GULLANE, SCOTLAND | Eleven years ago, when Muirfield hosted the most recent of its 16 Open Championships, a total of 140,000 spectators followed play. When it comes to the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers’ next hosting of the event – possibly but not certainly in 2028 – the R&A wants the club to up that figure from 140,000 to 240,000.
In a conversation with GGP at the end of May, Stuart McEwen, the club secretary, explained that the R&A’s “space analysis specialists” had ascertained the club should have no problem in accommodating the extra spectators.
McEwen is not so sure. “You have to think that those doing the analysis were experienced enough in their field to know what makes for comfortable viewing at a golf event,” he said. “But 100,000 more sounds like a lot to me. Our members like to get close to the action, and will that still be possible?”
The Honourable Company understands changes have to happen and that the R&A uses its considerable profits for the development of golf around the world and for doing what it thinks it must do to keep pace with the prize money at the Masters, the PGA Championship and last week’s U.S. Open. Yet at a traditional club such as Muirfield, officials worry about hanging on to their core values. To use McEwen’s words: “We’ve got to make sure that we don’t lose sight of what golf is all about.”
"We’d like to host another Open, and, yes, we’ve been having pre-pre-Open discussions with the R&A. For now, though, we’re excited to learn more of what they require."
Stuart McEwen
So far, Muirfield has not signed up to be next on the list after Royal Troon (2024), Royal Portrush (2025), Royal Birkdale (2026) and an as-yet-unnamed venue in 2027. “In fact,” McEwen said, “we’ve not agreed to ’28 or any other year. We’d like to host another Open, and, yes, we’ve been having pre-pre-Open discussions with the R&A. For now, though, we’re excited to learn more of what they require. We need to see their plan. And when we get it, we’re going to have to examine it very closely because so much has changed in the last few years.”
Needless to say, there will be an emphasis on following how Troon copes next month with a ’24 crowd which, at 250,000, will be 77,000 more than when Henrik Stenson won the Claret Jug there in 2016. To give just one example of what is probably nothing more than a relatively minor problem facing Troon and its immediate neighbours, the staff at the Marine Hotel have been advised to arrive by bike because access to the approach road will be so limited.
Ferrying Muirfield’s 240,000 spectators to and fro will prompt similar concerns. McEwen says that while they have every confidence ScotRail will be happy to have trains running back and forth from Edinburgh to Drem, the nearest station, buses could be another thing again. Since the East Lothian Council is currently in debt to the tune of £450 million (about $575 million), the club doubts it can expect too much in the way of help from that department. Here, McEwen thinks the R&A would have a better understanding of the situation were it to join one of the discussions with the council.
Another understandable concern is the extent to which the members would have their golfing lives disturbed in the relevant summer. Sundry adjustments would no doubt have to be made to the links, while there could be a request for golfers to play off mats in the preceding weeks or even months. Again, for how long would the R&A take over the road which bisects the course and is well-used by members driving wives and children to the club’s private beach?
There was so much more besides, but it was not too long before the conversation turned to how Muirfield had enjoyed hosting the AIG Women’s Open in ’22. After the club voted against taking women in 2016, it had been crossed from the Open rota. Yet once the committee had set about explaining to the doubters that their ‘No’ decision would affect not just Muirfield but the local community, minds changed in a hurry.
Not too many months later, the club was back on the rota, with the R&A recommending that it would not be a bad thing were Muirfield to hold a Women’s Open by way of a next step. That was a test the club passed with flying colours. None among the women had a bad word to say about a links which, with only 5,000 visitor rounds per year, suffers from very little in the way of wear and tear compared to many another famous links.
For the purposes of the recent Scottish Men’s Open Amateur, there was a “Welcome to Muirfield” notice on the driveway and the magnificent iron gates were open, with the same applying to the clubhouse. Competitors and their families were able to use all the facilities and to enjoy a Muirfield lunch.
As GGP left the club, a couple of passing members commented on how Muirfield had morphed into one of the friendliest venues in the East of Scotland.
How did they view what would be Muirfield’s biggest Open Championship challenge yet? They were worried by the logistics which would attach to getting so many people around, while they wondered whether the links, at about 7,200 yards, would be long enough for such players as Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
They suspected that other members might object to having their play disrupted, but as far as the two of them were concerned, they thought that the honour of hosting the event was more than enough to compensate.
E-MAIL LEWINE
Top: When Phil Mickelson won the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield, 140,000 fans were in attendance.
Warren Little, R&A via Getty Images