Heatwave to blame for Open attendance dip, claims R&A

THE R&A claimed yesterday that last week’s weather was too good for golf fans and caused the unprecedented drop in attendance at the Open Championship.

Chief executive Peter Dawson said before the championship the club expecting 160,000 fans at Muirfield and was hoping for 170,000, but final figures showed just 142,036, more than 18,000 lower than the 2002 championship at Muirfield.

Almost all the missing number would have paid the walk-up price of £75, meaning that the championship took a £1.35 million hit on their own projected figures.

The numbers were slightly improved on Sunday after Thursday’s total was over 7,000 down on 2002 and Friday’s over 5,000 down. Saturday figures showed a drop of 4,500, with the final day figures to see Phil Mickelson’s victory coming in at 29,247, down from 31,422 on those present to watch Ernie Els win 11 years ago.

Pay-at-the-gate ticket prices of £75 — more than double the £35 fans paid in 2002 — have been blamed as the number of spectators for practice days from Sunday to Wednesday last week was slightly up on the last time the championship was at Muirfield.

It was only when the full-price ticket — up £5 on last year at Lytham and £15 more than fans paid at Sandwich in 2011 — kicked in onThursday that numbers attending plummeted.

As the R&A admitted that advance sales of tickets compared well to other years, the slump does seem to have caught them by surprise.

Traditionally the chief figures in the R&A holds a Monday morning press conference with the media to discuss matters arising from the championship, but the club announced on Sunday night that it would not be doing so this year, for the first time in over a quarter of a century.

Instead, a spokesman claimed the R&A was pleased with the attendance and blamed the good weather for the slump in attendance.

“More than 142,000 people attended the Open,” he said.

“That is almost 90% of the figure in 2002 and we are pleased with this attendance. Advance ticket sales were very strong and we believe the extremely warm weather put off some of our payat-the-gate customers.

“That is perhaps why, unusually, we had a higher attendance on Sunday in cooler weather than we did on Friday, which is normally the busiest day.

“The blend of a British winner of the Tour de France and Ashes cricket on television over the last few days may also have had an impact.”

More than 180,000 fans were at Lytham last year when tickets cost £70, although children under 16 are given free entry when accompanied by an adult.

Although the R&A claimed the weather cut attendance last week, the record for an Open held at a venue other than St Andrews — in excess of 220,000 — was at Hoylake in 2006, the last time the championship was played in the midst of a heatwave.