Thornton Hall Hotel chosen as The R&A Base for Open Championship

THORNTON Hall Hotel has been chosen by The R&A as its headquarters when The Open Championship returns to Wirral in 2014.

Officials from The R&A, golfs governing body, will use the four-star hotel as their base for the entire week of what is regarded as one of the worlds biggest sporting events.

The Royal Liverpool Golf Club last hosted The Open at its Hoylake links in 2006 when Tiger Woods became the first back-to-back champion since Tom Watson in 1983. The event drew around 230,000 people, a record for the championship in England.

Geoff Dale, general manager at Thornton Hall Hotel, said: Its a great honour for the hotel to have been chosen by The R&A as its base for The Open, an event that will once again give Wirral a massive boost for the local economy as a whole and the leisure industry in particular.

We are already looking forward to welcoming new and returning visitors who will be following the championship.

The Open is estimated to increase the local economy by £70m each time it is played in the North West.

Thornton Hall Hotel, Wirrals only four-star hotel that also has two AA rosettes for fine dining, will also act as host hotel for the inaugural Wirral Golf Classic event in September this year. This 72-hole Stableford competition for amateurs will be held on four of the peninsulas golf courses Royal Liverpool, Caldy, Heswall and Wallasey.