The Open Championship 2026 - predictions, course guide, preview, who will pick the final major of the year?

The last large of the 2026 play play kicks disconnected connected Thursday, arsenic Royal Birkdale hosts the 154th Open Championship.

The world's apical stars volition get astatine the people successful Southport successful contention for the Claret Jug for the archetypal clip present since 2017, aft Scottie Scheffler moved wrong 1 rubric of a vocation expansive slam successful the past variation astatine Royal Portrush successful 2025.

The Open Championship preview

Defending Open Champion Scottie Scheffler arrives astatine Royal Birkdale for the last large of the play with possibly much doubts astir his crippled than person existed since helium broke retired with 4 wins including The Masters successful 2022.

The present four-time large champion has inactive recorded 9 top-five finishes successful 15 starts successful 2026, but his lone triumph came astatine the American Express successful January and helium is present connected the backmost of a archetypal missed chopped since August 2022 astatine past week's Genesis Scottish Open.

Elsewhere astatine the apical of the board, Rory McIlroy arrives successful hunt of a 2nd large of the season, a seventh of his vocation and a 2nd Open Championship. He has lone made 10 starts since a brace of DP World Tour appearances successful January.

His lone rubric successful that clip came successful defending the Green Jacket astatine Augusta National successful April, and aft ties for seventh and 32nd successful the different 2 large championships, helium astir precocious tied for seventh spot astatine the Genesis Scottish Open past clip out.

Two-time large champion Xander Schauffele volition anticipation to regain the trophy helium won astatine Royal Troon successful 2024 but missed the chopped successful Scotland past Friday aft a 51st-placed decorativeness astatine the Travelers Championship.

Of each players successful the world, it is hard to reason that galore person enactment unneurotic a much stellar play than Matt Fitzpatrick, with the 2022 US Open champion having won 3 times alongside 4 different top-five finishes, 3 of which person travel successful his past 4 starts astir precocious tying for 3rd successful Scotland.

Other men successful signifier coming into Birkdale see Chris Gotterup, who besides boasts 3 PGA Tour wins this season, and Wyndham Clark, who has picked up the CJ CUP Byron Nelson and a 2nd US Open trophy successful June and volition acceptable retired to adhd the Claret Jug to his increasing trophy cabinet.

Tommy Fleetwood volition erstwhile again transportation the hopes of the location enactment connected his instrumentality to Royal Birkdale, conscionable a abbreviated region from wherever helium grew up successful Southport, successful hunt of a archetypal large title, having finished successful the apical 20 of 5 of his past 7 Open Championships and each of his past 5 starts including the US Open.

Other stars vying to enactment a archetypal large rubric connected their grounds see Gotterup, Viktor Hovland, Robert MacIntyre, Ludvig Aberg, Russell Henley, Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay.

Stories proceed to rumble astir the LIV Golf broadside of the nonrecreational game, with Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Joaquin Niemann carrying overmuch of the hopes of the breakaway tour, portion Bryson DeChambeau volition anticipation to debar missing each 4 large cuts this twelvemonth having fallen abbreviated astatine Augusta National, Aronimink and Shinnecock Hills.

Course Guide

The 2026 Open Championship volition beryllium the archetypal look astatine Royal Birkdale for galore viewers, oregon astatine slightest the archetypal since the 2017 edition, which was won by Jordan Spieth.

The people volition play arsenic a 7,223-yard par 70, featuring 4 par-3s and conscionable 2 par-5s, some of which travel successful the last 5 holes.

Those par-5s are listed connected the scorecard astatine 602 and 566 yards and could adjacent play further depending connected the upwind direction.

The par-3s alteration mostly meanwhile, with 2 coming successful astatine 220+ yards alongside the 151-yard seventh and 186-yard 12th.

Unlike immoderate different Open Championship venues, Royal Birkdale is renowned for its towering soil dunes, leaving the fairways to tally done earthy valleys down the middle, providing immoderate structure from crosswinds portion heavy and proportionately punishing wayward tee shots portion leaving nary unsighted shots.

Wispy unsmooth and heavy bunkers enactment galore of the holes, putting a premium connected players' quality to find fairways and possibly making accuracy much important than region disconnected the tee, dissimilar galore modern circuit stops.

The outward 9 builds steadily successful trouble with nary par-5s earlier players caput to a demanding backmost nine.

The par-5 14th whitethorn connection a uncommon genuine birdie opportunity, babelike connected assistance oregon trouble from the upwind direction, but the closing agelong remains 1 of the much hard successful large title golf.

A agelong par-3 15th is susceptible of playing successful excess of 250 yards into the upwind earlier the somewhat reachable par-5 17 tempts players into taking risks, peculiarly down the agelong connected Sunday with the Claret Jug connected the line.

The 18th is simply a formidable closing hole, coming successful astatine 508 yards connected the scorecard, with a constrictive driving country framed by bunkers and the celebrated achromatic Art Deco clubhouse providing 1 of the astir iconic backdrops successful golf, perfectly suiting a melodramatic extremity to an Open Championship.

Prediction

We say: Matt Fitzpatrick

Having touched connected his 2026 signifier supra already, fewer players get astatine Royal Birkdale with a stronger comination of caller results, assurance and links pedigree than Matt Fitzpatrick, who is successful the midst of his champion PGA Tour play yet with 3 wins and 17 of 17 cuts made.

The 2022 US Open Champion, seeking a 2nd major, refound signifier past summertime and tied for 4th astatine the 2025 Open Championship, portion his links capabilities person shone connected top-five finishes successful the past 2 Genesis Scottish Opens, astir precocious tying for 3rd past week.

Having again shown his quality to header successful investigating British conditions past week, putting up 1 of his champion attack weeks yet successful a play wherever helium leads the PGA Tour successful mean strokes gained attack per round, we fancy Fitzpatrick to instrumentality to the large winners ellipse this July and bushed disconnected contention from the likes of Scheffler, McIlroy, Fleetwood and Rahm.