​SOUTHPORT, England — If you were around in the summer of 1976, then you’ll remember that it was bloomin’ warm. The sunshine was so intense, even the streetlights ended up with a tan.Fifty years ago at Royal Birkdale, a young, captivating Seve Ballesteros sent temperatures soaring to such an extent at The Open, his clubs were just about accompanied by an amber warning from the Met Office. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementA teenage Seve finished in a share of second and announced himself to the world. This year is the golden anniversary of that thrilling emergence.The turf here at Royal Birkdale is just about the same colour. And just about as hard as a clump of bullion too.Everything is hot. The 154th Open starts Thursday but things are already heating up ahead of the 155th Open at St Andrews.“The ticket ballot opened last week, and we’ve already had three-quarters-of-a-million applications for tickets in just the first nine days of that process,” said Mark Darbon, the chief executive of the R&A.We live in frenzied times, folks. In this crash, bang, wallop age, the major championship themselves hurtle in at a quite furious rate.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHere we are in the middle of July and the men’s grand slam events are almost over. From April’s Masters to this week’s Open, the four majors roll along quicker than a bounding drive down the Birkdale fairway.They’re all condensed into a 14-week window. We all know what happens next. When the Claret Jug gets handed out on Sunday, you must wait until next April for it to all start up again at Augusta National. It’s 263 days if you’re chalking them off on your golf calendar.The Masters, of course, benefits from this prolonged sense of anticipation. As for the rest? Well, there’s barely time to draw breath let alone savour the build-up.“We look forward to them so much, we build our schedules and the year around them, and then they’re over like that,” said the American, Justin Thomas. “It sucks when they’re done.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAnd what does Rory McIlroy think? “I’d like to see the major season spread out a little bit longer,” suggested the Northern Irishman, who claimed his second Masters title back in the spring and will look to bridge an Open title gap of 12 years by winning another Claret Jug this week.“The Masters is always going to have the buildup. But I then there’s the PGA into the US Open, the US Open into here. It just seems like it’s very, very quick.“From a player perspective, if you get on a bit of a run, it’s nice to be playing well and go from one straight into the next.“But for the sport as a whole and for the general interest in the game, I can see the positives in that major season being stretched out a little bit longer.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThis is an area of discussion that could run and run. For the time being, let’s enjoy The Open. It promises to be a fasc