Record breaking crowds at Royal Birkdale

The R&A has  announced  that 235,000 spectators attended this year’s The Open at Royal Birkdale, making it officially the largest crowd for an Open staged outside of St Andrews.

With 230,000 attending Royal Liverpool in 2006, the 235,000 attendance figure makes it the largest ever Open held in England and is also a 17% increase since the last Open was staged at Royal Birkdale in 2008.

Record advance ticket sales made it the fastest–selling Championship in history and included more than 15,000 Youth Tickets. In total 30,000 golf fans under the age of 25 attended The Open, 13% 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.”

With the no re-entry policy that the R&A enforced there will undoubtedly also be records broken for food and drink sales. But that, as they say, is another story.

Related:

Why The Open was closed for business