Harold Brough looks forward to the world’s best golf tournament coming once again to the North West in July
The Open, one of the great sporting events of the summer, is on its way to Royal Liverpool, one of the great links courses of Britain, a traditional home where golf history has been made, great deeds have been performed and great champions made.
As the grandstands and the marquees go up, Hoylake, on the shores of the Dee, is preparing itself for the great invasion of fans from around the country and the world, the multi-million pounds cash return that will set the tills ringing in hotels, restaurants and others places. There will be the benefits too for the little cafes and bed and breakfast places and as thousands arrive several hundred of the locals will move out, letting their homes, a nice little earner indeed, at this Open as with others in the past.
At the Muirfield Open in Scotland last year the crowds totalled 142,000 but that will not compare with Royal Liverpool this year and particularly if the sun shines.
The Open is golf’s oldest major, played since 1860 on British links, and Royal Liverpool, along with Royal Lytham and Royal Birkdale, is part of the great Open venues of Britain, perhaps the finest golf links’ land in Britain. This will be the fifth time the Open has been held in the North West in 14 years.
Crowds reached 240,000 last time it was at Royal Liverpool in 2006 and though the weather will be a key factor Hoylake, easily accessible by road and rail, can confidently expect around 200,000 this time.
Its traditions go deep. Built in 1869 on what was the racecourse of the Liverpool Hunt Club it is the oldest of the seaside courses in England, with the exception of Westward Ho! In Devon and in the names of two holes – Course and Stand – the association with those distant days of racing can still be recalled.
Those who come from around the world to play follow in the footsteps of a great procession of now distant famous names, find a place of memories and perhaps in quiet moments recalled their names, great deeds and moments in the history of British golf. For example, in 1902, practising for the Open, Alec ‘Sandy ‘Herd’ – his career included 19 holes-in-one – was invited to try out a new golf ball. He liked it and used it in winning the championship. So the rubber-cored ball came in and the ‘gutty’ went into the golf museums.
The history books record Hoylake’s distinguished place in the amateur game. In 1885 the first Amateur competition was held here, in 1902 the first international between England and Scotland, later to become the Home International, and in 1921 the first international between Great Britain and the United States, the challenge that became famous as the Walker Cup. Then there were the great amateurs the local boys, Harold Hilton winner of the Amateur four times and John Ball eight times, legends to be followed by the greatest amateur of all time, perhaps the greatest golfer in the history of the game, the American Bobby Jones whose collection of honours included, in 1930, the Amateur and Open Championships on both sides of the Atlantic including his win at Hoylake that year.
Then aged 28 with nothing left to achieve he retired. His body had suffered under the strain of competitive golf and, not a healthy young man, he eventually became the victim of a debilitating illness that would put him in a wheelchair and golf was left to consider what he might have achieved if he had enjoyed good health.. He died aged 69 and his legacy is not just his list of achievements but the Augusta club in America, home of the Masters he and his friends helped to form.
The golf test at Royal Liverpool can vary with the winds that swing from the gentle caress of a summer breeze to an icy gale and it has always presented a mighty challenge for the finest golfers across many decades. So it will have been a surprise and disappointment when Hoylake was not chosen as an Open venue for almost 40 years.
The problems were doubts about whether there was the space to accommodate the growing crowds. Then more land became available and in 2006 Hoylale was back as an Open venue, and with the traditions and affections for the old links there was a genuine sense of a celebration, of a homecoming, now reinforced with the Open there once again, now after a gap of eight years.
The economic benefits to the Wirral and Liverpool have been estimated at £75 million, a little more than half going to the Liverpool area. There are the paying customers and the return from television, the watching millions even if for many golf with its talk of players out and in, birdies, eagles and albatrosses is as baffling as the long legs and silly mid-ons in cricket. It is a nice spectacle, a sport played by nice people in lovely places and even those not familiar with the intricacies of golf perhaps recognise that here is something of an outpost in modern sport, a game played with grace, good manners and sportsmanship.
The letting business has been booming. The demand has been for high standard properties close to the course but a place within a mile of the club could expect £1,000 per person for a ten-day let. A three-bedroom house able to accommodate six might expect £6,000 and those with more spaces perhaps £20,000.
About 700 people will be moving out, basically letting their homes to golfers and corporate businesses. Most will go to live with relatives or friends for the duration of the tournament or, not surprisingly, go on a sunshine holiday.
Like many old courses Hoylake has adapted to maintain the golf challenge in the modern age. Many golf courses were designed long ago and there players with modern equipment are now hitting the ball awesome distances, able to knock the ball over the bunkers, reach greens with ease in a number of strokes unimaginable years ago.
Hoylake made changes before the arrival of the 2006 Open and has made more for in readiness for this summer to maintain the golf test at the highest level.
Some of the holes have been lengthened and in total the links is now at least 100 yards longer than in 2006. More work has been carried out on the bunkers and there are more swales, those subtle little rises and falls in the land around the greens, gathering the ball towards the putting surface or sending it away from the flag.
As a past captain of Hoylake put it: ‘I think the course will be at its toughest ever.’ So the winner will be not just a great golfer but a thinking golfer, like Tiger Woods winner in 2006 with a flawless display of golf, who used his big-hitting driver only once and relied on his iron clubs, to make sure of keeping the ball on the fairways.
The organisers and indeed the region will hope for fine weather to bring in the crowds and the money. But around Royal Liverpool there are those who will hope the weather is not all sunshine and gentle breezes, that there is at least some time when the weather is less kind, when the wind blows strong from the sea. Then the old links will indeed present a truly worthy test of the best and another great champion will hold the famous Claret Jug.
As the distinguished golf writer and historian Bernard Darwin wrote long ago: ‘Hoylake, blown upon by mighty winds, breeder of mighty champions.’
Open Championship, Royal Liverpool. July 13-20.
Tickets. For on-line bookings see www.theopen.com.
Practice days. Adults. Sunday £15, Monday £25. Tuesday £30. Wednesday £40. Accompanied under 16s free. Concessions 16-21.
Championship. Daily tickets, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday £75. Season ticket including practice days £240. Accompanied under 16s free. Concessions 16-21.
Or call ticket office 01334 460010 or 460000,