Royal Birkdale breaks attendance records

A record-breaking crowd of 235,000 attended The 146th Open at Royal Birkdale setting an attendance record for a Championship staged outside of St Andrews.

This year’s attendance surpassed the 230,000 mark set at Royal Liverpool in 2006, making it the largest ever Championship held in England and reflects a 17 per cent increase since The Open last visited Royal Birkdale in 2008.

Record advance ticket sales made it the fastest-selling Championship in history and included more than 15,000 Youth Tickets. Overall 30,000 golf fans under the age of 25 attended The Open, 13 per cent of the total crowd, and included over 15,000 juniors aged 16 and under who attended free-of-charge as part of the Kids Go Free initiative.

Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A, said: “One of the main reasons why The Open is so highly regarded as a world class sporting event is the hundreds of thousands of spectators who generate a very special atmosphere for the players and millions of viewers watching around the world. A record-breaking crowd has enjoyed a week of thrilling golf and we thank every single person who has visited Royal Birkdale over the last eight days for making this a very special Championship.”

The 147th Open will take place at Carnoustie from 15-22 July 2018.

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A graduate of Cardiff University’s highly respected post-graduate magazine journalism course, Andy has successfully edited four different publications across the B2B, trade and consumer sectors. He is skilled at all aspects of the magazine process in addition to editing websites and managing social media channels.