2026 Open Championship

154th Open Championship
Tournament information
Dates16–19 July 2026
LocationSouthport, Merseyside,
England
53°37′19″N 3°01′59″W / 53.622°N 3.033°W / 53.622; -3.033
CourseRoyal Birkdale Golf Club
Organized byThe R&A
Tours
Statistics
Par70
Length7,223 yards (6,605 m)
Field156 players, 78 after cut
Cut141 (+1)
Prize fundUS$17,750,000
Winner's share$3,200,000
Champion
New Zealand Ryan Fox
270 (−10)
Royal Birkdale is located in the United Kingdom
Royal Birkdale
Royal Birkdale
Location in the United Kingdom
Royal Birkdale is located in England
Royal Birkdale
Royal Birkdale
Location in England
Royal Birkdale is located in Merseyside
Royal Birkdale
Royal Birkdale
Location in Merseyside
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The 2026 Open Championship, officially the 154th Open Championship, was a golf tournament played from 16–19 July 2026 at Royal Birkdale Golf Club. It was the 11th Open held at the club.

Ryan Fox became the third New Zealander to win a golf major, winning by one stroke over Cameron Young.

Course changes

Since the 2017 Open Championship, the course has undergone a renovation. The principal change has come on the back nine; the former par-3 14th was removed, the par-5 15th relocated and became the 14th hole, and a new 15th hole—a par-3—inserted.

Field

The Open Championship field is made up of 156 players, who gained entry through various exemption criteria and qualifying tournaments. The criteria include past Open champions, recent major winners, top ranked players in the world rankings and from the leading world tours, and winners and high finishers from various designated tournaments, including the Open Qualifying Series; the winners of designated amateur events, including The Amateur Championship and U.S. Amateur, also gained exemption provided they remain an amateur. Anyone not qualifying via exemption, and with a handicap of 0.4 or lower, can gain entry through regional and final qualifying events.

Criteria and exemptions

Each player is classified according to the first category in which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses.

1. The Open Champions aged 60 or under on 19 July 2026 (for all champions before 2024)

2. The Open Champions aged 55 or under on 19 July 2026 (for all champions from 2024)

3. The Open Champions for 2015–2025

4. Top 10 finishers and ties in the 2025 Open Championship

5. Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) for Week 21, 2026

6. Top 25 in the final 2025 Race to Dubai rankings

7. Recent winners of the BMW PGA Championship (2023–2025)

8. Top five players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2026 Race to Dubai Rankings through the BMW International Open

9. Recent winners of the Masters Tournament (2022–2026)

10. Recent winners of the PGA Championship (2022–2026)

11. Recent winners of the U.S. Open (2022–2026)

12. Top 30 players from the 2025 FedEx Cup points list

13. Recent winners of The Players Championship (2024–2026)

14. Top five players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2026 FedEx Cup points list through the Travelers Championship

15. Top player, not already exempt, in the top 5 of the 2026 LIV Golf League individual standings through LIV Golf Andalucía

16. Top five players from the OWGR's International Federation Ranking List as of Week 21, 2026

17. Winner of the 2025 Senior Open Championship

18. Winner of the 2025 U.S. Amateur

19. Recipient of the 2025 Mark H. McCormack Medal

20. Winner of the 2025 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship

21. Winner of the 2026 Latin America Amateur Championship

22. Winner of the 2026 Africa Amateur Championship

23. Winner of the 2026 Amateur Championship

24. Winner of the 2026 European Amateur

25. Winner of the 2026 Open Amateur Series

Open Qualifying Series

The Open Qualifying Series (OQS) for the 2026 Open Championship consisted of 15 events. Places were available to the leading players (not otherwise exempt) who made the cut. In the event of ties, positions went to players ranked highest according to that week's OWGR.

LocationTournamentDateSpotsQualifiers
SpainOpen de España12 Oct 20251Marco Penge (5,6)
JapanJapan Open Golf Championship19 Oct 20251Naoyuki Kataoka
Hong KongLink Hong Kong Open1 Nov 20251Tom McKibbin
AustraliaCrown Australian Open7 Dec 20253Michael Hollick, Kim Si-woo (5), Adam Scott (5)
New ZealandNew Zealand Open1 Mar 20261Lucas Herbert
South AfricaInvestec South African Open Championship1 Mar 20263Casey Jarvis (16), Frédéric Lacroix, Francesco Laporta
ArgentinaVisa Argentina Open1 Mar 20261Alistair Docherty
United StatesArnold Palmer Invitational8 Mar 20261Daniel Berger (5)
SingaporeSingapore Open26 Apr 20262Ham Jeong-woo, Cameron John
KoreaKolon Korea Open24 May 20261Yang Ji-ho
JapanGateway to The Open Mizuno Open31 May 20263Ryutaro Nagano, Shaun Norris, Ren Yonezawa
United StatesMemorial Tournament7 Jun 20261J. T. Poston
CanadaRBC Canadian Open14 Jun 20263Bud Cauley, Jackson Suber, Jesper Svensson
ItalyDS Automobiles Open d'Italia28 Jun 20261Eugenio Chacarra
ScotlandGenesis Scottish Open12 Jul 20263Johnny Keefer, Victor Perez, Michael Thorbjornsen

Final qualifying

Regional qualifying events were held on 22 June at 16 locations. Final qualifying events were played on 30 June at four locations.

LocationSpotsQualifiers
Burnham & Berrow5Alejandro de Castro (a), James Nicholas, Tom Sloman (R), Caleb Surratt, Austen Truslow
Dundonald Links5Jack McDonald, Matthew Baldwin, David Howard (a,R), Nevill Ruiter (a), Marcus Plunkett
Royal Cinque Ports5M. J. Daffue, Antoine Rozner, Bård Skogen, Matthew Southgate, Peter Uihlein
West Lancashire5Sam Bairstow, Josele Ballester, Tiger Christensen (R), Matthew Jordan, Kazuma Kobori

Last-Chance Qualifier

One spot was given to the winner of an 18-hole qualifier held on 13 July, three days before the start of the Championship. The field for the Last-Chance Qualifier consisted of twelve players who narrowly failed to qualify through other means.

Additional players added to the field

In order to fill additional places or replace exempt players who had withdrawn prior to the start of the Championship, and maintain the full field of 156, additional players were taken in ranking order from the Official World Golf Ranking as of 6 July.

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, 16 July 2026

Jackson Suber, playing in his first Open Championship, shot a 5-under-par 65 to take a one stroke lead over Dan Brown and Im Sung-jae. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler was three strokes off the lead with a 68. Alex Smalley was leading until a double bogey on the 18th hole dropped him into a tied for third with a 67.

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1United States Jackson Suber65−5
T2England Dan Brown66−4
South Korea Im Sung-jae
T4United States Pierceson Coody67−3
South Africa M. J. Daffue
United States Bryson DeChambeau
Belgium Thomas Detry
United States Ryan Gerard
Scotland Robert MacIntyre
Italy Francesco Molinari
United States Alex Smalley
United States Cameron Young

Second round

Friday, 17 July 2026

Lucas Herbert, playing in his sixth Open Championship, shot an eight under round of 62 to take the lead by two shots. He was the sixth player to shoot 62 in a major championship. Herbert also shot a front nine in 28 strokes, tying an Open record set by Denis Durnian on the front nine 28 at the 1983 Open Championship on the same course. A missed 5-foot putt on 18th hole derailed his chance to set the record outright with a 61.

Sam Burns, a few groups after Herbert finished, also shot an eight under round of 62, including holing out from a bunker on 18th.

The other storyline came late in the second day when Bryson DeChambeau, who having finished up at the 18th at −7 for the tournament and shooting a four under round of 66, was approached by rules officials who informed DeChambeau of a possible penalty. After a video replay, DeChambeau and rules officials returned to the 5th hole, where the penalty occurred, and where DeChambeau had made a bogey five. DeChambeau was assessed a two stroke penalty for improving his lie on the 5th hole, which turned his four under round of 66 into a two under round of 68, joining a tie for 5th with Burns and Kim Si-woo.

Seventy-eight players made the cut which came at 141 (+1). Notables to miss the cut included 2022 champion Cameron Smith, 2026 PGA Championship winner Aaron Rai, 2026 U.S. Open winner Wyndham Clark, and Justin Rose, who finished as low amateur at the 1998 Open Championship, also held at Royal Birkdale. None of the ten amateurs in the field made the cut, which meant that the silver medal would not be awarded for the second year in a row.

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1Australia Lucas Herbert70-62=132−8
T2United States Ryan Gerard67-67=134−6
United States Jackson Suber65-69=134
United States Cameron Young67-67=134
T5United States Sam Burns73-62=135−5
United States Bryson DeChambeau67-68=135
South Korea Kim Si-woo68-67=135
T8United States Bud Cauley68-68=136−4
Belgium Thomas Detry67-69=136
England Alex Fitzpatrick69-67=136
England Tommy Fleetwood69-67=136
Scotland Robert MacIntyre67-69=136
Italy Francesco Molinari67-69=136
Spain Jon Rahm69-67=136
United States Scottie Scheffler68-68=136
England Matt Wallace69-67=136

Third round

Saturday, 18 July 2026

Sam Burns, looking for his first major victory, after also coming close to the title at the previous major of the year, shot a five under 65 to take two shot lead at −10. Burns's 62-65 (127 strokes, thirteen under par) second and third rounds set the lowest consecutive 36 hole record in the Open Championship and in all major championship history.

Ryan Fox, who went out early during the third round, shot an eight under round of 62, joining Burns and Lucas Herbert, who shot 62 during the second round. Fox's 62 also set the record for most low rounds in any major with three. Fox's round also put him in a tie for second with Kim Si-woo at −8.

Lucas Herbert, the second round leader, came back to field with a one over 71. Herbert joined a tie for fourth with Ryan Gerard at −7.

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1United States Sam Burns73-62-65=200−10
T2New Zealand Ryan Fox72-68-62=202−8
South Korea Kim Si-woo68-67-67=202
T4United States Ryan Gerard67-67-69=203−7
Australia Lucas Herbert70-62-71=203
T6Sweden Ludvig Åberg71-66-67=204−6
United States Bryson DeChambeau67-68-69=204
United States Jackson Suber65-69-70=204
T9England Tommy Fleetwood69-67-69=205−5
Denmark Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen72-66-67=205

Final round

Sunday, 19 July 2026

Summary

Ryan Fox of New Zealand, who began the final round two shots behind Sam Burns, overcame a dramatic back nine to win the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Fox shot a two under 68 to finish at 10-under-par and claim his first major championship by one stroke over Cameron Young. Fox made four birdies in his final six holes, including a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th, to become only the second New Zealander to win the Open after Bob Charles in 1963.

Cameron Young, who began the day seven shots behind Burns, produced a remarkable six-under 64 to establish the clubhouse lead at nine under par. Young made three consecutive birdies to begin his round and reached the turn in five under for the day. He remained in the lead for more than two hours before Fox eventually caught him, but Young was unable to force a playoff after Fox birdied the 18th.

Sam Burns, the 54-hole leader, briefly extended his advantage to three shots with a birdie on the second hole, but his challenge subsequently unravelled. Burns made three bogeys during the front nine and could not recover, eventually shooting a two over 72 to finish alone in third at eight under par.

Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion, mounted an early challenge alongside local favourite Tommy Fleetwood. Scheffler shot a three under 67 to finish at seven under, while Fleetwood carded a 68 to join him in fourth. Fleetwood, who grew up in nearby Southport, received strong support from the Royal Birkdale galleries but was unable to maintain his challenge after dropping shots during the middle of his round.

Si Woo Kim, who began the final round tied for second at eight under, briefly moved into the lead before falling back with a two over 72. He finished in a tie for sixth at six under alongside Lucas Herbert and Casey Jarvis. Herbert, who had shot a 62 in the second round, also finished with a one over 71, while Jarvis closed with a four under 66 to join the group.

Fox's decisive moment came on the 18th. Tied with Young at nine under after birdieing the 16th, Fox drove into the centre of the fairway before hitting his approach to approximately 12 feet. Royal Birkdale's 18th had been the toughest hole of the championship, playing 161 strokes over par across the field, but Fox calmly rolled in the birdie putt to reach 10 under and win the Claret Jug. The victory made Fox the third New Zealander to win a men's major championship, joining Charles and Michael Campbell.

Final leaderboard

Champion
Silver Medal winner (low amateur)
(a) = amateur
(c) = past champion
PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)
1New Zealand Ryan Fox72-68-62-68=270−103,200,000
2United States Cameron Young67-67-73-64=271−91,842,000
3United States Sam Burns73-62-65-72=272−81,181,000
T4England Tommy Fleetwood69-67-69-68=273−7827,500
United States Scottie Scheffler68-68-70-67=273
T6Australia Lucas Herbert70-62-71-71=274−6550,883
South Africa Casey Jarvis73-67-68-66=274
South Korea Kim Si-woo68-67-67-72=274
T9Sweden Ludvig Åberg71-66-67-71=275−5336,380
United States Ryan Gerard67-67-69-72=275
United States Russell Henley70-71-68-66=275
Denmark  Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen72-66-67-70=275
Australia Adam Scott72-66-71-66=275

Scorecard

Hole1234  5  678910 11  12  13  14  15  16 1718
Par444344344443453454
New Zealand Fox−8−9−9−9−9−9−9−9−8−8−7−7−8−9−8−9−9−10
United States Young−4−5−6−6−7−7−7−7−8−8−8−8−8−9−9−9−10−9
United States Burns−10−11−11−10−9−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8
England Fleetwood−6−6−6−6−7−7−7−8−7−6−5−5−5−5−5−5−6−7
United States Scheffler−5−6−6−6−7−7−7−7−7−7−7−8−7−7−6−7−8−7
Australia Herbert−7−7−6−6−7−6−6−6−7−8−7−7−7−7−7−7−6−6
South Korea Kim−8−8−8−8−9−10−10−10−10−10−9−8−8−8−8−7−7−6
Sweden Åberg−6−6−5−5−5−5−4−4−5−5−5−5−5−5−5−5−6−5
United States Gerard−7−7−7−7−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−5
United States DeChambeau−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−5−5−2−2−3−4−4−4−4−4
United States Suber−5−5−5−5−5−5−5−4−4−4−4−4−3−4−3−3−2−2

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie Bogey Double bogey Triple bogey+

Source:

Notes

  1. 1 2 (a) – denotes amateur.
  2. ↑ All will be aged 55 or under on 19 July 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Qualified via the Open Qualifying Series before becoming exempt.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Players must remain amateurs in order to be exempt under this category.
  5. ↑ Forfeited his exemption by turning professional.
  6. ↑ Cumulative World Amateur Golf Ranking points from the St Andrews Links Trophy, The Amateur Championship, and the European Amateur.
  7. ↑ (R) – denotes a player who progressed through regional qualifying.
  8. ↑ Aldrich Potgieter replaced Louis Oosthuizen.

References

  1. ↑ Rorabaugh, Dan (17 July 2025). "Heading to Royal Birkdale for the 2026 British Open? Here's how to get tickets". Golfweek.
  2. ↑ "Where Is The 2026 Open Championship?". Golf Monthly. 20 July 2025.
  3. ↑ Schlabach, Mark (19 July 2026). "Ryan Fox birdies 72nd hole to capture Open Championship". ESPN.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "The 154th Open | Exemptions". The Open Championship. The R&A. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  5. 1 2 Heath, Elliott (13 July 2026). "Past Champion Louis Oosthuizen Forced To Withdraw From 2026 Open Due To Injury". Golf Monthly. Retrieved 14 July 2026.
  6. ↑ "Jackson Koivun to accept PGA Tour membership, make pro debut at John Deere Classic". PGA Tour. 12 June 2026. Retrieved 27 June 2026.
  7. ↑ "The Open Qualifying Series". The Open Championship. The R&A. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  8. ↑ "Regional Qualifying". The Open Championship. The R&A. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  9. ↑ "Regional Qualifying Round-Up". The R&A. Retrieved 23 June 2026.
  10. ↑ "Final Qualifying". The Open Championship. The R&A. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  11. ↑ "Last-Chance Qualifier | All You Need to Know". The Open Championship. The R&A. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  12. ↑ "Suber leads a day of surprises in his first Open Championship". ESPN. Associated Press. 16 July 2026.
  13. 1 2 "Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns match the major championship record with 62s at The Open Championship". NBC Sports. Associated Press. 17 July 2026. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  14. ↑ "Bryson DeChambeau penalized two shots following Round 2 at The Open, now three shots off the lead". NBC Sports. Associated Press. 17 July 2026. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  15. ↑ "Justin Rose, Matt Fitzpatrick bid early farewells at the Open". ESPN. Associated Press. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  16. ↑ Ferguson, Doug (18 July 2026). "Oh, baby! Sam Burns takes the lead in a British Open he planned to miss". Associated Press News. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  17. ↑ Schlabach, Mark (18 July 2026). "Fox's 62 matches major record, the third at this week's Open". ESPN. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  18. ↑ Ryan, Nate (18 July 2026). "Sam Burns leads Open Championship by two shots after last-minute decision to stay in tourney". NBC Sports. Retrieved 18 July 2026.
  19. 1 2 "Ryan Fox crowned Champion Golfer of the Year". The Open Championship. The R&A. 19 July 2026. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
  20. ↑ "2026 British Open final round updates: Ryan Fox pulls off epic rally to win at Royal Birkdale". PGA Tour. 19 July 2026. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
  21. ↑ Ferguson, Doug (18 July 2026). "Oh, baby! Sam Burns takes the lead in a British Open he planned to miss". Associated Press News. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
  22. ↑ "Ryan Fox wins British Open with birdie on final hole". PGA Tour. 19 July 2026. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
  23. ↑ "The Open 2026: Leaderboard, final results from Royal Birkdale". Golf Channel. 19 July 2026. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
  24. ↑ "New Zealand's fearless Fox wins British Open thriller at final hole". Reuters. 19 July 2026. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
  25. ↑ "The Open Championship – Leaderboard". ESPN. 19 July 2026. Retrieved 20 July 2026.