2026 Open Championship Preview & Tee Times: Everything To Know About Royal Birkdale
The Open is coming to Royal Birkdale for this season’s fourth and final Major championship. Find bigger golf betting odds at the best sportsbooks to increase your potential payouts. Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Jon Rahm have opened as the favorites in Open Championship odds for The 154th Open.
Calling all folks and blokes! A convergence of the best golfers in the world across the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and LIV Tour brings us to the final Major of 2026. Royal Birkdale Golf Club is set to host the 154th running of the Open Championship.
Last here in 2017, this marks The Open’s first return since Jordan Spieth’s adventurous, adrenaline-filled, roller-coaster Sunday. It will go down in Open Championship history as one of the most entertaining individual displays of man vs. self we’ve ever seen in this event. Ahead, we’ll get the week kicked off with our usual course preview and look at The Open Championship odds.
2026 Open Championship Odds
Here are the top-25 players in The Open odds this week. Click on the odds to bet now. To find British Open longshots, browse prices for the entire field on our Open Championship odds page.
The 154th Open Championship
Links Golf Modernized
I love everything about The Open. Links golf is golf in its purest form. It rewards thoughtful, strategic, and creative play with true hazards to penalize a reckless bomb-and-gouge approach. In the case of Royal Birkdale, we’ll see a premium on driving accuracy and approach play.
Relative to the other venues on The Open rota, Royal Birkdale presents the fewest quirks and tricks. Its fairways are the flattest, bunkers are strategically placed but avoidable with a controlled tee shot, and the massive dunes that line these fairways can help subdue the gusting winds off England’s eastern coastline. Royal Birkdale is recognized by many of the game’s best players as their favorite course on The Open rota, as it truly rewards a well-executed game plan and penalizes misfires.
Betting The Open
From a golf betting perspective, The Open presents a challenge as one of the most difficult events of the year to use data predictively. The reasons for that include the randomness of weather and its significant effect on certain waves versus others, the absence of long-term historical ShotLink/Strokes Gained data to model off of, and the fact that links golf is an entirely different animal. Case in point, we have plenty of players in the field whose most recent rounds have been played across TPC Deere Run and TPC River Highlands. That’s not exactly translatable to what lies ahead at Royal Birkdale, so my betting decisions for this week will be more anecdotally based, using stat modeling directionally to guide those decisions.
I expect this recently modernized version of Royal Birkdale to continue to reward the top, in-form players from tee to green yet again. I’m looking to isolate the most consistent, accurate drivers who excel in SG: Approach and Scrambling. Anecdotally, I’m looking for the most skilled short game players who are comfortable scrambling from the nefarious positions Royal Birkdale will inevitably put them in.
With Birkdale susceptible to high winds and inclement weather, it will be crucial to monitor the weather forecast throughout the week, as is always the case at any Open Championship. For now, the forecast calls for relatively calm conditions for an Open Championship, but that is always subject to change on the English coast.
Without further ado, let’s run through the key facts and info about Royal Birkdale Golf Club ahead of the 2026 Open Championship. Scroll to the bottom for complete outright odds and to compare prices across the best sportsbooks in your state.
OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD AT A GLANCE
The field contains 160 players for the 154th Open Championship. Four spots remain up for grabs among top-qualifying finishers at the previous week’s Scottish Open and ISCO Championship. A majority of the field qualified by way of a top-50 Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) or by a top-30 ranking from the 2025 DP World Tour season.
Twenty spots were up for grabs in Final Qualifying, which brought added drama for top players, LIV or otherwise, who were blocked out by their diminishing OWGR rank. James Nicholas, Josele Ballester, Matthew Jordan, Matthew Southgate, Caleb Surrat, and Peter Uihlein are notables who were on the outside looking in before punching their tickets to Birkdale by way of Open qualifying.
Sergio Garcia famously fell short in his Final Qualifying bid after a lunchtime plate of lasagna rendered him uncompetitive in his second set of 18 holes on qualifying day.
Additional qualifying criteria include recent major champions and top placements in the national open championships across international tours, with the next available OWGR-ranked players rounding out the field. This shapes up as the most top-heavy major this year, as every OWGR top-50 player will be teeing it up.
Aldrich Potgieter and Matti Schmid are the first alternates on call, each has proven capable of contending on the big stage, should there be any withdrawals.
DP World Tour, LIV Players In Action
A major hosted by the R&A means a stark difference in the field composition compared to a usual week on the PGA Tour. From the DP World Tour, the top-30 players in the 2025 Final Race to Dubai Rankings and the first five players on the 2026 Race to Dubai Rankings not otherwise exempt have gained entry into this week’s field.
Frankly, the DP World Tour’s continued path as a feeder Tour for top European talent like Nicolai Hojgaard, Min Woo Lee, Ryan Fox, and Kristoffer Reitan, who have earned full-time membership on the PGA Tour in recent years, offers little hope for the talent left over to measure up to this field at Royal Birkdale. The top players from the DP World Tour to watch out for this week, however, include Eugenio Chacarra, Jayden Schaper, and Casey Jarvis.
On the LIV side, a total of 16 players have qualified through past exemptions, up one from last year. Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Tyrrell Hatton, and Joaquin Niemann highlight the list of viable contenders from LIV, while Thomas Detry, David Puig, and Tom McKibbin have high upside as sleeper considerations. Cameron Smith and Louis Oosthuizen are the only former Open Champions from LIV in this field. Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, usual mainstays at this event, will not be in the 2026 field.
Scottie Scheffler dominated for his second major championship win of 2025 last year at Royal Portrush, winning by four shots at -17. Xander Schauffele, Brian Harman, Cam Smith, Collin Morikawa, Shane Lowry, Jordan Spieth, Darren Clarke, Stewart Cink, Louis Oosthuizen, and Padraig Harrington represent the list of former champions back in Birkdale this week.
INTRODUCTION TO ROYAL BIRKDALE
Established 137 years ago in 1889, Royal Birkdale Golf Club holds plenty of history in the game of golf. It is set to host The Open Championship for the 11th time since 1954, and has consistently had its name called on the Open rota every 7-10 years. Situated about 20 miles north of Liverpool, Royal Birkdale is yet another example of an Open Championship venue that rests upon the English coastline, inviting the natural elements of wind, rain, and fog to intervene.
The list of past champions at Royal Birkdale is as impressive as any on The Open rota. Of the nine players to win at Royal Birkdale – Peter Thomson (2x), Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Ian Baker-Finch, Mark O’Meara, Padraig Harrington, Jordan Spieth – eight are multiple major champions. In an event known for its volatility and unpredictability, Royal Birkdale has proven to be the exception, where the cream consistently has risen to the top. In its most recent installment in 2017, Jordan Spieth entered as the OWGR No. 2 player in the world, coming off a win in his prior start at the Travelers Championship, and left Royal Birkdale as the new World No. 1.
Like many of the other storied courses on the Open rota, Birkdale’s history dates back centuries. Three generations of the Hawtree family had a hand in building this golf course, with Frederick G. Hawtree most responsible for the current routing, alongside his partner J.H. Taylor. A links course carved within the natural dunes along the English coastline, Royal Birkdale has a distinct look and feel to it. The large property is one of the most fan-friendly, packing some of the largest crowds in The Open rota within the natural amphitheater these dunes provide.
When you think of a proper links course, Royal Birkdale checks every box. It’s a coastal venue heavily exposed to wind and inclement conditions. Deep pot bunkers are strategically placed throughout the fairways and greenside areas to place a particular emphasis on accuracy and conservative play. Inaccurate ball-strikers will be met with lateral punchouts for any misfires. Natural gorse and fescue neighbor the fairways, with firm and fast runout areas near the green.
Unique from other courses on the Open rota are Royal Birkdale’s flat fairways. While The Open is known for its unpredictability, this is a venue where great shots are rewarded, and poor shots are properly penalized. With fewer undulations in the fairways,
Changes Since 2017
Significant changes have been made to Royal Birkdale since it last hosted the 2017 Open Championship. The catalyst for these changes was two-fold. First, to adapt to the rapid distance advancements in the modern game. And secondly, to solidify itself as a future fan-friendly host on The Open rota for decades to come.
Beginning with the 5th hole, this has now been rerouted ahead of the 2026 Open Championship, moving from a short 346-yard par-4 to one that is intended to be a risk-reward, driveable par-4 at 321 yards. The hole has been reconfigured to bring more risk into play now, with strategic bunkers lining the left side and a rare water hazard on the right of the green.
The 151-yard par-3 7th hole has been shortened to 151 yards, giving Royal Birkdale a new signature short par-3, as is common for most venues on The Open rota. Beyond just moving the tee boxes up, they’ve also raised the greens so that any misfires run off into some of the steepest pot bunkers on the property. This hole represents Royal Birkdale in a nutshell. It’s short and right in front of you, rewarding well-executed shots with a birdie opportunity and penalizing poor shots with a surefire bogey.
Holes 14 & 15 endured the most significant changes since we last saw Royal Birkdale in 2017. The 14th hole will now play as a 602-yard straightaway par 5. Unique to Royal Birkdale, this is the first par-5 players will see late into their rounds, and depending on the wind direction, will be a bona fide three-shot hole for most of the field. This is yet another example of Royal Birkdale diminishing the importance of driving distance.
Under the new routing, the 15th hole is now a very long par-3, inverting what previously played as the 14th hole before this year. They’ve added 41 yards to this hole, now making it a beast at 241 yards; the last par-3 players must survive on their way home.
And finally, the 18th hole has added 35 yards in distance, pushing it to a 508-yard finishing par-4. That is significant, as it brings the penal fairway bunkers into play for players who pull driver on the last. We saw many players hit less than driver in 2017 to avoid these bunkers, which will now result in a very long club into the last green for conservative drivers.
Breaking Down Royal Birkdale
A 7,223-yard par-70, Royal Birkdale still stands as one of the shorter Open Championship venues, even after adding 70 yards to the course since 2017. Shorter does not mean easier, however, as Royal Birkdale requires absolute precision throughout.
The towering dunes at Royal Birkdale give this course a unique look and feel, and the presence of these dunes makes judging the wind ever so trickier, as players on the ground level will have less of a reference point for the wind above them. In that sense, it creates a natural swirling wind effect, similar to what we see when the winds pick up in TPC Sawgrass’ stadium setup.
Royal Birkdale’s routing breeds a slow crescendo towards an action-packed finish. The front 9 does feature the most difficult scoring hole on the property, the 499-yard par-4 6th, which features a higher scoring average than the par-5 15th in 2017. Aside from the 6th hole, however, there are no par-4s longer than 450 yards and no par-3s beyond 200 yards. It is a true test of driving accuracy and intermediate iron play from 150-200 yards.
The back 9 is where things get very interesting at Royal Birkdale. Long iron approaches become necessary on five of the last six holes, with the second nine introducing two 500+ yard par 4s, par-3s of 186 yards and 241 yards, and the two par-5s on the property.
By the end of 18 holes, players will have truly been tested throughout their bags at Royal
EVENT HISTORY AND COURSE COMPS
It’s been nine years since we last saw Royal Birkdale host The Open. Surprisingly, quite a few 2017 contenders return to the field this week. Last time we were here, Jordan Spieth had a three-stroke lead over Matt Kuchar heading into Sunday, which Spieth quickly erased by stumbling out the gates. Unfortunately, it’s been too little too late for Kuchar this year, as he’s failed to qualify this week, despite finishing in the top 25 in each of his last three starts. Haotong Li posted an early clubhouse lead with a 63, the low round of the day, which held for the majority of Sunday afternoon. He finished 3rd here in 2017 and T4 at last year’s Open Championship, making him an interesting longshot to consider this year.
Padraig Harrington will also have fond memories on his return to Royal Birkdale. The 54-year-old won a grueling test at 3-over-par here in 2008 and is riding a high just two weeks removed from winning the US Senior Open Championship.
Other top-15 finishers in 2017 back in the field this week include Rory McIlroy, Alex Noren, Matthew Southgate, Brooks Koepka, Henrik Stenson, and Hideki Matsuyama.
Open Championship History
No two Open Championship courses are exactly the same, but every venue on the rota shares a British links design. Weather understandably had a different impact each year, but tournament history can still go a long way in predicting the types of players whose games suit this unique style of play.
Seven players avoided missing the cut over the last five Open Championship contests (min. three starts): Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre, Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth, and Rickie Fowler.
Fifteen players finished in the top 15 multiple times at The Open in the last five years: Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Patrick Cantlay, Robert MacIntyre, Brian Harman, Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Brooks Koepka, Viktor Hovland, Russell Henley, Cameron Young, and Jordan Spieth.
Over the last five years, the top 10 players in British Open Event History are: Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Cameron Young, Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, and Shane Lowry. No surprises on this list, but it’s interesting to note that all 10 are past Ryder Cup players with experience playing in a high-pressure European atmosphere.
Course Comps
I usually spend the majority of my research time identifying the best course comps to project recent results within the past year onto the field. In Majors, I tend to de-prioritize the importance of Comp Course History, as the atmosphere of a standard Tour event is not comparable to that of a Major. In the case of The Open, it’s typically best to prioritize performance on other links courses, whether it be the Scottish Open, Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, or past British Open venues.
Comparing Royal Birkdale To Other Links Venues
The Open is the most challenging event to look back on and measure course suitability simply by referencing a leaderboard. All things being equal, Royal Birkdale should play most similarly to Royal St. George’s among recent Open venues. Both courses play to a similar yardage as par-70s that feature relatively flat fairways compared to the rest of the courses on the Open rota. Collin Morikawa put on a ball-striking clinic in his 2021 victory, capitalizing on calmer conditions like we’re expecting to see at Royal Birkdale this week. Perhaps not so coincidentally, Spieth’s runner-up finish at Royal St. George’s in 2021 is his best finish in an Open outside of his 2017 victory.
By contrast, however, Royal Birkdale’s relatively flat fairways and protection from the wind from the dunes create a singular, unique atmosphere that differentiates it from all others on The Open rota. In short, it’s a layout where in-form, accurate ball-strikers can truly separate.
If weather conditions remain calm, then Royal Portrush, Royal Troon, Royal Liverpool, Royal St. George’s, Carnoustie, and Muirfield also serve as solid comps to reference from.
Stateside Comps
Leaving the proper links comps behind, the logical first stateside comparison from a profile and leaderboard overlap standpoint would have to be Pebble Beach, particularly in its more challenging routing for the 2019 U.S. Open. Both courses are not diabolically long and are characterized by smaller greens and exposure to the windy coastline. 2017 Open Champion, Jordan Spieth has an excellent track record at Pebble Beach, winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am just six months prior to his victory at Birkdale. That may be a strong omen for this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am winner, and former Open Champion himself, Collin Morikawa.
The next best stateside comp to Royal Birkdale may very well be TPC Sawgrass. Neither course requires length, and both feature flat fairways, high influence from the wind, and a constant need to scramble from unusual positions around the green. The 2017 Open Championship is the closest Matt Kuchar has ever come to winning a major, but the landmark achievement of his decorated career was his win at the 2012 PLAYERS Championship. Rafa Cabrera Bello finished T4 at both THE PLAYERS and The Open in 2017.
Another course of a similar yardage that rewards accurate ball-striking, navigating coastal winds, and almost entirely neutralizes any advantage for longer hitters is Waialae CC. Chris Gotterup emerged victorious in the final installation of the Sony Open earlier this year and has proven to be a dangerous links player in his own right, finishing T3 at Royal Portrush last year.
On a more tertiary basis, I’ve always felt that desert golf offers the best proxy for links conditions for stateside comps. Both share firm and fast conditions and quirky hazards for tee shots that run off the fairway. Tom Kim, Tony Finau, Jon Rahm, and Rickie Fowler highlight a long list of players with overlapping success in desert and links conditions. With that in mind, TPC Scottsdale and TPC Summerlin are worth a reference for firm and fast courses that penalize misses off the tee.
Wrap that all together, and the top 10 players in comp course history are: Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka, Russell Henley, Shane Lowry, Jason Day, and Collin Morikawa.
KEY STATS TO CONSIDER WITH THE OPEN ODDS
- SG: APP / Prox: 150-200
- Bogey Avoidance / Double Bogey Avoidance
- Driving Accuracy / SG: OTT (<7,200-yard Courses)
- SG: ARG / Scrambling Gained / Sand Saves
- SG: Putting (Total) / SG: P (Slow Greens)
- SG: TOT (High Winds)
- Major Championship History (L5 Years)
- Open Championship or Links Course History
- Course & Comp Course History
Given the different types of shots required at an Open Championship links course, it’s not a week to blindly follow the stat model. The shot-making on standard Tour courses doesn’t necessarily translate. History has shown, however, that players in top form entering the Open tend to leave with the Claret Jug. Few surprise winners emerge. Since 2012, every winner has fallen inside the OWGR top 40, including 200-1 longshot Brian Harman in 2023.
Windy links courses can deprioritize the importance of SG: APP, with well-struck shots going unrewarded on tight runoffs. With fair conditions expected (at least for now), I’m taking a stance on the importance of elite iron play first and foremost at Royal Birkdale. The top 10 in terms of SG: APP coming into this week are: Scottie Scheffler, JJ Spaun, Tom Kim, Matt Fitzpatrick, Joaquin Niemann, Alex Fitzpatrick, Collin Morikawa, Adam Scott, Kurt Kitayama, and Ludvig Aberg.
Don’t let Jordan Spieth’s escapades in 2017 fool you; position off the tee remains crucial at Royal Birkdale, as is the case at most proper links courses. The narrow fairways and penal fescue lining them place a heightened importance on accuracy this week. And with strategically placed bunkers baiting players into taking a more conservative approach with their tee-shots, this is a week where driving distance can truly be neutralized in favor of driving accuracy. The top 10 in Driving Accuracy leading into this week are: Russell Henley, Collin Morikawa, Si Woo Kim, Aaron Rai, Tommy Fleetwood, Daniel Berger, Sepp Straka, Joaquin Niemman, JJ Spaun, and Brian Harman.
To account for select holes where players will be forced to take less than driver, the top-10 in SG: Ball Striking on Short, Positional courses includes Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Si Woo Kim, Matt Fitzpatrick, Patrick Cantlay, Shane Lowry, and JJ Spaun.
Custom Stats
Weighted Short Game is a crucial stat this week. Links golf tends to produce much larger and slower greens than we would typically see on the PGA Tour. Looking at a combination of SG: P (L36), SG: P (Slow Greens), SG: ARG, and Sand Saves, the top-10 players on and around the greens equipped to handle this course are: Patrick Reed, Jason Day, Wyndham Clark, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, Sungjae Im, Viktor Hovland, Harry Hall, Aaron Rai, and Rory McIlroy.
Taking a simple view of those who rank above-average in Driving Accuracy, SG: APP, Prox: 150-200, SG: ARG, and Weighted Putting, just eight players remain: Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Tommy Fleetwood, Joaquin Niemann, Si Woo Kim, and Patrick Reed.
The perfect profile of a player for this week should be above average in Driving Accuracy, SG: APP, SG: OTT (Short Positional Courses), Major History, Comp Links History, and SG: ARG. That’s very specific criteria, but 10 players check each box: Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Tyrrell Hatton, Corey Conners, Si Woo Kim, and JJ Spaun.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: TOM KIM
It was a young 24-year-old playing out of Dallas, Texas, who took Royal Birkdale by storm last time we were here in 2017. Could Tom Kim be the heir apparent to Jordan Spieth nine years later? One thing is for sure: If Tom Kim is to go on and slay Royal Birkdale, it will be by taking anything but the Spiethian route.
In contrast to Spieth’s navigation of Royal Birkdale, in which he traversed every square inch of the property with a driver that could not be tamed, control is the very essence of Tom Kim’s game. And when it comes to Royal Birkdale’s true design intention, it is meant to reward precise, well-executed shots. Who better than Tom Kim to contend here, then, as Kim ranks top-10 in this loaded field in terms of both Driving Accuracy and SG: APP.
Links Specialist
It is fair to question whether the best approach players on the PGA Tour can translate from the States to the British links, as an Open Championship demands an entirely different arsenal of shots to navigate. Tom Kim has proven to be comfortable in the elements; however, finishing top-20 in each of his first five Scottish Open appearances. And while his results at The Open have been a mixed bag, a runner-up finish at Royal Liverpool in 2023 suggests that when he’s on, he’s not afraid to rise to the challenge on golf’s greatest stage.
What draws me so much to Tom Kim in British Open odds is how the lack of spin he generates is not hurt on short, positional courses. Though low ball speed should be a deterrent in modern golf, Kim has used it to his advantage in his first three PGA TOUR victories at TPC Summerlin and Sedgefield CC, where accuracy is rewarded. In links golf, a lack of spin on tee shots and approaches allows for a more piercing ball flight, less likely to be swept up in gusting winds.
A 3rd place finisher at Shinnecock Hills last month, Kim is peaking at the right time now, as he’s logged three top-15 finishes over his last four starts. If he can just get the putter to fully cooperate at Royal Birkdale, the rest of his game is exactly where it needs to be to claim his first major championship.
2026 OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP ODDS: DFS PLAYER POOL
With all the course-fit profiles in mind, I’m leaning early toward the player pool below. Naturally, I’m looking their way in the 2026 Open Championship odds as well. I’ve broken the list down by projected pricing/odds tier for DraftKings.
2026 Open Championship Model Breakdown
In my model, I’m emphasizing SG: APP, Driving Accuracy, SG: ARG, Weighted Putting (L36, 3-Putt Avoidance, Approach Putting, Slow Greens), and Major History (L5 Years) followed by a balanced mix of Prox: 150-200, Bogey or Worse Avoidance, Scrambling Gained, Good Drives Gained, Sand Saves, and SG: TOT (Comp Links Courses).
Open Championship Odds: Model Favorites
Unsurprisingly, it’s world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler who comes out on top of the model. Ranking No. 1 in SG: OTT, SG: ARG, SG: APP, Bogey Avoidance, and Major History, it’s tough to argue against Scheffler’s chances to go back-to-back at The Open after displaying such dominance at Royal Portrush; however, he will be coming off of his first missed cut since 2022 after a disappointing final audition in Scotland, so there is hope for the rest of the field. The odds agree with Scheffler as the prohibitive favorite, but with unpredictable weather conditions looming, I’m less intimidated by Scheffler than I’ve felt most other weeks on the PGA TOUR.
After Scheffler, the rest of my model’s top 10 rounds out with: Matt Fitzpatrick, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Si Woo Kim, and Ludvig Aberg.
Demonstrating remarkable restraint, I’ve remained patient without a single futures bet placed on Open Championship odds. I’m hoping to have a clear understanding of any weather split advantages in such a weather-impacted event. When the weather outlook is clearer, I’ll look to build my betting card around Matt Fitzpatrick, Chris Gotterup, and Tom Kim. Check back in later this week for more updates.
Best of luck navigating 2026 Open Championship odds!
- Join Lineups.com’s free sports betting Discord channel, where we are talking British Open odds all week. John will also share his betting card in the staff-golf-bets channel.
Photo Credit: REUTERS
