By Mark Garrod, PA Sport Golf Correspondent

Whether next year's Open championship at Muirfield is on BBC or switches to another channel remains to be seen.

The five-deal deal between the Royal and Ancient Club, organisers of the event, and BBC TV expired on Sunday and negotiations are now continuing.

"It's always been our policy that on one hand we want as many people as possible to watch the Open, but on the other we do give money away for golf development projects around the world, so it's important that the contract is commercially competitive," said R&A secretary Peter Dawson.

"We are in discussions and negotiations. I thought at one time we might have resolved it before this year's Open, but everybody got busy."

Dawson and championship committee chairman Hugh Campbell declared themselves delighted at the success of the 2001 event, won by David Duval after Ian Woosnam's dramatic two-shot penalty for an extra club in his bag when joint leader.

"It was an absolute tragedy," said Campbell. "Everybody felt sick. For a period now everybody will be doubly careful."

There are no plans, however, for it to become policy for an official on the first tee to ask a player or his caddie to check the number.

Winner David Duval and German Bernhard Langer infringed slow play regulations during the last round and were therefore "put on the clock."

Further breaches would have resulted in one or both of them being penalised a stroke, but once they were informed that they were being timed their pace of play speeded up noticeably.

Lytham can look forward to hosting another Open some time in the next 10 years, according to Campbell, who added: "Despite all its cynics, the course proved itself a very good championship venue."

There had been some speculation that at 6,905 yards the Lancashire links might be murdered by the game's top players, armed as they are with all the latest technology.

But with the rough up from 1996, Duval's 10-under par total of 274 was three more than Tom Lehman's then and one more than Seve Ballesteros in 1988.