More people than ever attended The Open Championship at Birkdale this year.
Over 300,000 fans trod the famous Southport links this July, and those there on Sunday saw an exciting finish which culminated in Ryan Fox winning the Claret Jug for New Zealand.
For the Open next year on the Old Course at St Andrews, R&A CEO Mark Darbon reported that there were nearly 750,000 applicants in the first nine days of the ticket ballot opening.
The R&A introduced some new initiatives in 2026 to drive fan engagement on the days leading up to the championship rounds, including the Last Chance Qualifier and the Heroes Classic.
There was a redesigned official app, a new fantasy game, as well as enhanced live streaming, dedicated player coverage and expanded global television coverage implemented this year, too.
More and more, The Open is trying to steer towards the fans and pick up on what they want. With crowd numbers on the property deep into six figures, it is impossible to please everyone, and difficult at best to build infrastructure to ensure enjoyment of the action, and accessibility to amenities and respite away from it.
Tom Irwin and Matt Chivers discussed the fan experience at Royal Birkdale at the 154th Open on the NCG Golf Podcast, how the golf course used natural landscapes to create good views, and compared it to what was on offer to fans at last year’s tournament at Royal Portrush.
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How was the Open fan experience at Royal Portrush?
Tom: “This place is an amazing place to spectate. There are very few grandstands. That’s one an irk, I would say. I think that is probably to do with topography as much as anything else, by which I mean, there’s not really room for any more, and the big natural sand dunes form grandstands in their own right.
“I think the under-discussed part of the redo here has been to create much better movement of people around the property, and so people have been critical of the the removal of the par-3 14th but that has removed a massive bottleneck, and you can now get out on a tarmac road, effectively down the side of the first and out almost to the 6th hole, and you can get out on the tarmac road through what was the 14th. Getting out onto the golf course in almost three separate directions, like red arrows emanating from the clubhouse, is really, really easy.
“There are 50,000 people on the property, and there are places you can watch. It is possible to watch a lot of golf; even watching Fleetwood, the nature of the land means that if you’re willing to watch from 100 yards away, you can still get a grip of the golf. I think it’s a massive tick for me in terms of a spectator experience.
“I have to give a nod to the galleries. I’ve been out there with two kids, and to a man and a woman, every single person has let my kids push to the front of the rope. There is something deeply heartwarming about the majority of golf galleries. It is a nice place to be. It’s a safe space for people, and people are here to watch the sport and enjoy themselves, and that was really great.
Matt: “It is a great viewing course. I remember it back in 2017 – the dunes are absolutely outstanding. When you’re following groups like Fleetwood and McIlroy, the sight of people lining the dunes is absolutely brilliant.
“The 2nd, the 8th, the 13th, these tall, almost like Irish-type dunes. People are so high up watching the golf, and then they can swivel backwards and then watch another hole. It must be one of the best on the Open rota to do that.
“It is an absolute pleasure.”
Tom: “It’s like a test match where there is something about just being out there, particularly in the warmth and the dust and the early summer evening breeze, just the colours and the white clubhouse.
“This time last year, I was moaning either in writing or on here about basically a lack of ice cream vans. There are way more places to get food from. The fan village is massively improved from a volume-of-stuff point of view. We’ve been and bought a burger, we’ve been and bought an ice cream, we haven’t stood in queues, and I think that’s a lot better. I still think more could be done from an off-course entertainment point of view.
“I still think that that kind of thing could be enhanced. I recognise we’re here to watch golf, but I do like the fact that it’s moving towards being a family and inclusive day out, and I think the more that you can do off the course, the better.”
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