Berwick-upon-Tweed Golf Club, Coventry, Ferndown and Lindrick are named as new additions to the list of 16 clubs that will host Regional Qualifying for the 2008 Open at Royal Birkdale.
The other 12 are Ashridge, Effingham, Enville, The Gog Magog, Musselburgh, Old Fold Manor, Pannal, Pleasington, Prestbury, Rochester & Cobham Park, Royal Ashdown Forest and The Island.
Berwick-upon-Tweed members play over Goswick Links, a stretch of land that lies seven miles south of the town and whose name bears reference to the annual appearance of large flocks of migratory geese on fields adjoining the club. The course has a typical links terrain and is a challenging test in the ever-present wind.
Coventry was formed in 1887 and has occupied its present site since 1911. However during the war, six holes were used for agricultural production and it was only in 1950 that these holes were fully restored to their previous condition and incorporated back into the present layout.
Ferndown is located five miles north of Bournemouth on a course laid out in 1914 by twice Open Champion Harold Hilton. Soon after its opening, a period of financial handicap resulted in the course reverting to farmland and it was six years later, in 1920, that renovation work started, resulting in an official opening in October 1921.
From its earliest years Lindrick was recognised by the Yorkshire Union as a course of championship quality. However, it was only in 1957 that the club gained wider international recognition when it hosted the Ryder Cup. That year, GB&I defeated the U.S. for the first time since 1929, a victory that was not repeated until 1985.
Regional Qualifying has been a regular part of The Open qualifying process since the 1977 Open at Turnberry.
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