The Open Championship
Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Southport, England
$17,750,000 Purse

The final major of the season has come home. Not just to England, not just to the northwest coast, but to Southport — the town where Tommy Fleetwood grew up. The 154th Open Championship returns to Royal Birkdale for the 11th time, and each of LAGC’s members will have their shot at a major championship.

Royal Birkdale Golf Club

Royal Birkdale was founded in 1889, but wasn’t a major championship venue until 1954, when Peter Thomson took the Claret Jug for the first time in his storied career. What followed was a who's who of the game's greatest names:

Arnold Palmer single-handedly helped revive a struggling event when he won at Birkdale in 1961. After WWII, it was like pulling teeth to get Americans to compete in The Open Championship. With travel, unfamiliar golf links, and other global circumstances, Americans weren’t interested until Arnie brought some life back to the event.

In 1971, Lee Trevino capped off his “triple crown” with The Open Championship victory, within the same month of him winning the U.S. Open and the Canadian Open. In 1976, Johnny Miller's six-stroke victory was nearly upstaged by the breakthrough performance of a 19-year-old Seve Ballesteros. Tom Watson won here in 1983. Padraig Harrington in 2008, Jordan Spieth in 2017.

The course sits on a 20-mile stretch of Merseyside coastline along the Irish Sea that is among the richest and most concentrated collections of world-class golf anywhere. What separates Birkdale from the rest of The Open Championship rota is its unusual honesty. Unlike some traditional links, Royal Birkdale rarely relies on blind shots or quirky bounces to defend itself. Instead, fairways are generally visible from the tee, and the punishment for a poor shot is obvious.

Very few tricks — that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Harrington’s victory in 08’ was with a final score of +3. It won’t play that difficult this week, but you can count on a test.

Changes Since 2017

The course has been reshaped since Spieth's dramatic 2017 win. Architects Tom Mackenzie and Martin Ebert oversaw the renovation — naturalization of several bunkers, a completely redesigned short par-4 fifth that now encourages players to drive the green, and a shortened par-3 seventh.

Most significantly, the former par-3 14th was removed, the par-5 15th relocated and a new 15th hole inserted, creating a back nine players are seeing in major championship conditions for the first time. The 18th tee has also been moved, turning it into a longer, straighter hole playing up to the clubhouse, with fairway bunkers now in play for anyone taking driver. Speaking with SiriusXM, Spieth reckons we could easily see two-shot swings on 18.

All four LAGC players are in the field this week.

Player Storylines

Tommy Fleetwood is the story of the week and the story of the championship. Can hometown hero Fleetwood become the first English winner of The Open since Nick Faldo in 1992? He grew up just miles from this golf course. He has said publicly that winning here would be a dream. The sport wants it for him. The crowd will be palpable if he's in contention.

Justin Rose has the same opportunity. He's already won once this season and added a T-3 finish at the Masters. He’s a major champion who knows how to carry himself in moments like this. While he’s not from Southport, the crowds will also be firmly behind Rose if he plays himself into contention on Sunday.

Collin Morikawa won The Open Championship in 2021 in his debut appearance, shooting four rounds in the 60s at Royal St. George's Golf Club without ever having seen a links course in competition. His back pain seems to have subsided, and looks poised to be in the mix at the end. If what we saw near the end of the Travelers Championship was any indication, Morikawa’s game is in great shape.

Sahith Theegala is still playing some of the best golf of his career. He’s only missed one cut in his 21 events this season (with 4 Top-10s), and he narrowly missed a Top-10 finish at the grueling U.S. Open. It’d be a magical week to capture his first major championship.

What to Watch

Though Scottie Scheffler missed last week’s cut (his first MC in 4 years), the defending champion remains the betting favorite. The crowd favorites will likely be the Englishmen Fleetwood, Rose, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Aaron Rai among the rest.

But this week, on the English coast, the Tommy Fleetwood chatter can be heard above the rest, and he along with Rose, Morikawa, and Theegala will look to make history of their own.

Tune in on Golf Channel, NBC & Peacock, and USA for all the action.