In July, for the 112th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, West Lancashire hosted a Final Qualifying Competition during which Carl Mason set a professional course record of 66 strokes, in a total score of 138. Pictured. Carl Mason’s Scorecard.
On 22 August, the British Youths Championship was held at West Lancashire and this event, boasting previous winners such as Peter Oosterhuis, Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Jose Maria Olazabal and Lee Westwood, was won by the Toby Antevik (Sweden). It was one of the last R&A events in which the small ball could be used before the larger ball became compulsory and Antevik switched to the smaller ball after nine holes of the first round to combat severe conditions on the testing links. After this event, Scotland defeated England by 8 points to 7, and then Great Britain & Ireland defeated the Continent of Europe by 7 1/2 points to 4 ½.
