When and where is it on?
The final men’s Major of the year, the Open Championship will begin at Royal Birkdale early on Thursday morning. It is the 154th edition of golf’s oldest Major and the 11th time it has been hosted at the Southport course. The tournament will run until Sunday afternoon, where the winner will be presented with the Claret Jug.
How can I follow the tournament?
You can watch some 15 hours of live coverage on Sky Sports from 6.30am to 9.30pm. On Saturday and Sunday, coverage starts from 8am.
Keep an eye out though should England beat Argentina to make the World Cup final, as the R&A have said they could move Sunday’s tee times to earlier in the day should that come to pass.
What are the tee times?
Rory McIlroy will go out with Xander Schauffele and Matt Fitzpatrick at 3.15pm on Thursday, with Shane Lowry out at 2.53pm with Aaron Rai and Brooks Koepka. Check out the rest of the times, with the Irish players in bold.
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US unless stated (second round tee-times in brackets)
6:35am (11:41am): Matthew Baldwin (Eng), Thomas Detry (Bel), James Nicholas
6:46am (11:42am): Michael Kim, Daniel Hillier (Nzl), Andy Sullivan (Eng)
6:57am (12:03pm): Ryan Fox (Nzl), Andrew Novak, Matthew Jordan (Eng)
7:08am (12:14pm): Henrik Stenson (Swe), Max Homa, Joe Dean (Eng)
7:19am (12:25 pm): Robert MacIntyre (Sco), Rickie Fowler, Alex Fitzpatrick (Eng)
7:30 am (12:36pm): David Duval, Martin Couvra (Fra), Matthew Southgate (Eng)
7:41am (12:47pm): Sungjae Im (Kor), Daniel Brown (Eng), Fifa Laopakdee (Tha, am)
7:52am (12:58pm): Gary Woodland, Jake Knapp, Jordan Smith (Eng)
8:03am (1:09pm): Francesco Molinari (Ita), Tom McKibbin (NI), Lev Grinberg (Fra, am)
8:14am (1:20pm): Hennie du Plessis (RSA), Jose Luis Ballester (Esp), Dan Bradbury (Eng)
8:25am (1:31pm): Angel Ayora (Esp), Victor Perez (Fra), Mateo Pulcini (Arg, am)
8:36am (1:42pm): Stewart Cink, Scott Vincent (Zim), Joakim Lagergren (Swe)
8:47am (1:53pm): Michael Thorbjornsen, Kota Kaneko (Jpn), Travis Smyth (Aus)
9:03am (2:09pm): Alex Smalley, Sam Stevens, Ryo Hisatsune (Jpn)
9:14am (2:20pm): Akshay Bhatia, Harris English, Rasmus Hojgaard (Den)
9:25am (2:31pm): Ben Griffin, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Min Woo Lee (Aus)
9:36 am (2:42pm): Russell Henley, Justin Rose (Eng), Viktor Hovland (Nor)
9:47am (2:53pm): Justin Thomas, Alex Noren (Swe), Jason Day (Aus)
9:58 am (3:04pm): Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Bryson DeChambeau
10:09am (3:15pm): Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Jon Rahm (Esp)
10:20am (3:26pm): Brian Harman, Si Woo Kim (Kor), Nick Taylor (Can)
10:31am (3:37pm): Ryan Gerard, Maverick McNealy, David Puig (Esp)
10:42am (3:48pm): Kazuma Kobori (Nzl), Tom Sloman (Eng), David Howard (Irl, am)
10:53am (3:59pm): Antoine Rozner (Fra), Ren Yonezawa (Jpn), Caleb Surratt
11:04am (4:10pm): MJ Daffue (RSA), Frederic Lacroix (Fra), Jack McDonald (Sco)
11:15am (4:21pm): Jeongwoo Ham (Kor), Ryutaro Nagano (Jpn), Alejandro De Castro Piera (Esp, am)
11:41am (6:35am): John Parry (Eng), Eric Cole, Tiger Christensen (Ger)
11:52am (6:46am): Eugenio Chacarra (Esp), Matt Wallace (Eng), Max Greyserman
12:03pm (6:57am): Michael Brennan, Sahith Theegala, Laurie Canter (Eng)
12:14pm (7:08am): Cameron Smith (Aus), Keith Mitchell,Stuart Grehan (Irl, am)
12:25pm (7:19am): Sepp Straka (Aut), Joaquin Niemann (Chl), Kurt Kitayama
12:36pm (7:30am): Sami Valimaki (Fin), Shaun Norris (RSA), Jackson Suber
12:47pm (7:41am): Darren Clarke(NI), Adrien Saddier (Fra), Bernd Wiesberger (Aut)
12:58pm (7:52am): Keegan Bradley, Corey Conners (Can), Casey Jarvis (RSA)
1:09pm (8:03am): Matt McCarty, Harry Hall (Eng), Haotong Li (Chn)
1:20pm (8:14am): Pádraig Harrington (Irl), Marco Penge (Eng), Michael Hollick (RSA)
1:31pm (8:25am): Tom Kim (Kor), Billy Horschel, Mason Howell (am)
1:42pm (8:26am): Johnny Kiefer, Pierceson Coody, Keita Nakajima (Jpn)
1:53pm (8:47am): Aldrich Potgieter (RSA), Jesper Svansson (Swe), Jack Buchanan (RSA, am)
2:09pm (9:03am): Bud Cauley, Jayden Schaper (RSA), Lucas Herbert (Aus)
2:20pm (9:14am): Kristoffer Reitan (Nor), Patrick Reed, JT Poston
2:31pm (9:25am): Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Adam Scott (Aus)
2:42pm (9:36am): Collin Morikawa, JJ Spaun, Nicolai Hojgaard (Den)
2:53pm (9:47am): Shane Lowry (Irl), Aaron Rai (Eng), Brooks Koepka
3:04pm (9:58am): Cameron Young , Wyndham Clark, Ludvig Aberg (Swe)
3:15pm (10:09am): Rory McIlroy (NI), Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng)
3:26pm (10:20am): Jacob Bridgeman, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (Den), Tim Wiedemeyer (Ger, am)
3:37pm (10:31am): Patrick Cantlay, Daniel Berger, Nico Echavarria (Col)
3:48pm (10:42am): Peter Uihlein, Alistair Docherty, Francesco Laporta (Ita)
3:59pm (10:53am): Cameron John (Aus), Austen Truslow, Sam Bairstow (Eng)
4:10pm (11:04am): Naoyuki Kataoka (Jpn), Marcus Plunkett, Baard Bjoernevik Skogen (Nor)
4:21pm (11:15am): Kazuki Higa (Jpn), Jiho Yang (Kor), Nevill Ruiter (Nld, am)
Who are the Irish players taking part?
There are seven Irish players among the field at Birkdale, two of whom are amateurs. Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke, Pádraig Harrington and Tom McKibbin are the professionals, with David Howard and Stuart Grehan playing as amateurs.
What are Rory McIlroy’s chances?
Despite his strong record on links courses, it’s maybe a surprise that McIlroy has only won the Open once. However, he has a good chance here, coming to the tournament after a tied-seventh finish at the Scottish Open last weekend and a tied-fourth finish the last time the Open was hosted at Birkdale in 2017.
McIlroy has been practising at the course as part of his reduced tour schedule to focus on the Majors, which paid off earlier this year when he won the Masters.
And the other Irish players?
Harrington is a former winner at this course, winning back-to-back Opens with his victory in 2008. After winning the US Senior Open earlier this month, he’ll be quietly confident of making a charge this week, even at 54 years old.
Lowry missed the cut at the Scottish Open and his form has been patchy in recent months, but he’s well-capable of competing at a links course. McKibbin’s form has been steady but unspectacular. Him making the cut is a strong possibility, but working his way into contention would be a surprise. Clarke, at almost 58, would be happy to make the cut.
Grehan qualified by winning the Amateur Championship and is in excellent form, but competing against top professionals is a huge step up. Howard’s story to make the Open is an amazing one, and many will be keeping an eye on his efforts this week.
What’s the course like?
The Southport course in northwest England has seen some changes since its last hosting of the Open. There has been a complete redesign of the par-4 fifth hole, as well as a completely new par-3 15th of 240 yards.
The driving range area where Jordan Spieth famously hit wildly to on the final day in 2017 is now out of bounds. Spieth is one of the many high-profile former champions at Birkdale, the list also including Peter Thomson, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller and Tom Watson.
When it gets windy, it plays tough, as it was when Mark O’Meara won with even par in 1998, and Harrington in 2008 with a 3-over.
Who are the favourites?
It is no surprise that world number one and defending champion Scottie Scheffler is the favourite, but at 7-1 it is higher odds than he has been at for a while following a rare missed cut last week and no win on tour since January.
McIlroy is at 8-1, while two English players, Matt Fitzpatrick (14-1) and Tommy Fleetwood (16-1), are next in the betting. Fleetwood is a local favourite, having grown up in Southport, and is chasing his first Major title.
What is the weather forecast?
England is enjoying an unusually prolonged dry and sunny spell, so conditions should be firm, with temperatures between 22 and 26 degrees. Relatively light winds should mean low scores are achievable on the links.
