THE R&A have delivered a glowing tribute to Royal Liverpool Golf Club in the wake of the first Open Championship staged there for 39 years.
"It was one of our very best Opens," declared Peter Dawson, the chief executive of golf's governing body.
And Dawson believes it won't be anywhere near as long before the Open returns to Hoylake again.
"The process we use to decide the venue does so quite far in advance," he explained. "We have nine venues, including Hoylake now, and St Andrew's is used more often than the others, which means that each course is used on average every 10 years.
"Without wishing to bind the committee to any future decision, I would say that there is absolutely no reason why we would not return to Hoylake some time in the next 10 years . . . if they'll have us back!
"We were delighted with the tournament.
"The only problem we had, and this is not Hoylake specific, was the increase in mobile phone cameras which can be quite distracting. But that's not a Hoylake problem. It's everywhere."
In fact, Dawson paid particular tribute to the Mersey sporting public, who turned up in record-breaking numbers both on practice days and during the four days of the Championship proper.
"The crowd were excellent," he added. "There was a nice buzz about them. They were keen, participatory, but observed the etiquette we would expect at all times.
"I know Merseyside is renowned for its football fans, but it's nice to have a change and give the golf fans a pat on the back!"
The Open returns to Merseyside in 2008 when Royal Birkdale stages the 137th championship. Next year's Open will be staged at Carnoustie.
