Let’s leave British Masters in England after Hillside success

Marcus Kinhult celebrates after winning the British Masters at Hillside.

They say golf is dying on its feet and isn’t all that appealing anymore as a spectator sport. If so, the good people of the north-west of England clearly haven’t been told that, having turned out in force to help make the European Tour’s return to Hillside after a 37-year gap an incredible success as the Southport venue hosted the Betfred British Masters last week.

A final-day attendance took the total for the week to almost 65,000, which is fantastic for a regular European Tour event and even more so when you take into account the fact the field lacked the star names, at least in terms of depth, of tournaments such as the Scottish Open and Irish Open

It was helped, of course, by the host, Tommy Fleetwood, being such a popular figure in his native Lancashire and his presence on the leaderboard was certainly a factor as the crowd numbers stayed strong to the end despite the last round taking place on the same day that two football teams from the north-west were involved in the climax to the English Premiership season.

With that in mind, fair play to the organisers for implementing an early two-tee start on Sunday and getting the golf finished before the games involving Manchester City and Liverpool kicked off at the Amex Stadium and Anfield respectively. You used to get the feeling that people running golf were those head stuck in the sand-types, but not any more and long may that continue.

It wasn’t just the attendance numbers, though, that made the event the most enjoyable this correspondent has covered outside majors and Ryder Cups for a good few years. A bit like on the Saturday at Gullane in last year’s Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, it had a mini-Open Championship feel to it on the corresponding day and for the last one as well.

The atmosphere out on the course was absolutely fantastic and not just around Fleetwood’s group. Everywhere you looked, groups had good-sized crowds following them and there was simply no disguising how much people were enjoying getting the chance to be part of the European Tour’s return to this part of the country.

In comparison to Scotland, the north-west of England is starved of top-class golf. It hosts the Open Championship on a fairly regular basis due to three courses – Royal Birkdale, Royal Lytham and Royal