holes between gigantic sand dunes, making for a visually interesting golf experience as well as a natural setting for spectators atop the dunes.
The 1940 Open was slated for the new Birkdale championship course, but when World War II broke out the previous year, the tournament would take a six-year hiatus and Birkdale would be used during that time as a military base. Its art-nouveau-styled clubhouse would serve as barracks.
In 1954, Royal Birkdale hosted the first of its eight Open championships. The professionals of that era found a course many termed “the fairest of the championship courses.” While the weather could be nasty on the Lancashire coast and one wouldn”t want to stray off the fairways and end up in the monstrous dunes, the fairways themselves were a joy to play. Unlike other links courses with bumps and mounds, the fairways were close to perfectly flat, the result of Hawtree”s grading of the entire course. The so-call vagaries of links golf will be non-existent due to the flatness of the fairways.
Australian Peter Thomson won his first of five British Open titles in 1951 and he began a trend that continues to this very day. Only Australians and American have won the Open Championship when Royal Birkdale has served as the host site. By the way, Thomson”s share of the purse for coming in first in 1951 was $1,500.
The open returned to Birkdale in 1961 and the world”s No. 1 golfer, Arnold Palmer, broke through with the first of his two British Open victories. A mere four years later, Thomson won again on the links in Birkdale. His win in the 1965 Open was his fifth and final major championship.
Following the 1965 Open, Fred. W. Hawtree, the son of the original designer of the Birkdale championship course, altered the links. He changed the routing of some of the holes, knocked down the dunes fronting the blind tee shot on the par-3 fourth hole, and moved the bunkers farther back to impact the golfers of the era.
In 1971, Lee Trevino won his first Open title at Birkdale. He would go on to defend his title the following year at Muirfield. In 1976, Johnny Miller caught a weekend of beautiful weather and stormed to a final-round 66 at Birkdale to win his lone British Open title by an incredible six-shot margin. The 1983 Open at Birkdale marked the end of Tom Watson”s reign atop the golfing world. He would win his fifth Open title that July at Birkdale as well as his eighth and final major championship.
In 1991, Australian Ian Baker-Finch, better known today as a television golf commentator, had his one-hit wonder moment by winning the Open championship at Birkdale. His blistered the front nine with a 29 on Sunday and rode that wave to the title. It was his one big moment on golf”s center stage.
Following the 1991 Open, Martin Hawtree, the grandson of the course designer, was hired to doctor up Royal Birkdale. He put undulations into the pancake flat greens and moved a number of the greens to positions closer to the dune. He also took out some 6,000 trees that served as the boundary for the links, creating an effect wherein the wind would play a more predominant role on the course.
This time around, Royal Birkdale will play to a par of 70 and a length of 7,173 yards. There aren”t any par-5s on the front side, and the out-and-in nines play to 34-36 (70). The final four holes are the meat and potatoes of the course. The 15th is a 550-yard par-5 with 15 bunkers. The 16th is a par-4 that measures out to 440 yards. The 17th is another par-5, this time lengthened to 590 yards. The 18th hole is a tough par-4 that is a beastly 480 yards.
With no Tiger Woods in the field, it”s a wide-open chase for the Open Championship. Historically, Phil Mickelson doesn”t play well in the British Open. Something about hitting a full lob wedge into gale-force winds. Sergio Garcia stated in a recent interview that “I won”t change to win a major,” so I think it”s safe to cross him off the list of top contenders. Justin Rose, Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley are ready for a breakthrough moment, and yet the flat stick has always deserted them at major championship moments. America”s hottest golfer, Kenny Perry, is taking a pass on playing in the British Open. Instead, he will be competing in the Greater Milwaukee Open. Go figure.
Maybe it”s time for Ernie Els to re-establish his credentials and win the Open at Birkdale. He already has an Open title on his golfing resume. Then again, he”s never returned to past form since he had major knee surgery some three years ago. Maybe we should expect a journeyman to win the 137th British Open title at Royal Birkdale next week. It could be shades of Ian Baker-Finsh, Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton.
