Crowd fails to match Sandwich levels again

Open organisers did not get the massive increase in spectators that they were hoping for at Royal Troon today.

Traffic was light and the galleries did not appear as large as at last year's Championship at Sandwich in Kent.

There were also huge gaps in the stands yesterday and even in the afternoon there were still hundreds of empty seats in the stands around the 18th, despite the fact that stars like Tiger Woods were still on the course playing their first round. The 31,000 attendance figure for yesterday was down from the 31,500 people who came to the Thursday action when The Open was last held in the Ayrshire town in 1997.

The figures were surprising given the popularity of golf in Scotland, the traditional home of the game. The sight of empty seats never pleases TV executives but attendances are expected to increase when The Open reaches its climax at the weekend.

Daily tickets for cost £40, but senior citizens can get in for £25 and children under 16 do not have to pay if they come in with an adult. So far this week, 64,500 have attended practice and the first day. This is also down from the figure of 66,000 at the same stage seven years ago.

Meanwhile, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Colin Montgomerie, Justin Rose and Jose Maria Olazabal have received invitations to next month's US PGA Championship despite their slump down the world rankings.