Chaos Hits Iconic Major Championship Golf Course As Workers Dig Up A Live WWII Bomb

Royal Liverpool Golf Club is a historic venue that has hosted The Open on 13 separate occasions, most recently in 2023. Over the weekend, the England club became that much more historic, not because of anything to do with golf, but because a live bomb suspected to be from World War II was discovered on the property.

Staffers were carrying out routine drainage work on the golf course when they came across an unexploded artillery shell. Thankfully, these staffers were paying close attention to the job at hand, because if they weren't, we could be talking about a horrible tragedy.

Local authorities and an army bomb disposal team were called to the club on December 12, leading to the evacuation of the golf course. 

"We've been undertaking some drainage work on the golf course and come across what looks to be like an unexploded artillery shell.," club secretary Simon Newland told the Liverpool Echo. "It's very far down, about four or five foot under the playing surface, and one imagines it's from the wartime."

The club shared multiple photos of the unearthed artillery shell, along with a video of the controlled explosion.

Royal Liverpool was founded in 1869, nearly 80 years before the United Kingdom became a top target of the Nazis during World War II. Around 4,000 people were killed in the Liverpool area during the bombing campaign known as the Blitz, which was at its most intense between 1940 and 1942.

The golf course returned to The Open rota only fairly recently, hosting the major championship just three times since 1968. Tiger Woods hoisted the Claret Jug for the third time in his career at Royal Liverpool in 2006. Rory McIlroy won his one and only Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in 2014, while American Brian Harman earned the honors on the grounds in 2023.