NO POST-OPEN PRESS CONFERENCE: WERE THE R and A RUNNING SCARED OR WHAT?
FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By James Corrigan
For the first time in at least the last 25 years, the game’s governing body elected not to hold a press conference on the Monday after the Open.
The R and A may or may not have been worried about having to address the women’s issue and future policy on taking the British major to courses which do not allow female members. But there surely were fair questions to answer on crowd numbers.
The R and A was expecting 160,000 fans and hoping for 170,000, but only 142,036 made the trip to the Gullane, East Lothian venue during the week, with 29,247 there to watch Phil Mickelson triumph on Sunday.
A total of 160,595 spectators were at Muirfield the last time the Open was staged at the course in 2002, with 31,422 seeing Ernie Els emerge victorious on the final day. That is a deficit of more than 18,000.
A spokesman for the Open Championship said: “More than 142,000 people attended the Open. That is almost 90 per cent 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 pay-at-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.”
The Open organisers believe their ticket prices still represent good value considering the number of hours of play (for the first two days tee-times start at about 6.30am and play often lasts until after 9pm). “The Open Championship offers exceptional value to spectators who can enjoy up to 15 hours of golf in one day. Children under 16 accompanied by an adult get in free which makes it ideal for families,” said a spokesman.
And, in fairness, it does offer big discounts on advance sales. But the advance numbers were not down, they were actually up on 2002. It was the walk-up figures which were down. Is there any wonder when it is £75 a ticket, up £15 on two years ago? In 2002 a walk-up ticket cost £35, which would be around £50 today.
Furthermore, the concessions for over-65s were scrapped this year, a move Peter Dawson, the R and A chief executive said “is very much in line with other major sporting events”.
Next year, the Open returns to Hoylake on the Wirral, where record crowds of 230,000 watched Tiger Woods win his third Claret Jug.
By James Corrigan
For the first time in at least the last 25 years, the game’s governing body elected not to hold a press conference on the Monday after the Open.
The R and A may or may not have been worried about having to address the women’s issue and future policy on taking the British major to courses which do not allow female members. But there surely were fair questions to answer on crowd numbers.
The R and A was expecting 160,000 fans and hoping for 170,000, but only 142,036 made the trip to the Gullane, East Lothian venue during the week, with 29,247 there to watch Phil Mickelson triumph on Sunday.
A total of 160,595 spectators were at Muirfield the last time the Open was staged at the course in 2002, with 31,422 seeing Ernie Els emerge victorious on the final day. That is a deficit of more than 18,000.
A spokesman for the Open Championship said: “More than 142,000 people attended the Open. That is almost 90 per cent 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 pay-at-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.”
The Open organisers believe their ticket prices still represent good value considering the number of hours of play (for the first two days tee-times start at about 6.30am and play often lasts until after 9pm). “The Open Championship offers exceptional value to spectators who can enjoy up to 15 hours of golf in one day. Children under 16 accompanied by an adult get in free which makes it ideal for families,” said a spokesman.
And, in fairness, it does offer big discounts on advance sales. But the advance numbers were not down, they were actually up on 2002. It was the walk-up figures which were down. Is there any wonder when it is £75 a ticket, up £15 on two years ago? In 2002 a walk-up ticket cost £35, which would be around £50 today.
Furthermore, the concessions for over-65s were scrapped this year, a move Peter Dawson, the R and A chief executive said “is very much in line with other major sporting events”.
Next year, the Open returns to Hoylake on the Wirral, where record crowds of 230,000 watched Tiger Woods win his third Claret Jug.
Labels: OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Monday, July 22, 2013
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