WHEN Tiger Woods collected £720,000 for winning the Open golf championship in Hoylake, he was not the only one celebrating.
Merseyside was counting the cash earned during a record breaking Open.
Tourism officials today said the real winner of the tournament was the north west, which saw more than £100m investment as golf fans poured in to Wirral.
Hoylake's Royal Liverpool Golf Club swung into the record books after hosting 230,000 visitors - the highest number of spectators for an English Open.
Businesses across the region raked in hefty profits with spectators spending £8m in the Hoylake area alone.
The golfers themselves spent £1.27m in the local area while visiting media spent £4m. Ken Davies, chief executive of Wirral's Chamber of Commerce, said: "We estimated Wirral would see around £80m of investment from tourists and guests.
"While we're still in the early stages of counting profits, it looks like we've certainly exceeded that by quite a way.
"But there will be hundreds of millions more to come as we hope people will come back to Wirral for a holiday with family and friends.
ALL the aftermath and reports from the 135th Open Championship - click here
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