When and where is it on?
The final men’s Major of the year, the Open Championship, will begin at Royal Portrush early on Thursday morning. It is the 153rd edition of golf’s oldest Major and only the third hosted on the island of Ireland. The tournament will run until Sunday afternoon, where the winner will pick up the Claret Jug.
How can I follow it all?
You can watch coverage live on Sky Sports, from 6.30am on Thursday and Friday, Sky Sports boasts of showing at least 15 hours of action each day. Not bad at all. On Saturday and Sunday coverage starts from 8am. You can also follow it live on our live blog on The Irish Times Sport website.
What are the tee times?
The tee times will follow when they are available.
Who are the Irish players playing at Troon and what are their chances?
There are five Irish players at Portrush – Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington and Tom McKibbin – all with very different stories and levels of expectation for this week.
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For Lowry and McIlroy it’s with an eye on winning. Lowry returns to the scene of his greatest triumph, winning the 2019 Open on the great links, and in good form this year, he will expect to be in contention on Sunday. McIlroy is one of the favourites having completed the career Grand Slam this year by winning the Masters. After a post-Masters hangover, he showed he is back focused and on form with a tied second place in the Scottish Open on Sunday. He will want to make up for last time too, when he missed the cut in 2019 to the disappointment of home fans cheering him on.
Tom McKibbin heads into the tournament after a tied-fourth finish on LIV and he will be hoping for his best Major finish of his young career at a course he has been playing since age 10. Clarke and Harrington have been playing Portrush themselves since long before McKibbin was born and both will fancy making the cut on a course they know so well.
Who are the other main contenders?
Scottie Scheffler is the favourite every time he tees up, although this would be considered the weakest of the four Majors for him as he has not yet won a tournament on a links course. The great players, however, find a way, so expect him to be there or thereabouts. Jon Rahm has no such problem winning on links, he has won twice on links in Ireland for that matter, including next door at Portstewart. A steady year in the Majors, not worse than tied 14th, and in the Open, with three top 10s in four years, suggest he is primed to win an Open soon.
What is the course like?
The Dunluce Links is one of the finest links courses in Ireland, a Harry Colt-designed links along Antrim’s Causeway Coast. This is the third time it has hosted the Open, first in 1951 won by Max Faulkner, and in 2019 won by Lowry. A number of subtle adjustments have been made since 2019. According to Martin Ebert, who oversaw changes, the seventh hole has been extended to make it harder to hit over the bunker on the right, and the fourth has a new back tee.
What is the weather forecast?
After a heatwave and sun last week, unfortunately rain is set to come at Portrush. Some showers and light rain are expected each day, with temperatures of about 18 to 19 degrees. At least it’s not expected to be the washout that it was Sunday of 2019, with the hope that some sunny spells will break through. Sunday is expected to have the most wind, reaching 18km/h.
Can you get tickets?
This year’s tournament is a complete sell-out with capacity expanded to accommodate 278,000 spectators at Dunluce Links over the week, making it the largest championship staged outside St Andrews. Tickets on resale may be available to One Club Members on the Open website.
