Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Royal Birkdale Golf Club: George Lowe (1897), redesigned by Hawtree and J H Taylor Ltd (Frederick Hawtree and J.H. Taylor) (1930). Par 70, 7,176 yards. Ryan Fox won the 2026 Open Championship here with 270 (−10).
Royal Birkdale Golf Club: George Lowe (1897), redesigned by Hawtree and J H Taylor Ltd (Frederick Hawtree and J.H. Taylor) (1930). Par 70, 7,176 yards. Ryan Fox won the 2026 Open Championship here with 270 (−10).
Royal Birkdale Golf Club: George Lowe (1897), redesigned by Hawtree and J H Taylor Ltd (Frederick Hawtree and J.H. Taylor) (1930). Par 70, 7,176 yards. Ryan Fox won the 2026 Open Championship here with 270 (−10).
Updated October 24, 2026
33 editions on the record, by event, newest first.
The R&A
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | The Open Championship Ryan Fox | 270 (−10) | by 1 stroke |
| 2017 | Jordan Spieth | 268 (−12) | by 3 strokes |
| 2008 | Pádraig Harrington | 283 (+3) | by 4 strokes |
| 1998 | Mark O'Meara | 280 (E) | won in a playoff |
| 1991 | Ian Baker-Finch | 272 (−8) | by 2 strokes |
| 1983 | Tom Watson | 275 (−9) | by 1 stroke |
| 1976 | Johnny Miller | 279 (−9) | by 6 strokes |
| 1971 | Lee Trevino | 278 (−14) | lowest winning score in this event · by 1 stroke |
| 1965 | Peter Thomson | 285 (−7) | by 2 strokes |
| 1961 | Arnold Palmer | 284 (−4) | by 1 stroke |
| 1954 | Peter Thomson | 283 (−9) | by 1 stroke |
Ryder Cup Europe / PGA of America
The R&A
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Mo Martin | 287 (−1) | by 1 stroke |
| 2010 | Yani Tseng | 277 (−11) | by 1 stroke |
| 2005 | Jeong Jang | 272 (−16) | lowest winning score in this event · by 4 strokes |
| 2000 | Sophie Gustafson | 282 (−10) | by 2 strokes |
| 1986 | Laura Davies | 283 | by 4 strokes |
| 1982 | Marta Figueras-Dotti | 296 (E) | by 1 stroke |
pre-European Tour
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | British Masters Cobie Legrange | 288 | by 1 stroke |
| 1963 | PGA Championship (European Tour) Peter Butler | 306 | by 2 strokes |
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Mark Wiebe | 271 (−9) | won in a playoff · The R&A / European Senior Tour |
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Howard Clark | 279 (−9) | by 3 strokes · European Tour |
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Nick Faldo | 278 (−10) | by 7 strokes · European Tour / DP World Tour |
The R&A
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Joe Long | 4 & 3 | |
| 2005 | Brian McElhinney | 5 & 4 | |
| 1989 | Stephen Dodd | 5 & 3 | |
| 1946 | Jimmy Bruen | 4 & 3 |
The R&A
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Marine Monnet | 1 up | |
| 1962 | Marley Spearman | 1 up | |
| 1909 | Dorothy Campbell | 4 & 3 |
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | United States | 7.5-4.5 | USGA / The R&A |
| Year | Champion | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | United States | 6.5-2.5 | USGA / The R&A |
At the 1969 Ryder Cup Jack Nicklaus holed his own par putt on the 18th and picked up Tony Jacklin's marker, halving the match and the whole Ryder Cup for the first time; the gesture became known as "the concession".
Source: Royal Birkdale GC: History
In the final round of the 2017 Open Jordan Spieth drove onto a huge dune right of the 13th, took an unplayable drop onto the practice ground and saved bogey, then went birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie to beat Matt Kuchar by three.
Source: Royal Birkdale GC: History
In the third round of the 2017 Open Branden Grace shot 62, the lowest score ever recorded in a men's major.
Source: Royal Birkdale GC: History
Seventeen-year-old amateur Justin Rose holed a pitch over the bunker on the 18th in the final round of the 1998 Open, his last shot before turning professional.
Source: Royal Birkdale GC: History
In the heatwave Open of 1976 fire broke out on the course; Johnny Miller won by six from Jack Nicklaus and a 19-year-old Seve Ballesteros.
Source: Royal Birkdale GC: History
George Tonge's 1935 Art Deco clubhouse, built to resemble an ocean liner sailing through the dunes, looks down over the 18th green.
Fairways run through flat-bottomed valleys between the dunes rather than over them, a principle set by F.G. Hawtree and J.H. Taylor, so tee shots are rarely blind.
A plaque marks the spot on the old 15th (now the 16th) where Arnold Palmer played a shot from a bush to save par in the final round of his 1961 Open win.
Source: Royal Birkdale GC: History
The par-3 12th, built in the 1960s to replace the former 17th, carries a natural hollow and four deep pot bunkers to a narrow raised green set among dunes.
George Lowe
Grand remodelling as part of a seven-year plan to championship standard; holes routed through valleys between the sandhills (new clubhouse opened 1935)
Source: Royal Birkdale GC history
After the 1991 Open all 18 greens dug up, re-designed and relaid
Source: Royal Birkdale GC history
Renovation (changes to par-3 holes, bunkers, tees and paths per club history)
Source: Royal Birkdale GC history · Wikipedia: Royal Birkdale Golf Club
The PGA Tour and DP World Tour weeks at this course since 2017.
| Year | Event | Winner | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | The Open Championship 16–19 July 2026 | Ryan Fox | both |
| 2017 | The Open Championship | Jordan Spieth | both |
Every value is shown as recorded in GNN's tour-course research (profiles, championship history, the tour's visits since 2017, stories, details and course changes, each with its sources). A value no source confirmed is left out; nothing is estimated. The light in the room is the sun's real position on the last day of a recorded visit.
The routing and ground are drawn from OpenStreetMap data, © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License (ODbL). The clubhouse is drawn by GNN from reference photographs; the photographs stay private.
Data: royal-birkdale-golf-club.json. Spot an error? See corrections.