The 2026 Open Championship tee times are here.
The 154th Open Championship returns to one of the most revered venues in championship golf as Royal Birkdale welcomes the world’s best players back to Southport for the first time since 2017.
Set among the towering dunes of England’s Golf Coast, Birkdale has earned a reputation as one of the fairest and most complete tests on the Open rota, a course where precision, patience and decision making are rewarded above all else.
Unlike many traditional links layouts that rely on blind shots, unpredictable bounces and survival instincts, Royal Birkdale offers clarity. Its fairways weave through natural valleys between the dunes, creating visible targets and encouraging players to commit to their strategy. The challenge is not discovering where to hit the ball - it is executing the correct shot under constantly changing conditions. That philosophy has helped Birkdale produce a remarkable list of champions, from Peter Thomson and Arnold Palmer to Tom Watson, Jordan Spieth and many of the game’s greatest links players.
The course returns in a new guise after an extensive renovation project led by Tom Mackenzie of Mackenzie & Ebert. The aim was not to reinvent Royal Birkdale, but to strengthen the strategic demands that have always defined it. New tee positions, rebuilt bunkers, expanded short grass areas and redesigned holes have added fresh questions without compromising the character of one of the Open’s most respected venues. The result is a course that remains familiar, yet demands even greater imagination around the greens and more precise decision making throughout the bag.
At 7,223 yards and playing as a par 70, Royal Birkdale does not appear intimidating by modern championship standards. There are no endless stretches of brute-force golf and no requirement to overpower the course with sheer distance. However, the numbers disguise the challenge. With only two par 5s, four par 4s stretching beyond 450 yards and a closing stretch packed with demanding holes, there are limited opportunities to recover from mistakes. The winning formula will not be built around overpowering Birkdale, but navigating it.
The fairways are generous enough to reward aggression, but the ideal landing areas are carefully protected by revetted bunkers and difficult angles into the greens. Longer hitters will gain advantages when they can combine power with control, but reckless driving can quickly bring the course’s most severe hazards into play. The premium will be on players who understand when to attack and when restraint creates the better opportunity.
Approach play is likely to be the defining skill of the championship. Royal Birkdale’s greens are not excessively dramatic, but their defences come through positioning, firmness and the surrounding hazards. Players must control trajectory, manage the wind and understand when the best route to the hole is through the air and when the ground game offers the smarter option. Long irons, especially into the renovated closing holes and demanding par 3s, will be vital.
The changes around the greens may prove equally significant. Expanded collection areas and tightly mown runoffs create a wider variety of recovery shots, rewarding players who can improvise rather than relying solely on traditional short-game technique. Around Birkdale, scrambling is not simply about saving par - it is about having the creativity to manufacture shots from uncomfortable positions.
The weather will ultimately dictate the character of the championship. In calm conditions, Royal Birkdale can offer scoring opportunities, as shown by Jordan Spieth’s 12-under-par victory in 2017 and Branden Grace’s record-equalling 62 during that championship. But when the coastal wind strengthens, the course transforms. Distances become uncertain, greens become harder to attack and every decision carries greater consequence.
That balance between fairness and difficulty is what makes Royal Birkdale such a respected Open venue. It does not rely on tricks or luck; it asks players to demonstrate every element required to win a major championship. The contenders this week will need elite ball striking, accuracy off the tee, control with longer clubs, creativity around the greens and the patience to accept that not every hole is there to be conquered.
The field assembled reflects the global nature of The Open, with 156 players representing the PGA TOUR, DP World Tour, LIV Golf, amateur ranks and qualifiers fighting for the Claret Jug. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler returns after his dominant triumph at Royal Portrush, while Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood, Collin Morikawa and many of the game’s biggest names look to add their names to one of golf’s most prestigious trophies.
Recent history suggests experience matters. The majority of recent Open champions have arrived with proven major championship pedigree, links experience and the ability to contend when conditions become uncomfortable. At Royal Birkdale, that profile becomes even more important. This is not a venue where one skill can carry a player to victory; it is a complete examination that rewards those who can think their way around 72 holes.
When the final putt drops on Sunday evening, the Champion Golfer of the Year will likely not be the player who hit the longest drives or chased the most flags. They will be the player who consistently made the right decisions, managed the conditions and executed the shots that Royal Birkdale demanded.
Open Championship 2026 Tee Times
| Time (GMT+1) | Players |
|---|---|
| 6:35 AM | Matthew Baldwin • Thomas Detry • James Nicholas |
| 6:46 AM | Michael Kim • Daniel Hillier • Andy Sullivan |
| 6:57 AM | Ryan Fox • Andrew Novak • Matthew Jordan |
| 7:08 AM | Henrik Stenson • Max Homa • Joe Dean |
| 7:19 AM | Robert MacIntyre • Rickie Fowler • Alex Fitzpatrick |
| 7:30 AM | David Duval • Martin Couvra • Matthew Southgate |
| 7:41 AM | Sungjae Im • Dan Brown • Fifa Laopakdee (a) |
| 7:52 AM | Gary Woodland • Jake Knapp • Jordan Smith |
| 8:03 AM | Francesco Molinari • Tom McKibbin • Liv Grinberg (a) |
| 8:14 AM | Hennie Du Plessis • Jose Luis Ballester • Dan Bradbury |
| 8:25 AM | Angel Ayora • Victor Perez • Mateo Pulcini (a) |
| 8:36 AM | Stewart Cink • Scott Vincent • Joakim Lagergren |
| 8:47 AM | Michael Thorbjornsen • Kota Kaneko • Travis Smyth |
| 9:03 AM | Alex Smalley • Sam Stevens • Ryo Hisatsune |
| 9:14 AM | Akshay Bhatia • Harris English • Rasmus Højgaard |
| 9:25 AM | Ben Griffin • Hideki Matsuyama • Min Woo Lee |
| 9:36 AM | Russell Henley • Justin Rose • Viktor Hovland |
| 9:47 AM | Justin Thomas • Alex Noren • Jason Day |
| 9:58 AM | Scottie Scheffler • Tyrrell Hatton • Bryson DeChambeau |
| 10:09 AM | Jordan Spieth • Tommy Fleetwood • Jon Rahm |
| 10:20 AM | Brian Harman • Si Woo Kim • Nick Taylor |
| 10:31 AM | Ryan Gerard • Maverick McNealy • David Puig |
| 10:42 AM | Kazuma Kobori • Thomas Sloman • David Howard (a) |
| 10:53 AM | Antoine Rozner • Ren Yonezawa • Caleb Surratt |
| 11:04 AM | MJ Daffue • Frederic LaCroix • Jack McDonald |
| 11:15 AM | Jeong Woo Ham • Ryutaro Nagano • Alejandro De Castro Piera (a) |
| 11:41 AM | John Parry • Eric Cole • Tiger Christensen |
| 11:52 AM | Eugenio Chacarra • Matt Wallace • Max Greyserman |
| 12:03 PM | Michael Brennan • Sahith Theegala • Laurie Canter |
| 12:14 PM | Cameron Smith • Keith Mitchell • Stuart Grehan (a) |
| 12:25 PM | Sepp Straka • Joaquin Niemann • Kurt Kitayama |
| 12:36 PM | Sami Valimaki • Shaun Norris • Jackson Suber |
| 12:47 PM | Darren Clarke • Adrien Saddier • Bernd Wiesberger |
| 12:58 PM | Keegan Bradley • Corey Conners • Casey Jarvis |
| 1:09 PM | Matt McCarty • Harry Hall • Haotong Li |
| 1:20 PM | Padraig Harrington • Marco Penge • Michael Hollick |
| 1:31 PM | Tom Kim • Billy Horschel • Mason Howell (a) |
| 1:42 PM | Johnny Keefer • Pierceson Coody • Keita Nakajima |
| 1:53 PM | Louis Oosthuizen • Jesper Svensson • Jack Buchanan (a) |
| 2:09 PM | Bud Cauley • Jayden Schaper • Lucas Herbert |
| 2:20 PM | Kristoffer Reitan • Patrick Reed • J.T. Poston |
| 2:31 PM | Chris Gotterup • Sam Burns • Adam Scott |
| 2:42 PM | Collin Morikawa • J.J. Spaun • Nicolai Højgaard |
| 2:53 PM | Shane Lowry • Aaron Rai • Brooks Koepka |
| 3:04 PM | Cameron Young • Wyndham Clark • Ludvig Åberg |
| 3:15 PM | Rory McIlroy • Xander Schauffele • Matt Fitzpatrick |
| 3:26 PM | Jacob Bridgeman • Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen • Tim Wiedemeyer (a) |
| 3:37 PM | Patrick Cantlay • Daniel Berger • Nico Echavarria |
| 3:48 PM | Peter Uihlein • Alistair Docherty • Francesco Laporta |
| 3:59 PM | Cameron John • Austen Truslow • Sam Bairstow |
| 4:10 PM | Naoyuki Kataoka • Marcus Plunkett • Bard Bjoernevikl Skogen |
| 4:21 PM | Kazuki Higa • Jiho Yang • Nevill Ruiter (a) |
