TALES OF HIGH DRAMA AT BIRKDALE

1954

AUSTRALIAN Peter Thomson wins the first of five titles as Birkdale hosts The Open for the first time. Thomson collects £750 for his efforts and wins The Open again in 1955, 1956, 1958 and 1965.

1961

ARNOLD PALMER wins his first Open title in dreadful conditions. His play in the gale in the second round is among his finest and a plaque celebrates his famous six-iron second shot on the 16th.

1965

THOMSON wins his fifth Open title against a formidable field that includes Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus. The Australian champion describes it as his greatest win.

1971

HAVING won the US Open a few weeks earlier, Lee Trevino (left) adds the The Open after beating Taiwan’s Lu Liang-Huan by one stroke. Trevino would retain his title at Muirfield in 1972.

1976

IT IS so hot and dry that fire breaks out on the course but that doesn’t stop Johnny Miller posting a last-round 66 to finish six shots clear of runners-up Nicklaus and Seve Ballesteros.

198

THE fifth and final Open win for Tom Watson (right) and his eighth and final major title. The American sets a Birkdale record of 275, nine under par, to finish one stroke clear.

1991

IAN BAKER-FINCH holes five birdies in the first seven holes of the final round and never looks back. It is the Aussie’s sole major title and continues Europe’s drought at Birkdale.

1998

MARK O’MEARA (right) won the Masters in April and adds The Open by beating fellow American Brian Watts in a play-off. Justin Rose, a 17-year-old amateur, ties for fourth.

2008

WITH Tiger Woods absent, Ireland’s Padraig Harrington becomes the first non-British European to win The Open at Birkdale and claims a second successive title.