The history of Royal Birkdale dates back to 1889 when the famous club was founded. Since then the club has hosted several famous events, such as The Open and the Ryder Cup. The Open will be held for the ninth time in 2008. Past winners at Royal Birkdale are Peter Thompson (twice), Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watsen and Mark O'meara.

Royal Birkdale is situated in het English coastal resort of Southport. The wind will be biggest enemy on the course, since there are no two holes facing the same direction, making the course very difficult to play with the many wind coming from the Irish Sea. But wind is not the only thing players will have to take into consideration. The course is right in between some of the highest dunes of England. No other course on the British Open rotation has hosted The Open more than Royal Birkdale, besides St. Andrews's Old Course. Contrary to the most clubs in the British Open rotation, Royal Birkdale is flat. The fairway and greens barely show any slope, making it a course suitable for target golf.

Recently the Royal Birkdale underwent a renovation. Some 20 new bunkers were placed, 16 removed and another 27 replaced. Besides all the sandy works, trees were cut to give wind more place to create havoc. And to make things complete some greens were reconstructed and sometimes even repositioned giving the course some extra length. The course now is a  par-70 of 6558 meters. Due to the recent alterations of the course a new course record needs to be made. On the ‘old' Birkdale course the record was 63 strokes.

The total amount of price money is £ 4,200,000. The winner will take home some £ 700,000. Tiger Woods will be unable to participate due to a knee injury. The participation of title defender Paidrag Harrington remains uncertain.

Among the favourites of this years British Open are Englishman Justin Rose, Spains Sergio Garcia, South-African Ernie Els and American Jim Furyk.