Royal Lytham & St Annes has been off the championship radar since 2018 but now it’s very much back at the top table with the news that it will host the 156th Open in 2028.
The date – why we worry about such things two years out is anybody’s guess – will be at the slightly later date of August 3 due to the Olympics in Los Angeles and it will be the 12th time the Lancashire hot-spot has hosted the Championship.
But also the first since 2012 when Ernie Els got the better of Adam Scott for his fourth and final Major win.
The news means that Muirfield and Turnberry won’t be returning to the Open roster until 2029 at the earliest. There has also been talk about Portmarnock joining the party but that too will have to wait.
The good news is that Lytham is back though and there are lots of reasons to look forward to its return in two summers.
1 The course is phenomenal and, given the opportunity to play any of the Open’s layouts, I’d have it in the top five (with the Old Course, Muirfield, Turnberry and St George’s). The opening few holes, particularly 2 and 3, are outstanding and it has the unique opening of a par 3. Few Open courses boast much interest straight from the opening shot but Lytham’s 205-yarder is a beauty with the railway line lurking just off to the right.
2 We all know about Lytham’s 16th, thanks to Seve. But it’s the next hole which is the jewel in the closing crown. This is a brilliantly-bunkered par 4 that swings from right to left and is the perfect penultimate hole for an Open.
Other favourites are the shortish 13th before two brutish par 4s while Jack Nicklaus identified the par-3 12th as one of greatest holes in the game.
3 There have also been some notable changes since we last came here, which we’ll get to see at this year’s AIG Women’s Open, in particular the par-5 11th which has been straightened out. The 8th has also been tweaked and both holes have already been warmly welcomed.
4 The roll call of winners here is on a par with Muirfield; Bobby Jones, Bobby Locke, Peter Thomson, Bob Charles, Tony Jacklin, Gary Player, Seve Ballesteros (2), Tom Lehman, David Duval and Ernie Els. Maybe we make too much of this but the chance to relive some of Seve’s heroics always makes for a good build-up.
5 The red-brick clubhouse is fantastic, inside and out. Inside is some incredible memorabilia, with some very special portraits, and there’s a great feel to the place. Years ago I interviewed Peter Alliss and asked him, of all the Open venues, where he’d like to be a member?
Quick as a flash, he answered Lytham because this was where you felt the members would ‘most likely start a food fight!’
From the outside it makes for maybe the second (behind St Andrews) best 18th-hole setting on the Open rota. An historic clubhouse that sits just the right distance from the putting surface.
6 Lytham ranks strangely low in some GB&I Top 100 rankings. If you’ve played there you will likely disagree with this though plenty is made about the bunkering and how tough it is. Since Mackenzie & Ebert’s renovations ahead of the 2012 Open around 40 bunkers were removed and the course has continued to improve and soften slightly in terms of difficulty.
7 Lytham suffers from its surrounds given it doesn’t run alongside the coast and rather sits inside a lot of housing. But, when you are either playing or watching golf here, none of that matters. The layout, turf and setting is incredible and it’s a very welcome return to the greatest Championship in the game.
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Article Link: Royal Lytham Open 2028: Course guide and key reasons to be excited