The post Open Championship early betting guide: 3 picks our expert loves appeared first on Golf.

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Welcome to our PGA Tour gambling-tips column, featuring picks from GOLF.com’s expert prognosticator, Brady Kannon. A seasoned golf bettor and commentator, Kannon is a regular guest on SportsGrid, a syndicated audio network devoted to sports and sports betting, and is a golf betting analyst for CBS Sportsline. You can follow him on X at @LasVegasGolfer, and you can read his early picks below for the Open Championship, which gets underway on July 16 at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England.

The golf season’s final major is right around the corner. The John Deere Classic provides the final tune-up on American soil, and next week’s Genesis Scottish Open transitions us to the other side of the pond ahead of the following week’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England.

Scottie Scheffler arrives as your defending champion, hoisting the Claret Jug last summer at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, and is the tournament favorite again at around +550.

The last time we saw Royal Birkdale for an Open Championship was in 2017. An epic duel on the inward nine saw Jordan Spieth finally pull away from Matt Kuchar and capture his third career major championship title. Beginning on Thursday, July 16, 2026, Birkdale kicks off what will be the 154th edition of this glorious, global golf championship. The golf course is a classic links design, situated on the coast of the Irish Sea. It will play to a Par 70 and measures roughly 7,200 yards.

I love the mix of holes. Six Par 4s fall into the 400-450-yard range. Three Par 4s are under 400 yards long, and three are over 500 yards. Two of the four Par 3s are over 200 yards, and one of the two Par 5s is over 600 yards. The nasty, wispy, heather-grass exists off the fairways amidst the rolling moguls of windswept terrain we have become familiar with when thinking of links golf and this tournament. The fairways themselves are notoriously flat, narrow and bordered by signature sand dunes that reach up to 50 feet in height. The sandhills create a separation between holes in the golf course routing as well as an elevation change from tee to green.

There are literally hundreds of sand bunkers throughout the golf course, many of which are the especially penal pot bunkers — another signature feature of many Open Championship venues. The greens are smaller than average targets with a great deal of subtle undulation. Because of the ever-present threat of severe winds at an Open Championship, the greens will, as usual, be kept at a relatively slower speed than we are used to seeing.

In trying to relate Royal Birkdale to other courses we are familiar with, I think of Sea Island at the RSM Classic with its flat fairways, coastal location and dunes. Harbour Town for its small greens, coastal location and narrow fairways, and Colonial Country Club, also for the similarities in fairways and greens as well as layout routing. Royal Troon makes sense as the most similar Open Championship venue.

We see evidence of these correlations in the 2017 leaderboard. Both Spieth and Kuchar have won at Harbour Town, as has Branden Grace, who finished sixth at the 2017 Open. Spieth has won at Colonial, and Kuchar has been as high as runner-up. Looking at links to Royal Troon, Matthew Southgate finished 12th at Troon in 2016 and was sixth at Birkdale in 2017. Henrik Stenson won at Troon in 2016 and was 11th at Birkdale the following year. Xander Schauffele finished 20th at Royal Birkdale in 2017 and won the Open Championship at Royal Troon in 2024. Sweden’s Alex Noren finished 13th in 2024 and was sixth at Birkdale in 2017, Links golf is very different from what we are used to in America and every Open Championship is different because of weather conditions but in the early explorations, I believe we have a decent base of information to integrate into our handicap and enough to make a few educated guesses as to who might be the 2026 Champion Golfer of the Year.

Early bets

Shane Lowry (40-1)

It is interesting to see Lowry’s price so low compared to what we often see at Signature Events on the PGA Tour or other major championships. Oddsmakers are well aware of how well Lowry’s game translates to links golf — and of course, he won the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush. He is arguably the best wind player in the world, and if conditions are such at Birkdale, he’s a good guy to have on your card. Lowry has twice finished third at Harbour Town and was sixth at Royal Troon in 2024. He ranks 18th on Tour in Strokes Gained: Approach and is 24th in Driving Accuracy.

Russell Henley (50-1)

This will be the second major in a row that I have played Henley, and I’m hoping it goes better than the last, where he finished 65th at Shinnecock at the U.S. Open. Henley was 37th at Birkdale back in 2017. He finished fifth at Troon in 2024 and 10th at Portrush last summer. He also won back in May at Colonial. His game should be excellent for this golf course. Henley is 48th on Tour for Strokes Gained: Approach and is 29th in Strokes Gained: Putting. He is No. 1 for Driving Accuracy and is fourth in Scrambling.

Harris English (100-1)

A major championship feels like something that could be in the cards for both Henley and another Georgia Bulldog in English. He’s had multiple top 10 finishes at major championships and was runner-up to Scheffler last year at Portrush. English lives in the community and plays out of the Sea Island Golf Club. He’s finished as high as sixth at Colonial and was fourth earlier this season at Harbour Town. He ranks 20th on Tour in Total Driving and is eighth for SG: Putting. It feels to me like he has a better chance than 100-1.

We’ll be back here on Tuesday, July 14, for the rest of our tournament preview and the remainder of our plays to win The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

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The post ‘That’s a big deal’: Jordan Spieth lays out risky strategy for Open repeat appeared first on Golf.

In July 2017, Jordan Spieth was at the height of his powers, at least according to the man himself during his press conference at this week’s John Deere Classic.

“That was probably the best I ever was at golf,” he revealed on Tuesday.

That month saw him capture his third major victory in three years, the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Swing issues and injuries have hobbled his career since.

But the 13-time PGA Tour winner is finally fully healthy and feeling confident in his game, just in time for the Open’s return to Royal Birkdale two weeks from now.

Spieth, who hasn’t won since 2022, is eyeing the latest Birkdale Open as an ideal place to cap his comeback and return to major glory.

Not only that, he’s devised a strategy to maximize his chances at winning the Open. The problem is that strategy could risk his PGA Tour status for next season.

Spieth ahead of Open: ‘If I stay the course, the results will come’

Spieth’s results so far in 2026 have been a mixed bag, as he acknowledged on Tuesday at the John Deere Classic. Though he hasn’t returned to the winner’s circle, he argued, “there’s been a consistency level that was better than years past.”

News

'One of the stranger parts': Jordan Spieth sees weird quirk in PGA Tour's new schedule

By: Josh Schrock

In 17 starts, Spieth has recorded eight top-25 finishes, including a T12 at the Masters and a T18 at the PGA Championship. But he’s failed to earn a top 10 this year, and his last three starts (MC at the Memorial, T56 at the U.S. Open and T66 at the Travelers) have been disappointing.

“The last month I felt like I played kind of the same level of golf and didn’t get a whole lot out of it. I had some opportunities in some big events to obviously maintain kind of the trajectory I was on,” Spieth explained on Tuesday.

Despite how his record looks, Spieth feels his game is in “a really good state” and that a comeback win could be right around the corner.

“I’m not letting it get to me. I feel like my game is in a really good state. I’m more consistent and an all-around better player than I’ve been in a long time. If I stay the course, the results will come.”

Spieth risks 2027 PGA Tour status with Open prep plan

But while he feels his game has been in a good place in the past month, his poor finishes have seen him drop in the FedEx Cup standings.

After fighting his way into the top 50 earlier in the season, Spieth has now fallen to 52nd. If he fails to get back into the top 50 by season’s end, he won’t secure spots in next season’s Signature Events.

However, following the Travelers Championship on Sunday, Spieth revealed that he’s giving up his next chance to earn FedEx Cup points in order to head to Royal Birkdale early.

Next week is the Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club in Scotland, an event co-sanctioned by the PGA and DP World tours. Spieth is qualified to play in it and try to earn valuable points, but he isn’t going.

News

Was Wyndham Clark booing influenced by gambling? Jordan Spieth opens up

By: Nick Piastowski

“I thought unless I went to Birkdale before the Scottish [Open], I’m not going to get in until Sunday night,” Spieth told the Associated Press on Sunday after the Travelers Championship.

That was an issue for him because he’s had success at majors this year when he’s arrived early to practice on the host course.

“The majors this year, I’ve liked the ones I’ve been to early and played prior to the week, just because the practice rounds are brutal. So the plan was to do that early,” Spieth said.

But Spieth is well aware of the FedEx Cup implications of his decision. That’s why he made the call to play the John Deere Classic this week, which he won twice early in his career.

To be safe, he’s eyeing two other Tour events after the Open as opportunities to rack up last-minute points.

“I’m around 50th in the FedEx Cup, and that’s a big deal,” Spieth told the AP. “Now I’ll do the Deere, potentially Minnesota (the 3M Open) and potentially Greensboro (the Wyndham Championship).”

Of course, if Spieth were to capture his third career victory at the John Deere this week, all his FedEx Cup points problems would be solved, taking the risk out of his decision to skip the Scottish.

You know what else would do the trick? A second Open triumph at Royal Birkdale in two weeks.

On Tuesday, Spieth confirmed his plan to get to Royal Birkdale a few days early “before the official practice rounds start.” He also said he’s “excited” to see the new holes Birkdale has added, and that he’s “heard really, really good things.”

Spieth called Birkdale a “great golf course” and “one of the hardest venues we play in an Open.”

One question still left to be determined before the 2026 Open begins is whether Spieth, the last man to win a Birkdale Open, will be considered the defending champion in two weeks, or if reigning Open champ Scottie Scheffler will take the honors.

“I joked with Scottie [Scheffler]. I saw him in the locker room before he went out for his final round. I said, ‘Well, are you the defending champ, or am I the defending champ [at the Open]?’ He was like, ‘No, it’s you.’ I was like, ‘No, no, no, you don’t get to do that. It’s you.'”

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The post ‘Just felt nauseous’: Sergio Garcia blames lasagna for Open shortcoming appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Just felt nauseous’: Sergio Garcia blames lasagna for Open shortcoming appeared first on Golf.

Sergio Garcia, for 18 holes, was eating up West Lancashire Golf Club.

Then he said lunch did him in.  

Playing a final qualifying event on Tuesday for the Open Championship in two weeks, Garcia shot a four-under 68 over his first 18 holes of the 36-hole tournament, then followed with a 75 to finish seven strokes back of an Open spot. And a reason for the seven-shot difference between rounds? 

Lasagna, Garcia told on-site reporters afterward. 

“I thought maybe have a little pasta and stuff,” he said, “but for some reason it didn’t sit well with me, and I just felt nauseous the whole front nine. In the afternoon, I felt like I was going to vomit pretty much on every hole.”

The 2017 Masters winner and LIV Golf player has appeared in 26 Open Championships and has finished runner-up twice. He has played in Open final qualifying three of the past four years and has yet to advance; last year, he played in the Open through a LIV Golf exemption. 

“I felt like I played well this morning. I had a nice finish, and I had things going a little bit,” Garcia told reporters. “I had a little bit of food there in the player’s lounge, and it did not sit well with me.

“I struggled very much in my first nine holes in the afternoon — nauseous and I felt like I was going to puke pretty much every single hole. So obviously that made it very difficult for me to concentrate on what I wanted to do, which was play well and give myself a chance, and I thought about stopping after nine.

“I thought, let’s play a couple more and see if I can get something going and a miracle happens. But unfortunately, it didn’t happen.”

By not qualifying, Garcia will finish the major year with one appearance, at the Masters, where he finished 52nd. During the final round at Augusta National, the Spaniard smashed the tee box and a cooler stand on the 2nd hole after his tee shot, leading to a code of conduct warning from the Masters. That followed an outburst at last year’s Open, where he also smashed his driver on the 2nd hole during the final round. 

Looking to next year, Garcia told reporters on Tuesday he hopes to be ranked in the top 50 in the world “and then I won’t have to worry about coming in and qualifying.”

“I’m still working hard,” he said. “I felt like today, when I was feeling healthy, when I was feeling well, I felt pretty good. I hit a lot of good shots this morning. And even on the second nine, when I kind of felt a little bit better again, I hit a lot of good shots. But obviously those first nine holes kind of killed me.

“It’s a shame. It’s tough. When you’re this age and you’re playing 36 holes, you feel like you need to eat a little bit in between the rounds, and you do that and it doesn’t sit well with you and you’re struggling with your stomach pretty much the whole second round, it’s tough.

“Because you come all the way here to give it your best shot and not feeling 100 percent there, it hurts a lot.”

For a look at Open final qualifying scores, please click here. 

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The post Open Championship final qualifying 2026: Scores, host sites, notable players appeared first on Golf.

Last month, golfers hoping to qualify for the U.S. Open competed in final qualifying for the third major of the year, also known as “Golf’s Longest Day.” On Tuesday, golf fans will be treated to the British version with 2026 Open Championship final qualifying.

The 2026 Open Championship begins on July 16th at Royal Birkdale, and the final 20 spots in the tournament are up for grabs on Tuesday. In all, there are four 2026 Open Championship final qualifying events on tap, with around 71 players in each field fighting across 36 holes for five Open spots at each event.

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Tour Confidential: New PGA Tour schedule winners, losers and nitpicks

By: GOLF Editors

The final qualifying events stretch across Scotland and England, and while many competitors are unknown to golf fans, that’s not true of everyone. Former Masters champions and current LIV Golf pros Sergio Garcia and Danny Willett are among the most notable players competing. They’ll be fighting for Open tee times at the West Lancashire qualifier, where YouTube golf stars George and Wesley Bryan are also trying to play their way into the final major of the year.

You can check the complete list of Open Championship qualifying tournaments below, along with their locations, notable players in the fields and scores.

2026 Open Championship final qualifying: Results, scores, qualifiers

Dundonald Links

Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
Players in field: 71
Open spots available: 5

Qualifiers:

Jack McDonald
Matthew Baldwin
David Howard (a)
Nevill Ruiter (a)
Marcus Plunkett

FULL SCORES

West Lancashire

Location: Blundellsands, England
Players in field: 70
Open spots available: 5

Qualifiers:

Samuel Bairstow
Kazuma Kobori
Jose Luis Ballester Barrio
Tiger Christensen
Matthew Jordan

FULL SCORES

Burnham & Berrow

Location: Burnham-on-Sea, England
Players in field: 72
Open spots available: 5

Qualifiers:

James Nicholas
Caleb Surratt
Tom Sloman
Alejandro de Castro Piera
Austen Truslow

FULL SCORES

Royal Cinque Ports

Location: Deal, England
Players in field: 72
Open spots available: 5

Qualifiers:

Baard Bjoernevik Skogen
M.J. Daffue
Matthew Southgate
Peter Uihlein
Antoine Rozner

FULL SCORES

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The post Open Championship will move to new month in 2028. Here’s why appeared first on Golf.

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On Monday morning, the R&A announced a big change for its flagship tournament, the Open Championship, for 2028. Instead of its normal mid-July dates, the 2028 Open will be postponed until early August.

The reason? A conflict with the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Here’s what you need to know.

Olympic golf pushed 2028 Open Championship to August

The 2028 Summer Olympics are heading to sunny Los Angeles, Calif., the first Olympics to be held in the United States since the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. The last Summer Olympics in the U.S. was the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

One event that was not included in 1996 that will be part of the 2028 Olympics is golf.

News

Golf's new Olympics event is a win for fans. It's about time

By: Sean Zak

Golf initially returned at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. The 2028 golf events will be played at iconic Riviera Country Club, home of the PGA Tour’s Tiger Woods-hosted Genesis Invitational. It will feature separate men’s and women’s tournaments, in addition to a new mixed-team event.

But the dates for the 2028 Olympic golf competitions present a problem for one of golf’s most important tournaments: the Open Championship.

The Olympic golf events are scheduled for July 19-29, 2028. Traditionally, the Open Championship is held in mid-July. So something had to be done to solve this scheduling issue to allow golf’s best male players to compete.

The answer came Monday morning, when the R&A announced they would push back the playing of the 2028 Open to make room for the Olympics. The new dates for the 2028 Open will be August 3-6.

But the men’s Open isn’t the only tournament moving dates. Both the 2028 ISPS HANDA Senior Open and the 2028 AIG Women’s Open will also be held in August. The Senior Open will be held the week after the Open (August 10-13), and the Women’s Open will be played the week after that (August 17-20).

R&A CEO Mark Darbon explained the decision in a press release, adding that the Open would return to its usual July date in 2029.

“We have worked collaboratively with the relevant bodies and our partners to agree alternative dates for staging our major championships in 2028 to accommodate the Olympic golf competitions,” Darbon wrote. “We appreciate the constructive discussions we have had with all of the stakeholders and believe that providing clarity on the dates now will assist with the planning of the global golf calendar in 2028. We can also confirm that The Open will be returning to its normal mid-July dates in 2029.”

While we now know the date of the 2028 Open Championship, we don’t know where it will be played. The R&A has yet to announce the Open host courses past 2027, when it will head back to the Old Course at St. Andrews.

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The post St. Andrews’ Old Course readies for changes: Here’s what’s coming appeared first on Golf.

There are three certainties in life: death, taxes and championship golf courses getting longer. Yes, that’s even true for the Old Course in St. Andrews — especially ahead of the 2027 Open Championship. 

The most revered links in the world is set to undergo numerous changes that will lengthen it by 132 yards before the best golfers in the world compete there in 20 months. It will be the most significant lengthening of the championship tees since the early 2000s. Here’s everything you should know about the changes.  

Four new tee boxes

The 5th, 6th, 7th and 10th holes will have new teeing grounds for the 2027 Open. That’s a par-5 and three par-4s that all run in the mostly the same northerly direction on the eastern end of Fife. 

The par-5 5th will see the biggest increase, adding 35 yards, which at least makes some sense for championship purposes. The 5th played to an average of 4.598 during the 2022 Open, the third-easiest hole, according to par. 

The 6th and 7th will grow by 17 and 22 yards, respectively, but neither was an easy birdie hole at the 150th Open. The 7th, however — at 371 yards — was subject to players launching tee balls high in the air downwind, carrying over the massive, Shell bunker (324-yard cover) and finding a putt for eagle. 

“It was very firm and very fast  [in 2022] and that created a challenge,” said R&A Chief Governance Officer Grant Moir, ”but certainly there had been an increase in the number of par-4s that were reachable and both par-5s were reachable (in two) most days.”

With 29 yards added to the 10th and 21 to the 11th, the total yardage for the par-72 setup will now stretch to 7,445, extending an obvious trend you can see in the chart below. 

Where will the tee boxes go? 

Great question! It’s unclear. The design firm in charge of the adjustments is Mackenzie and Ebert — though the St. Andrews maintenance staff will play a major role — which has been helping the R&A make Open Championship adjustments for years, inclusive of adding new holes to ancient properties. Recall their renovation to the finishing stretch at Royal Liverpool for the 2023 Open, creating a new, bite-size par-3 17th that had everyone talking that week. (And not necessarily glowingly.) Or look ahead to next year’s site, Royal Birkdale, which will employ a new par-3 15th. 

As for St. Andrews, there is still room to contort land behind where current tee boxes are located, but not much! The renovations will no doubt require removal of various gorse bushes and will creep beyond various walking paths that snake through the property. But given the out-and-back nature of the course, every step backward from the tee starts to encroach upon either the previous hole or a hole on the New Course next door. Check out the photo below to understand what currently sits beyond the 6th and 7th tee boxes.

Bunker movement 

Two of the lengthened holes — 6 and 10 — will also find new bunkers added nearer the green, or, rather, closer to “elite level drive length,” as the R&A put it. Now, the bunkers up the right side of the 6th are a measly 260-yard cover. Of course, the alleyway to the green narrows some, but bunkers nearer the green will do more damage to a player’s scorecard than playing from any length of rough. With 17 extra yards from the new tee, players will be tempted to hit driver, but very worried if it starts moving offline. 

The bunker addition that has the R&A particularly jazzed is along the left side of 16, where in previous years the rough was cut close to the famous Principal’s Nose bunkers. In 2027, players will find two additional bunkers up the left side, with some of the rough cut down to fairway level to allow aggressive plays to either skirt the sand or fall victim to it.

“We felt that in recent times players have targeted hitting the ball into the rough there, to avoid the strategic challenge that the hole traditionally provided,” Moir said. “So it might sound counterintuitive to some, but widening the fairway with the placement of two new bunkers in there actually enhances the strategic challenge and the challenge across the board on that hole.”

There’s truth in there. During a practice round of the 2022 Open, I watched Scottie Scheffler drop balls in the rough left of the 16th fairway and play his way onto the green with a wedge. It felt funny to see a player hit multiple shots from various spots in the rough on purpose, especially when one of his drives finished in the fairway. Scheffler told me he was purposefully aiming in the left rough, fully content to play from there, too, if his drive didn’t cut back to the short grass. Below is a screenshot from the final round of the 2022 Open, showing just how often players attacked the left flank of the hole, and were still often rewarded for doing so.

Pace of play; bits and bobs

A major reason for all this? Pace of play during the Championship. During the 2022 Open, which saw record crowds and incredible weather, opening rounds extended beyond six hours. Without much for wind, it became apparent that players were reaching a numerous par-4s in one, and both par-5s in two. Normally, if there’s wind, only one of the par-5s is reachable in two, which helps pros play their second shots without waiting for the green to clear ahead of them.

Below are a few other adjustments on the docket.

What does it all mean?

The Old Course will never be the same. In much the way it has never been the same. It is a living, breathing organism that adapts over time. Gorse grows in well some years and not so well in others. Bunkers were added to the course ahead of the 2022 Open, but no one really seemed to notice. There wasn’t much for weather during that dry summer, but there was so much wind and rain in 2015 that basically the entire Saturday of golf was canceled. 

It does mean that the Old Course continues to be pushed and manipulated for championship purposes, the likes of which will mostly matter during Championship week alone, or during major comps like the Dunhill Links or high-level amateur comps. The Old Course that you play will mostly be unchanged, with the Black tees stretching to 6,721 yards. The people in charge at the Links Trust are not making these changes without years of discussions.

“We are being very sensitive to the history of the course with these changes,” Moir said, “but we do feel that it’s appropriate to make these changes at this time to adapt to the way the modern game is played.”

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The post He was ranked 500th in the world. Now, he’s headed to the Masters appeared first on Golf.

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Naoyuki Kataoka entered the week at No. 500 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He hadn’t won a tournament since the Japan Players Championship in 2021. He had just two top-10 finishes this season on the Japan Golf Tour.

On Sunday night, Kataoka stood alone at Nikko Country Club with a ticket to the 2026 Masters and 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in his hand after winning the 2025 Japan Open.

A recent decision by Augusta National Golf Club and the R&A changed the qualification criteria to award winners of certain national opens entrance into their fields. That meant the 2025 Japan Open came with added incentive for those in the field.

Kataoka shot a final-round 68 and then made a par on the first playoff hole to beat Satoshi Hara and clinch the first two major starts of his career. Scores were high at Nikko Country Club. Kataoka shot 70-70-69-68 to finish the 72 holes at three under par.

“It’s really a dream come true for me,” the 27-year-old Kataoka said after the win, via The Japan Times. “I’m really happy to be able to play in the Masters and The Open.

“I’ll work as hard as I can, prepare by April, and do my best to be able to compete. I felt a really strong sense of accomplishment as I finally won again after enduring so many near misses during those barren four years [since the 2021 Japan Players Championship].”

With the win, Kataoka jumps to No. 355 in the OWGR, which puts him right behind Dylan Wu and in front of NIcholas Colsearts. Kataoka is the second player to earn a trip to the Masters and Open Championship since the qualification criteria changed. Marco Penge won the 2025 Spanish Open, which was his third win of the year on the DP World Tour.

The decision by Augusta National Golf Club and the R&A show the governing bodies, at least these two, are shifting their priorities to embrace international golf and its history while adjusting to the more tiered structure of the PGA Tour. Our Dylan Dethier dove into that here.

“The Masters Tournament has long recognized the significance of having international representation among its invitees,” Augusta National Golf Club and Masters chairman Fred Ridley said in a statement. “We, along with The R&A, have a shared commitment to the global game and are proud to work together.

“Today’s announcement strengthens our organizations’ collective vision of rewarding top talent around the world who rise to the top of historic national open championships.”

“We share the same goal as Augusta National to offer places in both The Open and the Masters to players competing in national opens and by doing so to help to showcase and strengthen our sport in those regions,” added R&A CEO Mark Darbon.

The tournaments that now have tickets to the Masters and Open Championships include the Japan Open, the Spanish Open, the Australian Open, the Hong Kong Open and the South African Open.

Kataoka secured that ticket with a playoff par on Sunday. And now, the 500th-ranked player in the world is headed to Magnolia Lane.

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The post 7 pro golf observations from 3 weeks abroad appeared first on Golf.

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MANCHESTER — In the last three weeks, I’ve jumped from country to country following this silly game — from the Scottish Open (PGA Tour) to the Open Championship (major) to LIV Golf UK. Along the way, we’ve seen breakout stars, fading stars, zero shooting stars, and just enough things that make you wonder — where is this sport headed?

For that, we’ve got seven thoughts on the state of things, interesting observations from the road … and how golf and European football have run parallel paths. Dive in…

1. Gotterup’s Traveling Heater 

It was exactly 17 days ago that Chris Gotterup shot 61 in the second round of the Scottish Open. It was a quiet, morning round at Renaissance Club that few people, and few cameras, were even following. But it pushed him to the top of the leaderboard, and from there he’s done so much. He toppled Rory McIlroy over the weekend at the Scottish, and then did about as well as you could against Scottie Scheffler the following weekend. Then he raced over to Minneapolis and was in contention again, finishing T10.

When we chatted after that Friday morning 61, Gotterup still had a flight itinerary booked from Edinburgh to Reno for the Barracuda. He told us he was planning to play out the full season, meaning Reno —> Minneapolis for the 3M Open —> Greensboro for the Wyndham Championship. My, how things change. He’s shot up to no. 20 in the FedEx Cup and in the American Ryder Cup standings. The former is going to make him a lot of money, considering he’s in great position for East Lake. The latter, well … a few thoughts:

In many ways, this run by Gotterup is exactly what Keegan Bradley wants for his Ryder Cup squad. And in other ways, it’s exactly what he doesn’t want. A last-ditch move from a player who wasn’t on your radar only complicates the roster building, and makes life difficult on the Patrick Cantlays, Wyndham Clarks and Jordan Spieths of the world. It feels like Memphis and Delaware are a two-week trial period for all of the American “bubble” players, and I hope Gotterup keeps it up because three things feel very true. 1. His game clearly travels, from East Lothian to Nor’n Ireland to the wet, hot mid-America summer. 2. It hasn’t just been the last 17 days — he’s been great since mid-April. 3. He stared McIlroy down and beat him. That has to bode well for Bethpage. 

2. Koepka’s Grind

Three days after his major season ended with another goose egg, I found Brooks Koepka grinding on the LIV range on … ball position. Ricky Elliot was working around for different looks from every angle, trying to will some simplicity into Koepka’s setup. Before long, Pete Cowen was observing Koepka, and not long after that Graeme McDowell, too. 

“It just feels awkward as shit,” Koepka said to Cowen, stepping back after one driver swing. G-Mac then stepped in to over-emphasize how Koepka needed to keep his stance as it was — not open to target, which is what he seemed to be experimenting with — and lean on his front leg more. 

This is the kinda of nitty-gritty golf stuff that tells a story on its own. A story about Koepka, the 5-time major champ who was unhappy with his game this summer. About Elliot, the caddie who was speaking very frankly with his pro — something Koepka says he needs from his team. And McDowell, the teammate who probably wouldn’t give a damn were Koepka not essentially his employer. 

It may not be much but it felt like a window into the team element of LIV. Team stuff matters as much as anything to that enterprise because it needs to. They’re reportedly upping the team purse for 2026 events, but it’s not all money. Sergio Garcia absolutely believes he’s doing something for the future of Spanish golf by signing young Spanish players to his team. Bubba Watson says he’ll be a non-playing captain in the future, maintaining belief that the Range Goats will live for years down the road. (Who knows if that’ll be true, but Watson has to believe it. He may have no choice!) The Majesticks have built out larger and larger activations at every U.K.-based LIV event over the years, and it seemed to be a hit with their home crowd. Again, they have to do this. It’s their model! And it’s ultimately undercut by their bleak TV viewership. But it still feels worth noting when you see it.

3. How much bigger should The Open get? 

It’s possible the sheer size of this Open was perfect. Particularly for the R&A, who claimed it “set a new benchmark” for overall viewership, in person and through broadcast and digital channels. But there’s a worthy question to be had about how big the Open has become.

This year’s Open was massive, and we may have looked past its size because of the spectators’ obsession with the reigning Masters champion. You could scale dunes at Portrush for a better view, but you cannot do that at St. Andrews. Or Royal Liverpool. That complicates anyone’s ability to actually see the golf. The 2025 iteration was aided by the meandering, criss-crossing course routing, which allows fans to move about from hole to hole, from front nine to back nine, quite easily. But on out-and-back courses — two of them named above, in addition to Troon — the immense crowds tend to gather toward the start/finish area and not leak out into the extents of the course.

All of that is relevant … before even discussing the commutes — quietly, spectators were left disappointed by two-hour delays from a park-n-ride on Tuesday at Portrush — or how many beds there are in these tiny, lovely beach towns. I don’t anticipate this to be much of an issue during next year’s Open at Royal Birkdale, in which both nines return to the clubhouse, with plenty of hosting towns nearby, but it will be the first Open with a play-in qualifying tournament on the Monday of Open week. Attendance for that day will surely be up. The R&A wants attendance to keep going up. But where is the ceiling?

4. Where will LIV history…live? 

During my time in Manchester — post Open and pre-LIV — I made a stop at the National Football Museum, tucked into the town’s Northern Quarter. It’s a multi-level building that mostly caters to dynamic visuals (and interactive areas for children), but I appreciated how the curators didn’t balk at the inclusion of some of English football’s more angsty topics. 

Included were sections about racism and sexism — some of the obstacles that have hindered not just football but society for centuries — but also more soccer-focused, recent issues like Super Leagues, foreign investment and priced out fans. It got me wondering about the main angsty issues in golf these days, and if we’ll see that chronicled in, say, the USGA Museum or the R&A Museum someday. It’s probably too soon to archive LIV Golf in an official capacity as it keeps chugging along, but I certainly have a few artifacts/videos to contribute from my time visiting its tournaments. 

5. 13 rules seems perfect

While we’re on the topic of European football, I found it cute (and nothing more) that the original list of rules for football was just as long as the original rules of golf. Thirteen decrees deep!

Within it was another reminder of just how well the original rules of golf have held up — and for longer — because the footie rules have certainly changed a lot since 1863. The original pitch? Two hundred yards by 100, basically twice the size of the current field of play. How about catching the ball? That was apparently a thing.

In golf’s original rules, though, made in 1744 by the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, plenty has sustained. You still aren’t allowed to change ball once you’ve started a hole, you still must play it as it lies, and you still must start each hole from an area that fits the original definition of a “teeing ground.” This stuff largely hasn’t changed in 281 years. The folks at Muirfield got a lot right. Something tells me they could have seen golf’s distance problems on the horizon, too.

6. Not the only one on summer vacay

During July, I noticed a lot of people — outside the ropes and inside — clamoring for the PGA Championship to return to August, willfully ignorant to the fact of what it left August to begin with: the NFL schedule. Our sport cannot, and should not, try to compete with football, which many executives agreed with when the PGA was moved to May in 2019. The month of August is best left to the PGA Tour — the most important purveyor of the pro game — and its chief sponsor, FedEx, and that’s that. The toothpaste is already out of the tube!

My thoughts: embrace this fascinating moment in the pro golf schedule, where the game’s stars are going on holiday… so long as they’re in good standing. Viktor Hovland went mountaineering in Norway. Ludvig Aberg enjoyed some time at home, too, and even ran a 6k race with his girlfriend. Justin Thomas went on a golf buddies trip. Rory McIlroy took a non-golf trip to Saint-Tropez before taking in Padraig Harrington’s Open win at Sunningdale. These are examples of summer break that is badly needed for anyone on Tour. The players who haven’t earned it, unfortunately, have a bit of summer school to tend to. Many of them flew from Belfast to Minneapolis for the FedEx Cup points on offer at the 3M Open. Adam Scott, Sam Burns, Wyndham Clark and Rickie Fowler might not have been happy about the commute, but their professional standing is better for it.

There’s something very valuable in starpower for the PGA Tour — see: Jordan Spieth playing the Wyndham Championship this week — so don’t expect the Tour to loosen the grip on August. In fact, they should embrace it. And urge the PGA of America to consider a format change first. (Wink.)

7. Yasir’s Game 

I stepped out to walk a few holes with Bryson DeChambeau during his LIV pro-am, in part because I always enjoy watching Bryson be Bryson, but also because he was playing with Yasir Al-Rumayyan — aka the straw who stirs the drink in any future billion-dollar PGA Tour investment. No, I didn’t get any clarity on if that investment will ever actually take place, but I did get a good look at Yasir’s game … again. 

It feels irrelevant, but in some ways it’s not. By almost every account, Al-Rumayyan’s interest in investing in pro golf comes from a burning love for golf. He’s obsessed, was (at least at one time) very much interested in using this investment to gain access to Augusta National, and he regularly still shows up to LIV pro-ams for face time with players. I’ve been there for a few of these pro-am starts over the years, and I think his swing has improved. Is that worth anything to the future of golf? Probably not. Just a dumb little observation. Just like this one: I did see H.E. hit a cold shank over my head on the 9th hole at JCB. Unfortunately, the forecaddie was too quick and tracked down the ball before I could. I did, however, watch him play a deft chip over a sponsorship sign for Riyadh Air, which felt like … the whole point.  

The author welcomes your comments at sean.zak@golf.com.

The post 7 pro golf observations from 3 weeks abroad appeared first on Golf.

The post Brandel Chamblee drops details on heated Bryson DeChambeau slow play dispute appeared first on Golf.

The post Brandel Chamblee drops details on heated Bryson DeChambeau slow play dispute appeared first on Golf.

Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee never shies away from criticizing LIV Golf. LIV’s biggest stars like Bryson DeChambeau rarely get a pass either. But Chamblee had nothing but good things to say about DeChambeau on his latest podcast episode.

In addition to calling Bryson one of the “top 5 players in the world,” he also revealed that DeChambeau got into a heated slow-play dispute with an R&A rules official at the 2025 Open Championship.

And he argued that the dispute shows why the two-time U.S. Open champion will be a huge boon to the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup team.

DeChambeau complains about slow play at Open

The fact that DeChambeau had an issue with slow play during the Open at Royal Portrush is not news. After the third round, Bryson revealed that his pairing had been put on the clock for pace of play.

News

Bryson DeChambeau offers solution for ‘out of control’ pace of play

By: Sean Zak

“[The R&A] official said we just kept losing time,” DeChambeau explained on Saturday at the Open. “Unfortunately, on the 16/17 exchange, you’ve got a downhill, drivable hole you can play pretty quick if you get it in the right spot. They did that and we just lost more time to the group in front of us. They put us on the clock, which was unfortunate.”

He also suggested an easy solution to slow play in pro events: put everyone on the clock all the time.

“It’s very simple,” DeChambeau said. “It’s not difficult at all. You individually time everybody for their whole entire round. It’s very simple. Nobody wants to do it. Because people are too scared to get exposed. Which, I’m an advocate for. I’d love to be timed, and I have no problem with that.”

Chamblee reveals new details on Bryson’s slow-play flap

On this week’s episode of their podcast “The Favorite Chamblee,” Brandel Chamblee and his wife, Bailey Chamblee, got to talking about DeChambeau and the Open.

That’s when Brandel revealed more color to DeChambeau’s slow-play dispute at the Open than previously known.

While explaining how Bryson can be “cantankerous” on the course, Chamblee said that when DeChambeau was put on the clock at the Open, he got “right in the face” of the rules official who made the decision.

“[Dechambeau] was told to speed it up on 17 out there [at the Open Championship] by the R&A in the third round, I think, and he took strong exception to it. Got right in the face of the R&A guy,” Chamblee said on the podcast. “So he can be quite cantankerous. He’s got a little Eddie Haskell in him. He turns it on when the camera comes on and wants to look like he’s doing the right thing, pretend like he is doing the right thing, but out there it’s very much a me, me, me environment.”

Why ‘cantankerous’ DeChambeau would be good for Ryder Cup

It’s essential to note that Chamblee’s comments were not meant as a slight to DeChambeau. Instead, Chamblee was using the example of the dispute as a reason Bryson would influence the 2025 Ryder Cup “in a positive way.”

Chamblee said that DeChambeau is a lock for the U.S. team, adding, “You can’t deny he is one of the most exciting players in the game of golf and one of the best players in the game of golf, and he will add to the frenzied atmosphere at the Ryder Cup.”

He then expounded on the reasons Bryson will be great for this September’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.

“He’s one hell of a player and hits it nine miles and does all these amazing things, so he’ll put on a great performance at the Ryder Cup and the fans will love it,” Chamblee said. “So I think the Ryder Cup is going to be heightened by his being there.”

You can listen to the full episode of “The Favorite Chamblee” podcast here.

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