​More than 300,000 spectators are expected to enter the gates this week at Royal Birkdale, eclipsing the 290,000 that attended the last Open Championship at St. Andrews, in 2022. Though with golf’s oldest major heading back to the Old Course next year, it’ll be a record likely short lived.Mark Darbon, the R&A’s chief executive, said Wednesday during his pre-championship address, that over 750,000 applicants have already entered the ballot for 2027 tickets.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThat lottery has been open for a mere nine days.“We are delighted by the demand we have for The Open Championship,” Darbon said. “It’s an event that’s clearly resonating with people all around the world, including those that want to attend and watch this wonderful championship live.”But is The Open getting too big?While rota stops such as Birkdale, St. Andrews and last year’s Royal Portrush have succeeded in accommodating the sheer mass of a modern Open, it hasn’t been without significant effort.Led by the R&A’s preferred design firm, Mackenzie and Ebert, which consults at nine of the 10 Open regular venues, Birkdale underwent widespread changes for this year’s championship, including the addition of a completely new hole, the par-3 15th, and the removal of the old par-3 14th, where Jordan Spieth hit what he calls the greatest shot of his career during the final round of his 2017 triumph. A new members’ short-game area now occupies the space of the old 14th, though that and the adjacent range comprise this week’s fan village.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementM&E’s recent work at St. Andrews includes shifting the 12th tee slightly to “help ease championship spectator movement.”Before Portrush’s return to the rota in 2019, the 17th and 18th holes of the Dunluce Course were removed by M&E to accommodate a tented spectator village. As M&E said in its release on the completed project, “The goal was to increase the quality of the links for regular member and visitor play as well as to provide courses which would make it feasible for the club to host The Open.”Surely, most architectural changes these days are done in the face of distance, but Darbon was still asked Wednesday about the growing perception that century-old Open rota venues need to architecturally change to accommodate the fan experience.Birkdale’s new look, in particular, hasn’t been universally well received. Lee Westwood told The Telegraph, “Why mess with a Picasso?” Scottie Scheffler said, “It’s so obvious as to which holes had been redone. They look like they’re not even on the same golf course.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“I think what I would say, first and foremost, is that these are all members’ clubs, so a lot of the decision-making is driven by the members themselves,” Darbon said. “I think where we are this week is a brilliant example of that; the changes to the golf course have been driven by th