The Open Championship
Rory McIlroy was the overnight leader after 54 holes last weekend at the Genesis Scottish Open. However, he needed a birdie-birdie finish to win at +850 to deny Scotsman Robert MacIntyre what would have been the biggest victory of his career. MacIntyre hit an errant tee shot on 18 but hit a fairway wood to four feet for a birdie to post 14 under. Keep in mind, winds were gusting up to 40 mph at the time. Meanwhile, McIlroy responded by stiffing a 2-iron approach to 10 feet and making the winning birdie putt.
David Lingmerth and Byeong Hun An finished T-3 along with Scottie Scheffler. Lingmerth, An and Nicolai Højgaard, who finished T-6, earned the last three spots into this week’s British Open. Also finishing in the top 10 in a tie for sixth were Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Tom Kim and J.T. Poston.
McIlroy will try to match Phil Mickelson’s feat in 2013 as the only player to win the Scottish Open and the British Open in consecutive weeks as he returns to Hoylake where he won his sole claret jug in 2014 at Royal Liverpool. Currently, he is as high as +800, the No. 2 choice.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (+700) is the favorite and just posted his seventh consecutive top 5 or better event finish last weekend in Scotland.
Jon Rahm (13-1) has not played in four weeks since a rare missed cut (36 straight) at the Travelers Championship.
Brooks Koepka (18-1), the PGA Championship winner in May, began his professional career in Europe and has four top-10s in his last six Open Championship appearances.
Cameron Smith (20-1), who won the LIV Golf event in London two weeks ago, looks to become the first back-to-back Champion Golfer of the Year since Padraig Harrington did so in 2007 and 2008.
Viktor Hovland (22-1) has finished in the top 7 in three of his last four majors, including a T-4 in last year’s Open at St. Andrews.
Royal Liverpool is not quite the home game that Royal Portrush was for Tommy Fleetwood (25-1), but it is in Merseyside County, where he grew up in nearby Southport.
Xander Schauffele (22-1) finished T-42 in the defense of his 2022 Scottish Open title last weekend while Ryder Cup partner Patrick Cantlay (20-1) missed the cut.
Rickie Fowler (25-1) was T-2 behind McIlroy here at Royal Liverpool in the 2014 Open and was in contention in a major championship for the first time in five years at last month’s U.S. Open. Fowler also broke his four-year-plus winless drought three weeks ago at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit.
Tyrrell Hatton (25-1) held the lead going into the back nine at the Scottish Open on Sunday, but the mercurial Englishman made a couple of costly bogeys to take himself out of contention.
The Event
This year marks the 151st Open Championship (established in 1860) in its customary spot starting before the third Friday in July. The Open is sanctioned and governed by the R&A, which is a colloquial name from the Royal Ancient Club of St. Andrews. Although based at St. Andrews, the R&A is separate from the actual golf club.
The Open is always played on a coastal links course. Links golf is often described as the “purest” form of golf and keeps a connection with the way the game originated in Scotland in the 15th century. The Open trophy is the claret jug, which has been presented to the champion since 1873. The winner of the Open is announced as “The Champion Golfer of the Year,” a title that has been used since the first Open in 1860.
Royal Liverpool has hosted the Open 12 times, most recently in 2014, when Rory McIlroy triumphed over Rickie Fowler. In 2006, Tiger Woods won an emotional victory in the wake of his father’s death. Rory and Tiger triumphed at 17 and 18 under, respectively, and Liverpool has historically played as one of the easier courses in the Open rotation.
In terms of official recognition, the tournament has been an event on the European Tour since its formation in 1972. The PGA Tour added it as its first official event outside of the United States and Canada in 1995.
The field consists of 156 players. The top 70 and ties will make the weekend cut. If there is a playoff, then a four-hole aggregate playoff is held; followed by sudden death if the lead is still tied.
The Field
The Open Championship field is made up of 156 players who gained entry through various exemption criteria and qualifying tournaments.
Each player is classified according to the first category in which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses.
1. The Open champions age 60 or under on July 23, 2023
Stewart Cink, Darren Clarke (20), John Daly, Ernie Els (2), Pádraig Harrington, Zach Johnson (2), Shane Lowry (2,4,5,6), Rory McIlroy (2,3,4,5,12), Phil Mickelson (2,10), Francesco Molinari (2), Collin Morikawa (2,4,10,12), Louis Oosthuizen, Cameron Smith (2,3,4,11,12), Jordan Spieth (2,3,4,12), Henrik Stenson (2)
Ben Curtis, David Duval, Todd Hamilton, Paul Lawrie, Justin Leonard and Tiger Woods[6] (9) did not enter.
2. The Open champions for 2012-2022
3. Top 10 finishers and ties in the 2022 Open Championship
Patrick Cantlay (4,12), Bryson DeChambeau (8), Tommy Fleetwood (4,5), Brian Harman (4,12), Viktor Hovland (4,5,12), Dustin Johnson (9), Cameron Young (4,12)
4. Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) for Week 21, 2023
Abraham Ancer, Keegan Bradley, Sam Burns (12), Wyndham Clark (8)[b], Corey Conners (12), Jason Day, Harris English[c], Tony Finau (12), Matt Fitzpatrick (5,8,12), Rickie Fowler, Ryan Fox (5), Emiliano Grillo, Tyrrell Hatton (5,6), Russell Henley, Lucas Herbert, Tom Hoge (12), Max Homa (12), Billy Horschel (6,12), Sungjae Im (12), Si Woo Kim, Tom Kim, Chris Kirk, Kurt Kitayama[d], Brooks Koepka (8,10), K.H. Lee (12), Hideki Matsuyama (9,12), Adrian Meronk (5), Taylor Moore, Joaquín Niemann (12), Séamus Power, Jon Rahm (5,8,9,12), Patrick Reed (9), Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele (12), Scottie Scheffler (9,11,12), Adam Scott (12), Sepp Straka (12), Sahith Theegala (12), Justin Thomas (10,11,12)
Will Zalatoris (5,12) did not enter.
5. Top 30 in the final 2022 DP World Tour Rankings
Adri Arnaus, Richard Bland, Ewen Ferguson, Rasmus Højgaard, Pablo Larrazábal, Thriston Lawrence, Hurly Long, Robert MacIntyre, Guido Migliozzi, Alex Norén, Thorbjørn Olesen, Adrián Otaegui, Yannik Paul, Victor Perez, Thomas Pieters, Richie Ramsay, Shubhankar Sharma, Callum Shinkwin, Jordan Smith, Connor Syme
6. Recent winners of the BMW PGA Championship (2019-2022)
Danny Willett
7. Top five players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2023 Race to Dubai through the BMW International Open
Alexander Björk, Jorge Campillo, Romain Langasque, Joost Luiten, Marcel Siem
8. Recent winners of the U.S. Open (2018-2023)
Gary Woodland
9. Recent winners of the Masters (2018-2023)
10. Recent winners of the PGA Championship (2017-2023)
11. Recent winners of The Players Championship (2021-2023)
12. The top 30 players from the 2022 FedEx Cup points list
Talor Gooch, J.T. Poston, Scott Stallings
13. Top five players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2022-23 FedEx Cup points list through the Travelers Championship
Nick Taylor
14. Winner of the 2022 Visa Open de Argentina
Zack Fischer
15. Winner of the 2022-23 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit
David Micheluzzi
16. Winner of the 2022-23 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit
Ockie Strydom
17. Winner of the 2022 Japan Open Golf Championship
Taiga Semikawa
18. Top two players on the 2022 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List
Kazuki Higa, Rikuya Hoshino
19. The top player, not already exempt, on the 2023 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List through the BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup
Hiroshi Iwata
20. Winner of the 2022 Senior Open Championship
21. Winner of the 2023 Amateur Championship[d]
Christo Lamprecht (a)
22. Winner of the 2022 U.S. Amateur[d]
Sam Bennett[e]
23. Winner of the 2023 European Amateur[d]
José Luis Ballester (a)
24. Recipient of the 2022 Mark H. McCormack Medal[d]
Keita Nakajima[f]
25. Winner of the 2022 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship[d]
Harrison Crowe (a)
26. Winner of the 2023 Latin America Amateur Championship[d]
Mateo Fernández de Oliveira (a)
27. Winner of the 2023 Open Amateur Series[d][g]
Alex Maguire (a)
Open Qualifying Series
The Open Qualifying Series (OQS) for the 2023 British Open consists of 11 events. Places are available to the leading players (not otherwise exempt) who make the cut. In the event of ties, positions go to players ranked highest according to that week’s OWGR. Unlike in previous years, if a player who has qualified through OQS becomes exempt through other criteria before June 1, 2023, the next-highest non-exempt finisher from that OQS event will become exempt.
South Africa: Joburg Open
Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Dan Bradbury, Sami Välimäki
Australia: ISPS Handa Australian Open
Haydn Barron, Alejandro Cañizares, Min Woo Lee
USA: Arnold Palmer Invitational
Ben Griffin, Trey Mullinax, Davis Riley
Hong Kong: World City Championship
Michael Hendry (h), Taichi Ko, Bi-o Kim, Travis Smyth
USA: Wells Fargo Championship
Michael Kim, Denny McCarthy, Brendon Todd
Japan: Gateway to the Open Mizuno Open
Kensei Hirata, Takumi Kanaya, Keita Nakajima, Kazuki Yasumori
USA: Memorial Tournament
Lee Hodges, Andrew Putnam, Adam Schenk
South Korea: Kolon Korea Open
Seung-su Han, Kyung-nam Kang
England: Betfred British Masters
Daniel Hillier, Gunner Wiebe, Oliver Wilson
Denmark: Made in Himmerland
Nacho Elvira, Kalle Samooja, Marc Warren
Scotland: Genesis Scottish Open
Byeong-Hun An, Nicolai Højgaard, David Lingmerth
Final Qualifying
Final qualifying was played on July 4 at four locations, with 117 players who advanced from regional qualifying events (held on June 26 at 15 locations) as well as those exempt from regional qualifying.
Dundonald Links
Connor McKinney (R), Marco Penge, Graeme Robertson (R), Michael Stewart
Royal Cinque Ports
Thomas Detry, Branden Grace, Martin Rohwer, Antoine Rozner, Charl Schwartzel
Royal Porthcawl
Laurie Canter, Oliver Farr, Jazz Janewattananond, Brandon Robinson-Thompson, Matthew Southgate
West Lancashire
Kyle Barker, Tiger Christensen (a), Alex Fitzpatrick, Matthew Jordan, Matt Wallace
(a) Denotes amateur
(b) Wyndham Clark initially qualified through the Wells Fargo Championship, but after he subsequently qualified through category 4, his Open Qualifying Series spot was reallocated to Brendon Todd.
(c) Harris English and Kurt Kitayama initially qualified through the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but after both subsequently qualified through category 4, their Open Qualifying Series spots were reallocated to Ben Griffin and Trey Mullinax.
(d) Players must remain amateurs in order to be exempt under this category.
(e) Bennett forfeited his exemption by turning professional.
(f) Nakajima forfeited his exemption by turning professional but subsequently qualified through the Open Qualifying Series.
(g) Cumulative World Amateur Golf Ranking points from the St. Andrews Links Trophy, The Amateur Championship and European Amateur.
(h) Hendry will not play after being diagnosed with leukemia in May 2023.
(R) indicates a golfer who came through Regional Qualifying.
Alternates for the event that will get the first call as replacements in the field (in order) include Cam Davis, Adam Hadwin, Matt Kuchar, Mito Pereira, and Keith Mitchell based on the current OWGR.
The Course
For the first time in nine years, the Open Championship returns to Royal Liverpool, a British links course built on an old horse racing track in the small town of Hoylake, which features a population of just 5,000. Liverpool was designed in 1871 by Robert Chambers and George Morris (the younger brother of four-time British Open champion Old Tom Morris), but Harry Colt completely remodeled the course in 1895. Liverpool was left largely untouched for more than 100 years until Martin Ebert began work on the course in 2020 in preparation for this week’s event. Ebert also remodeled Royal Portrush, which hosted the 2019 Open.
At 7,383 yards, Royal Liverpool is a relatively flat golf course that does not feature a ton of towering sand dunes. The rough right off the fairways is only about two inches thick, but there is almost a foot deep fescue 3-10 yards from the fairway landing areas. All fairways (32 yards wide on average) and playing areas are overseeded with fescue while there are certain paths with dwarf ryegrass.
Out of bounds comes into play on six holes, and there are deep and very penal fairway bunkers that were all repositioned to account for modern driving distances. Small, raised green complexes are surrounded by very steep-faced bunkers. Liverpool features flattish greens that measure a little less than 6,500 square feet on average and are made up of Browntop bentgrass and fescue. The greens will also roll a slow 10 on the stimpmeter, which is typical for an Open Championship. Hoylake also does not feature fairway irrigation systems and should guarantee we will see a firm golf course.
There have been several changes made by Ebert since The Open last took place here in 2014. The previous 15th hole has been replaced by a new 17th hole. The old 15th used to run east to west and measured 160 yards. Ebert flipped the hole 180 degrees in the other direction, and the short par-3 now plays just 135 yards and features a table-top, elevated infinity green. No. 17 is now a rugged little par-3 coming down the stretch and facing the ocean. “Little Eye” is now the closest hole to the beach on the property and is sure to provide plenty of drama coming down the stretch in the form of an exacting test of short-iron play and distance control. It is not all that dissimilar to the 17th at TPC Sawgrass.
The two late par-5s at 15 and 18 both feature new tee boxes. The 18th has been stretched to 607 yards, as the tee was moved back 50 yards and significantly to the right, while the out of bounds down the right side has been moved 20 yards farther left. The fairway now appears to be just a handful of yards wide off the tee, particularly with a carry of 240 yards to reach the fairway. Dangerous bunkers loom down the left side.
Major changes were also made to the fourth, seven and 13th holes. The front of the fourth green is now raised to produce a flatter landing area. The fourth green is also shrunk in the back right section and replaced by short grass. The seventh green was moved to the left, allowing for a new tee complex on the eighth hole to be built. A new runoff area around the 13th green was created as well.
The par was changed from a par-72 to a par-71, as the 10th hole, which was previously a 532-yard par-5, will now play as a 507-yard par-4.
The R&A, unlike the USGA, does not typically overcorrect when the scores are lower than expected. However, they are likely hoping that the weather cooperates along with the efforts to make Liverpool more difficult as it was on the softer side (by Open standards) in 2014. The 2006 edition saw firmer conditions, with Tiger Woods hitting 2-iron off nearly every tee, ranking outside the top 50 in driving distance but first in driving accuracy percentage.
The course layout includes three par-5s (two at 610+), four par-3s (three at 195+) and 11 par-4s (7 at 450+).
Correlated courses to Royal Liverpool include Royal Troon, Muirfield, Carnoustie, Royal Portrush, Royal St. George’s with a little TPC Sawgrass and PGA National.
1st (Royal), Par-4, 459 yards
The tee shot has to be threaded between bunkers and the approach hits a heavily contoured green, which is 40 yards long and protected by a group of bunkers.
2nd (Stand), Par-4, 453 yards
18 yards of length were added for the 2014 Open. The green is heavily protected by bunkers.
3rd (Course), Par-4, 426 yards
This is normally the opening hole for Royal Liverpool members, with the clubhouse left and OB all the way down the right side of the fairway. The hole takes a 90-degree turn to the right for the second shot.
4th (Road), Par-4, 367 yards
This is the shortest par-4 on the course. Some will try to drive the green based on the wind direction, but most will have a short wedge into the green for an easier birdie opportunity.
5th (Long), Par-5, 520 yards
The shortest of the three par-5s provides a good birdie opportunity. A tee shot to the corner of the dogleg will allow players to go for the green in two. Cannot go right here as there are three bunkers on the right side of the fairway.
6th (New), Par-3, 201 yards
The first par-3 features a long and narrow green, which slopes from back to front and is guarded by bunkers on both sides.
7th (Telegraph), Par-4, 481 yards
They added 27 yards here for the 2014 Open. Players will look to aim to the right as much as possible considering there is heavy rough on that side. This is one of the tougher holes on the layout.
8th (Briars), Par-4, 436 yards
This hole provides a blind tee shot with the fairway protected by gorse on the left and a bunker on the right. The green is surrounded by four bunkers but is a large target.
9th (Dowie), Par-3, 218 yards
Another tough par-3 here even though the bunker on the right of the green has been reduced in size. However, players cannot bail out on the left side with a gully waiting to catch poor tee shots and leaving a highly difficult chip shot.
10th (Far), Par-4, 507 yards
This was converted to a par-4 for this week. Nevertheless, there is not a lot here except for a big bunker to the right of the green.
11th (Punch Bowl), Par-4, 392 yards
The best approach is from the left side of the fairway to a green that has seen a bunker removed from the back but the ones at the front repositioned to encroach more on the putting surface.
12th (Dee), Par-4, 449 yards
The bunkers on the corner of the dogleg are tough to avoid and that will leave a difficult approach to the raised green, which slopes from back to front.
13th (Alps), Par-3, 194 yards
The narrow green is set at an angle to the tee and is a slightly difficult shot to the pin in the back left. The only bunker is very deep and causes problems when the pin is on the front.
14th (Hilbre), Par-4, 454 yards
A similar hole to the 12th, which requires the approach to be hit to a narrow green sitting at a slight angle to the fairway.
15th (Field), Par-5, 620 yards
Previously the 16th hole, the 15th has been significantly lengthened since 2014. Three bunkers on the left must be avoided off the tee, while the approach has to avoid another three bunkers left of the green.
16th (Lake), Par-4, 461 yards
Formerly the 17th, the 16th is not an easy hole especially if the wind is directed at the tee. Bunkers are on both sides of the fairway, plus more sand beside the long and undulating (one of the few non-flat greens on the layout) green.
17th (Little Eye), Par-3, 136 yards
This is a brand-new hole with deep bunkers surrounding a raised “infinity” green that takes a bit of inspiration from the 17th at TPC Sawgrass.
18th (Dun), Par-5, 609 yards
There is OB lurking all the way down the right side of the sharp dogleg. If players bail out too much to the left, then it is not reachable for most to a green protected by five bunkers.
Open Championship Recent History
2022: Cameron Smith (-20/268), St. Andrews; 20-1
2021: Collin Morikawa (-15/265), Royal St. George’s; 40-1
2020: Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2019: Shane Lowry (-15/269), Royal Portrush; 70-1
2018: Francesco Molinari (-8/276), Carnoustie; 33-1
2017: Jordan Spieth (-12/268), Royal Birkdale; 16-1
2016: Henrik Stenson (-20/264), Royal Troon; 33-1
2015: Zach Johnson (-15/273), St. Andrews; 110-1*
2014: Rory McIlroy (-17/271), Royal Liverpool; 18-1
2013: Phil Mickelson (-3/281), Muirfield; 20-1
2012: Ernie Els (-7/273), Royal Lytham & St. Annes; 45-1
2011: Darren Clarke (-5/275), Royal St. George’s; 200-1
2010: Louis Oosthuizen (-16/272), St. Andrews; 250-1
Playoff win over Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen – *
