On Wednesday night in Southport, Royal Birkdale was almost deserted while England vs. Argentina took over the town. The driving range, the practice green, the clubhouse and the car parks were empty, and only a security guard and the uniformed man at the press tent door were left on watch.
That was the eve of the Open Championship, but the local spotlight had moved somewhere else. Michael Bamberger, writing for GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com, described a course that sat in silence while the match was still nil-nil late in the first half, a reminder that even at a links hosting one of golf’s biggest weeks, football can still seize the night.
The walk from Royal Birkdale to the village of Birkdale is a flat and easy mile, and on Wednesday it was lined with red-brick shops, flats, tea houses and bars. Backyard watching parties spilled along the route, restaurants in town closed early for the game, and the bars were packed while the sidewalks and plazas in Birkdale turned over to football.
That shift was complete the moment Argentina scored twice. Groans rippled through Birkdale and along Liverpool Road, and the town that had been humming with football noise emptied again as soon as the match ended. Royal Birkdale is the links course hosting the Open Championship, and for one night the buildup around it was less about golf than about the score on the television screens in town.
Bamberger has spent nearly 23 years as senior writer for Sports Illustrated, worked after college for the Vineyard Gazette and later the Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote The Second Life of Tiger Woods, had magazine work included in multiple editions of The Best American Sports Writing, and in 2016 received the Donald Ross Award from the American Society of Golf Course Architects. He also holds one U.S. patent on The E-Club. His point on Wednesday was simple: in Southport, the Open was waiting, but football owned the evening.
What happens next is already clear enough. When the television cheers fade, the town turns back to golf, and Royal Birkdale becomes the center of attention again.
