A TOP company is willing to stump up a small fortune for a birdie's eye balcony view of Royal Lytham and St Annes golf course next summer.

Ansdell Institute, which overlooks the ninth hole of the world-famous course where the world's best golfers will battle it out in 2001 at the British Open Golf championships, has secured a valuable deal with a South African-based sports promotion and corporate entertainment company.

And thanks to the deal, thought to be worth £20,000, the Woodlands Road club has already started to spruce up the first floor of its premises.

A club member revealed: "The South African company had studied videos of previous Open championships staged at Royal Lytham and realised that the building most often in view on the TV cameras was the Institute. "As a result he approached the club and things have gone on from there. We have secured deals in the past from TV companies wanting to use our balcony to situate their cameras but never anything as big as this."

Meanwhile the Open is promising to be a bigger money spinner than ever for the town.

People in a FIFTY mile radius of the borough are being asked to contact the tourist office at the town hall, St Annes, if they wish to register accommodation for golfers and fans.

The number of Internet websites dedicated to golf, accommodation and entertainment in Lytham St Annes, which has four championship length courses, has soared.

Many residents who are prepared to rent out their homes to golfers TV and media companies while they holiday abroad are asking £1500 a week for four or five bedroomed detached properties within walking distance of the course.