The Open / Bill Elliott / 28 June 2008 /

It took a while for Royal Birkdale and The Open Championship to come together but once they did it was instantly clear that the pair were made for each other.

When the grand, old week opens for business at this Southport links in less than three weeks it will be the ninth time that The Open has been staged on this formidably challenging stage. Given that the first Open was only staged here in 1954 this is some record and some commendation of a course that many aficionados feel is the best of its type that England can offer..

Certainly this one does. To play Birkdale on a mid-summer's evening, the sun still swinging high above the Irish Sea, the antediluvian dunes majestically framing fairways so narrow they may encourage claustrophobia, is to enjoy links golf at its best. There are many ways to describe Birkdale but heroically romantic is the best this author can offer. Hopefully those of you who have had the pleasure will know exactly what is meant.

The men who have lifted the Claret Jug at this special place will understand. Eight Championships but just seven champions and none of them European. Peter Thomson, of course, is the man who has won twice at Birkdale. The great Australian, occasionally as irascible as he was consistently brilliant, lifted the first of his five Open titles here in 1954 and eleven years later he won his fifth and final Open at the same venue. This, as it turned, was the last of the three day Championships - two rounds being played on the final day, a Friday - and when it was over an emotional Thomson called it his "greatest ever victory".

In 1961 the champ turned out to be Arnold Palmer. The great swashbuckler was not only the outstanding world player at the time, he was the first television golfing hero to millions. His decision to participate in Open Championships - most American stars had stayed away post1945 - raised the bar for everyone and his victory at Birkdale sounded a clarion call throughout the United States that has been answered ever since. His '61 win is remembered for another reason, however. Serenely moving towards victory Palmer buried his drive off the 15th tee (now the 16th) into desperately heavy rough. Against all expectations Palmer bludgeoned the ball out and on to the green 150 yards away, a prodigious feat celebrated by a plaque secured at the spot.

Another American enjoyed success in 1971. Lee Trevino, self-taught and always self-confident, had won the United States Open and then the Canadian Open immediately prior to arriving in Southport. Could he make it three national titles in succession? "It'll take a miracle but I believe in miracles, " he said. In reality it took, not miracles, just his usual brilliant shot-making to clinch the deal

By 1976 when The Open returned, Palmer's star had been eclipsed by Jack Nicklaus's but Nicklaus in turn was being threatened by Johnny Miller. The tall Californian's victory that year - Nicklaus was runner-up - is just one of four memorable things to emerge from this most vivid of Opens. Miller apart, those who attended will recall the heatwave that embraced the region, the fires that threatened and the fire-engines that waited patiently alongside fairways.

They will remember also the emergence of a teenage Severiano Ballesteros who sensationally took over Palmer's swashbuckling role and thrilled everyone with his adventurous romp to third place after leading going into the final round. And there was Maurice Flitcroft. The Barrow crane operator did not play in The Open but he tried, entering pre-qualifying at Formby as a professional despite never having played a proper round in his life and, in the words of one journalist at the time, "ruining a blizzard of triple and quadruple bogeys with a single par" on his way to a record 121 or 49 over par.

These were, of course, more trusting times and entrants are closely vetted now, but Flitcroft's half-baked attempt at qualifying fascinated and amused the watching world even if his hacking around spoiled his playing companions' day and caused the R&A considerable anguish.

By 1983 and the sixth Birkdale Open Tom Watson had taken over the mantle of world's best player. At this point the American had won four Open titles thanks to crisply authoritative iron play, aggressive putting and a steady nerve. Like Thomson before him, he was to win his fifth title in Southport and, like Thomson, it was to be his last and he was to be denied equalling Harry Vardon's record of six Championships

In 1991 Ian Baker-Finch prospered. The tall, elegant Australian was a popular player but his victory this year seemed to drain him when the initial elation was over. Baker-Finch always had looked a likely champion and his then record 64 in the third round confirmed his class but he was never to be the same competitor again. Instead he has turned out to be one of the most accomplished television analysts the game has ever enjoyed. This Open was to be Richard Boxall's nemesis too. The Englishman, in contention at the time, broke his left leg driving off the ninth tee and struggled to reach high form ever after. He, too, now graces the world of televised golf.

And so to 1998 and Mark O'Meara's triumph. By this time the American was 41 years old but despite a successful career on the United States circuit he had never come close to winning a major. This changed sensationally in 1998 when he won the United States Masters and then the Birkdale Open, inspired perhaps by practicing daily with the new, embryo superstar Tiger Woods.

Ironically, of course, O'Meara still has a better chance than Tiger of winning at Birkdale next month...

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