Royal Birkdale Golf Club

Royal Birkdale Golf Club

Clubhouse in 2005
Club information
Location in Southport, north of Liverpool city centre
Coordinates	53°37′19″N 3°01′59″W / 53.622°N 3.033°W / 53.622; -3.033
Location	Southport, England
Established	1889 (1894)
Type	Private
Total holes	18
Tournaments hosted	The Open Championship, The Amateur, Senior British Open Women's British Open
Website	royalbirkdale.com
Designed by	Frederick G. Hawtree J.H. Taylor
Par	70
Length	7,173 yards (6,559 m)

Royal Birkdale Golf Club is a golf course in the town of Southport, England, and is one of the clubs in the Open Championship rotation for both men and women. It has hosted the men's championship nine times, first in 1954 and most recently in July 2008. It is scheduled to host the 2017 Open Championship. Previous winners of the Open at Royal Birkdale are Pádraig Harrington, Mark O'Meara, Ian Baker-Finch, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer and Peter Thomson (twice). It hosted the women's tournament for a sixth time in 2014, and was the site of the Senior Open Championship in 2013.

Royal Birkdale has also hosted the Ryder Cup (1965, 1969), the Walker Cup (1951), and the Curtis Cup (1948).

Founded as Birkdale Golf Club in 1889, the club was awarded "Royal" status in 1951. Birkdale Golf Club moved to a new site in Birkdale Hills in 1894 and built a new distinctive art deco clubhouse 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 in the Amateur Championship, won by Irishman James Bruen. During the immediate post-war 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 the club has been on the Open rota ever since.