The Open Championship 2026 Preview

The Open Championship is the oldest major, the last major of the year, and it crowns the Champion Golfer of the Year.

The 154^th edition is being held at Royal Birkdale in Southport on the North West coast of England this July.

2026 marks the 11^th time that the Birkdale links will be hosting the Open Championship, with the Claret Jug ready to be lifted once again.

Royal Birkdale has undergone recent alterations in order to be prepared to test the world’s best golfers for the final major of 2026.

Who will rise to the occasion and render themselves the 2026 Champion Golfer of the Year?

The Open Championship Preview 2026

Check out our comprehensive coverage of the 154th Open – from frequently asked questions, to the competition’s unique heritage, and how the course is shaping up – by reading and clicking on some of the links below.

Open Championship Leaderboard

When and where will the 154th Open Championship take place?

The 154th Open Championship will be played at Royal Birkdale, just north of Liverpool city centre. The event will take place from July 16-19.

Who won the last Open Championship?

World No.1 Scottie Scheffler cruised to victory last year at Royal Portrush, which was the third instance that the Open had been held in Northern Ireland. The America, whose prior Open record was undesirable and unthreatening, won comfortably by four strokes and left it never in doubt.

Meticulous course management and appropriate aggression was the masterplan for Scheffler who claimed his second major of 2025 and took hit total tally to four, just one behind the likes of Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka. The man from Texas has ruled the sport of golf in recent years with 13 wins since the start of 2024. His play has been unparalleled, so can anyone stop him from retaining the Claret Jug this go around?

Scheffler shot a final round 68 to beat runner-up Harris English by four shots, with the winning score being 17-under par.

What is the history around the event?

The Open Championship is, without doubt, the longest-running golf tournament in the world. The first playing of the event was back in 1860 at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. The first 12 Opens were played there before eventually expanding to St. Andrews in 1873.

Fast forward to today, and there have been 14 different venues for the Open Championship. Notably, Wales has never hosted one, with Scotland and England commandeering the rota, with Northern Ireland’s Royal Portrush a recent reintegration.

The current rota has 10 different sites which rotate. Royal Birkdale first hosted in 1954 when Australian Peter Thompson was the winner. The most recent Birkdale Open was nine years ago in 2017, with Jordan Spieth claiming an enthralling victory for his maiden Open.

The Old Course at St. Andrews has hosted the most Open Championships, with 30 editions being held at the ‘Home of Golf’.

Which golfers have been the most successful at the Open Championship?

There have been 27 players who have won the tournament on multiple occasions, but only one of those has won the event six times.

Harry Vardon first won the Open in 1896, and he would go on to win the title five more times. Two of those came before the turn of the 20th Century, in 1898 and 1899, with further wins in 1903, 1911, and 1914.

James Braid, J.H. Taylor, Peter Thompson and Tom Watson are all five-time winners of the tournament, with the latter managing to win the Open five times in nine events.

Both Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris are among the four-time winners, while amateur Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods have all lifted the Claret Jug on three occasions.

Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Greg Norman and Padraig Harrington are part of the two-time winning group, with the Irishman being the last to defend his Open Championship crown.

How can I get tickets for the 154th Open Championship?

To attend the 154th Open Championship at Royal Portrush in 2025, you’ll need to secure tickets through the official ballot or by purchasing Premium Experiences.

There will also be a ticket resale platform, which allows ticketholders to sell the tickets they got in the ballot.

Who are the members of the LIV Golf League participating in the 154th Open?

Several LIV Golf League members are eligible for the 154th Open. These include Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen, Cameron Smith, Henrik Stenson, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Tom McKibbin.

To learn more about the full lineup, click here.

What are the odds for the 154th Open Championship?

Scottie Scheffler – 4/1

Rory McIlroy – 7/1

Jon Rahm – 12/1

Bryson DeChambeau – 16/1

Xander Schauffele – 16/1

Tommy Fleetwood – 16/1

Robert MacIntyre – 18/1

Ludvig Aberg – 22/1

Tyrell Hatton – 25/1

Viktor Hovland – 28/1

How does the qualifying process for the 154th Open Championship work?

Regional Qualifying takes place at 15 courses in Great Britain and Ireland in June. The leading finishers at each event earned places at Final Qualifying on 1 July. A minimum of 16 players from Final Qualifying usually then participate in The Open.

How much will the winner take home from Birkdale?

The prize money breakdown for the 2025 edition of the Open Championship was a total prize purse of $17 million.

Last year’s winner, Scottie Scheffler, took home $3.1 million for the victory, along with the Claret Jug.

When the breakdown of the prize purse is announced, we will bring it to you here.

What are your thoughts about this year’s Open Championship? Why not let us know with a tweet?