The First Look: British Open 2026

It’s the final men’s major championship of the year – with the world’s best returning to (a completely changed) Royal Birkdale for the first time since 2017.

It’s already set to be firm, brown and fast at The Open this year, and we are once again in for an all-time test for the claret jug.

While the golf course itself has changed dramatically, one thing that hasn’t is how many storylines there are for the final major on the PGA TOUR calendar.

Here’s everything else you need to know.

FIELD NOTES: Scottie Scheffler returns to defend his title at The Open Championship, but he comes into the week after a very un-Scheffler-like effort at the Genesis Scottish Open, where he missed the cut for the first time since 2022. Scheffler has just one win this season but has seemingly put himself in the mix every time he tees it up. The last person to successfully defend his title at The Open was Padraig Harrington, who won in 2007 and 2008. … Rory McIlroy looks to finish his major season the same way he started – with a victory. McIlroy had a tidy Sunday climb at the Genesis Scottish Open, with his 6-under effort moving him into a tie for seventh, his fourth top-10 finish of the year. McIlroy had a tough start to his PGA Championship but rallied to finish T7. He finished T32 at the U.S. Open and was T4 the last time The Open was hosted at Royal Birkdale. … The other major champions this season – Aaron Rai and Wyndham Clark – both come to Royal Birkdale looking for more hardware. Clark, who has won twice this season, hasn’t finished outside of the top 25 on the PGA TOUR since March. He backed up his win at the U.S. Open with a T5 at the Travelers Championship and a T13 last week at the Genesis Scottish Open. He was T4 at The Open last year. … Matt Fitzpatrick finished T4 alongside Clark a year ago and has three wins already this season on the PGA TOUR, but looks to take another major across the finish line. … Like Fitzpatrick, Chris Gotterup also has three wins this year. He was in the mix through 54 holes to successfully defend his title at the Scottish Open last week before stalling on Sunday. Gotterup, who was the last man in the field at The Open last year, was solo third at Royal Portrush. … Tommy Fleetwood is still looking for his major breakthrough, but there would be no better place to do it than at home. Fleetwood grew up near Royal Birkdale and finished T13 last week at the Genesis Scottish Open. His best result at The Open Championship came in 2019 when he finished runner-up. Fleetwood was T27 the last time The Open was at Royal Birkdale. … Fleetwood, Rai, Fitzpatrick and Justin Rose are amongst those trying to become the first English golfer to raise the claret jug since Nick Faldo in 1992. … This is a special week for Rose, who returns to the club where, as a 17-year-old, he finished fourth in 1998. Rose has two runner-up results at The Open and even now, at 45, has had an incredible major run – he’s gone T3-T10-T11 at the first three this season.

NOTABLE QUALIFIERS: The Open Qualifying Series once again allowed for 25 golfers to earn their way into the field at Royal Birkdale via various qualifying opportunities around the world over the last 10 months. … Adam Scott earned his way into his 101st straight major via his finish at the Australian Open in December. … Daniel Berger will play just his second Open Championship in the last half-decade thanks to his runner-up result at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. … JT Poston and Bud Cauley punched their tickets to The Open Championship via their victories in back-to-back weeks at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday and the RBC Canadian Open. … The final few spots in the field were earned by Johnny Keefer, Michael Thorbjornsen and Victor Perez via their results at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open.

The full list of qualifiers can be found here.

FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 750 FedExCup points.

COURSE: Royal Birkdale, par 70, 7,223 yards. Although the length of Royal Birkdale has increased by less than 100 yards since the iconic links layout last hosted The Open in 2017, essentially every single hole on the property has changed. The most significant of the changes came with Nos. 14 and 15 – with the former changing from a par 3 to a par 5 and the latter changing from a par 5 to a par 3. The short par-4 fifth was also completely redesigned, while the par-3 seventh was shortened and rebuilt. Fourteen bunkers were eliminated while most of the other bunkers were rebuilt more dramatically into the dunes. This year marks the 154th Open Championship and the 11th time it has been hosted by Royal Birkdale.

72-HOLE CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD: 264, Henrik Stenson (2016 at Royal Troon)

18-HOLE CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD: 62, Branden Grace (Round 3, 2017 at Royal Birkdale).

LAST TIME: Scottie Scheffler won his first claret jug, topping Harris English by four shots. Scheffler had a four-shot advantage through 54 holes at Royal Portrush and never let up. He shot a 3-under 68 in the final round and was never challenged – his lead was seven shots at one point. With the win, Scheffler joined Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player as golfers to win The Open, the Masters and the PGA Championship all before the age of 30.

Chris Gotterup finished solo third at 12 under for the week – Gotterup was the last man in the field after winning the Genesis Scottish Open the week prior – while Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick and Haotong Li rounded out the top five.

Jordan Spieth won the last Open Championship hosted at Royal Birkdale in 2017. Spieth topped Matt Kuchar by three shots. The third round that year also featured the lowest such score in men’s major history, a 62 from Branden Grace.

How to follow (all times ET)

Television:

• Thursday-Friday: 1:30-4 a.m. (NBC Sports Network/Peacock); 4 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (USA)
• Saturday: 5-7 a.m. (USA), 7 a.m.-3 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)
• Sunday: 4-7 a.m. (USA), 7 a.m.-2 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)

Radio: Championship broadcasts will begin on SiriusXM (Channel 92) and on the SXM App on Thursday and Friday at 2 a.m.

• Thursday-Friday: 2 a.m. to end of play
• Saturday: 4 a.m. to end of play
• Sunday: 4 a.m. to end of play and trophy presentation

Online: Various feeds available via TheOpen.com/watch

Editor's note:The R&A, which owns and operates The Open Championship, controls all digital streaming and broadcast rights to this event. PGA TOUR LIVE coverage will resume next week at the 3M Open.