Record crowds attended the Open Championship at Portrush and with golf’s biggest event set to return to Liverpool city region in 2026, hopes are high more records will be smashed. Report by Andrew Brown and Tony McDonough
Golf’s Open Championship brought the world’s best players to Royal Liverpool at Hoylake in July 2023, generating an estimated £187m for the Liverpool city region economy.
In summer 2026 the sport’s premier event returns to England’s ‘Golf Coast’ when Royal Birkdale near Southport. The famous course has hosted the Open 10 times since 1954 and has created some iconic moments.
Some of the biggies legends of the game have lifted the famous old Claret Jug at the course, including Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson. Last time it came to Birkdale in 2017 US player Jordan Spieth was the winner.
In 2026 there will be huge support for Southport-born Tommy Fleetwood, now one of the highest ranked players in the world, as he bids to win what could be his first major title.
New figures from the R&A, golf’s governing body, show this year’s Open Championship at Portrush in Northern Ireland saw 278,000 spectators attending. This was the highest ever attendance for The Open held outside of St Andrews, regarded as the home of the sport.
For the first-time ever, all Practice Days were sold out with a record 90,000 fans attending while 19,000 children were able to enjoy The Open as part of the long-running Kids go Free initiative. More than 1.2m applications were received for tickets in the ticket ballot.
The Open’s reach extended far beyond Royal Portrush to millions of TV viewers worldwide. In the UK, Sky Sports recorded its most-watched Open ever with 21.2m viewer hours, representing a significant 36% year-on-year increase.
Sky enjoyed its second-largest Sunday audience since 2021 for the final round on the Sunday. In the USA, NBC/Peacock final round coverage averaged 4.1m viewers, a 21% increase from 2024, and Sunday’s audience peaked at more than 6.1m viewers. Overall, NBC Sports’ coverage was the most-watched since 2022.
Neil Armit, chief commercial Officer at The R&A said: “The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush has truly set a new standard in attendance, TV viewership and digital engagement.
“The incredible support from the fans at The Open and those watching around the world combined with the outstanding performances on the course to create an atmosphere that will be remembered for years to come.
“These record-breaking figures are a testament to the enduring appeal of The Open and the passion of the fans for links golf at its finest.”
These figures bode well for the Open’s return to Birkdale next summer. Despite being hit by poor weather over the four days of play, more than 260,000 spectators attended the Royal Liverpool event in 2023.
The ticket ballot for The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale has seen the highest number of applications since 2022 for the Championship held at St Andrews.
There are few sporting events that can eclipse the pulling power of the Grand National at Aintree racecourse but when the Open comes to Liverpool city region it certainly gives it a run for its money.
There are four ‘majors’ in golf including the US Open, the US PGA and the US Masters, and it is the Open Championship, always held at challenging seaside links courses, that is seen as the biggest of them all.
It brings in golf fans from all over the world and particularly from the US. Hotels and other accommodation facilities around the courses and in Liverpool city centre are fully booked and restaurants and bars throng with customers.
It is a huge shot in the arm for the city region and next year’s event comes at a time when the hospitality sector is struggling with high costs and uncertain consumer spending.
Neil Armit also explained that digital platforms are playing an increasingly important role in the Championship’s success by connecting with fans in innovative and interactive ways.
During Portrush, TheOpen.com experienced record-breaking traffic achieving its most daily users and pageviews ever recorded with pageviews up 60% compared to 2024.
The Featured Groups stream also hit all-time highs in watch time and weekend performance, contributing to the second-highest ever livestream views, up 15% from 2024.
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The official Open App also saw its highest daily users ever, up 21%, with four days recording over 400,000 users. New features such as the lockscreen leaderboard and improved live stream access contributed to a significant 96% increase in average session duration.
Social media engagement soared, gaining nearly 400,000 new followers, a 178% increase from 2024, and generating more than 436m views across platforms. Key follower milestones were reached across all major platforms, including 795,000 on Instagram.
One Club presented by Mastercard, The R&A’s fan membership programme, now boasts just over two million members across 184 different countries with over 155,000 new members joining during the week – the best growth since 2022.
A version of this article first appeared in Stand Up For Southport