​SOUTHPORT, England — More than 300,000 fans will attend The Open at Royal Birkdale, making it a record crowd for golf’s oldest major championship.They’ll need to bring sunscreen and some manners.For the first time, the R&A has felt it necessary to publish a fan code of conduct, at a time when some of golf’s biggest events have been marred by unsavory and even abusive behavior by spectators.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTitled “The Open Commitment,” the code boils down to these five basic requirements of fans: respect the players, respect the links, respect each other, be aware, enjoy responsibly.Essentially, just be a nice person. If not, the R&A says it can punish “serious or repeated breaches” by removing the guilty parties from the property “without refund.”“I’m all for an atmosphere,” said Matt Fitzpatrick, one of the 21 English players in the field who are most likely to be cheered rather than heckled. “Obviously I don’t want it to cross a line.”That’s what happened at last year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, when Team Europe’s players — especially Rory McIlroy — endured a torrent of personal insults and shouting on their back swings and putts. McIlroy deemed the abuse from the New York crowd “unacceptable.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWyndham Clark didn’t get much love at the U.S. Open, with spectators cheering his mistakes — conduct Scottie Scheffler said was “a bit much to me.”Even the most recent Open held on English soil — just down the road at Hoylake — didn’t escape some crowd misbehavior as American player Brian Harman defied some jeers and insults on his way to lifting the claret jug.Clark doesn’t appear too concerned about any repeat incidents at Birkdale, describing British golf fans as “the best.”“They respect the game, they respect the players and they really understand golf,” he said. “If you hit it into a tough spot and make the correct play or the smart play, the prudent play, they clap; they understand sometimes 20 feet is a great shot.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementR&A chief executive Mark Darbon said marshals, volunteers and officials have been well-briefed on what constitutes poor fan conduct.“We feel that it’s within our gift, if someone does step over the line, to ask them to leave the venue,” Darbon said, “and I think that’s a pretty powerful display. That’s the mechanism that we’ll use rather than fining a spectator.”Tee times for the final round at Royal Birkdale are open to change.And it’s all because of a soccer match.The World Cup final being staged in the United States is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. in England — just 80 minutes after organizers estimate the final putt will drop in the Open Championship, unless there’s a playoff.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe big issue is that England could be in it. Its team was playing Argentina in the semifinal and the R&A is w