Royal Birkdale Golf Club, Southport, England — July 16, 2026
Founded in 1889, the Birkdale Golf Club received its “Royal” status in 1951, and the famous layout has hosted The Open Championship more than any other course except St. Andrews.
This year’s tournament is the 11th time the world’s best golfers will visit “one of the most iconic and prestigious links courses in the world.” (Quote by Halcyon Golf Travel)
The 154th edition of the oldest national championship in the world has 156 golfers vying to win the Claret Jug. After Day One, a single golfer sits atop the leaderboard at 5 under par. American Jackson Suber posted the top score of the day, a 65 on the par-70 layout. Suber’s round featured an even par 34 on the front side that included two birdies and two bogeys—on the final nine, Suber posted four birdies and an eagle, with his only misstep a bogey on the par four 13th hole. Suber has never recorded a PGA Tour win.
Korean Sungjae Im and Englishman Dan Brown are tied for second, a stroke behind. Cameron Young, Bryson DeChambeau, and 2018 Open Championship winner Francesco Molinari are in a group of 9 golfers tied for fourth at -3.
Another stroke back at -2 are defending champion Scottie Scheffler, 2021 winner Collin Morikawa, and 2016 champion Henrik Stenson. Two-time Open Championship winner Pádraig Harrington had a disastrous opening round, shooting 10 over par 80 to sit 156th. Dead last on the field.
Other Notables
Jon Rahm(-1), Shane Lowry(-1), Keegan Bradley(-1), Tommy Fleetwood(-1), and Kurt Kitayama(-1) are all in contention. J.J. Spaun(E), Brooks Koepka(E), and Viktor Hovland(E) are all hanging around within five strokes of the lead.
Golfers with some work to do include; Xander Schauffele(+1), Ludvig Åberg(+1), Hideki Matsuyama(+2), Rory McIlroy(+2), Jordan Spieth(+3), Cameron Smith(+3), and Justin Rose(+5).
The Top 70 players plus ties make the cut and advance to play on the weekend. That would leave anyone at +2 or over in danger of heading home.
Day One Leaderboard at the 154th Open Championship from Royal Birkdale Golf Club
| Position | Golfer | To Par | Round 1 | Tee Time |
| 1 | Jackson Suber | -5 | 65 | 2:30 AM |
| T2 | Sungjae Im | -4 | 66 | 7:47 AM |
| T2 | Daniel Brown | -4 | 66 | 7:47 AM |
| T4 | MJ Daffue | -3 | 67 | 11:10 AM |
| T4 | Thomas Detry | -3 | 67 | 6:41 AM |
| T4 | Ryan Gerard | -3 | 67 | 10:37 AM |
| T4 | Robert MacIntyre | -3 | 67 | 7:25 AM |
| T4 | Pierceson Coody | -3 | 67 | 3:36 AM |
| T4 | Cameron Young | -3 | 67 | 4:58 AM |
| T4 | Bryson DeChambeau | -3 | 67 | 10:04 AM |
| T4 | Alex Smalley | -3 | 67 | 9:09 AM |
| T4 | Francesco Molinari | -3 | 67 | 8:09 AM |
| T13 | Bud Cauley | -2 | 68 | 4:03 AM |
| T13 | Nick Taylor | -2 | 68 | 10:26 AM |
| T13 | Henrik Stenson | -2 | 68 | 7:14 AM |
| T13 | Ryo Hisatsune | -2 | 68 | 9:09 AM |
| T13 | Jordan Smith | -2 | 68 | 7:58 AM |
| T13 | Victor Perez | -2 | 68 | 8:31 AM |
| T13 | Scottie Scheffler | -2 | 68 | 10:04 AM |
| T13 | Sepp Straka | -2 | 68 | 2:19 AM |
| T13 | Collin Morikawa | -2 | 68 | 4:36 AM |
| T13 | Joakim Lagergren | -2 | 68 | 8:42 AM |
| T13 | Si Woo Kim | -2 | 68 | 10:26 AM |
| T24 | Jon Rahm | -1 | 69 | 10:15 AM |
| T24 | Shaun Norris | -1 | 69 | 2:30 AM |
| T24 | Aldrich Potgieter | -1 | 69 | 3:47 AM |
| T24 | Matt Wallace | -1 | 69 | 1:46 AM |
| T24 | Ben Griffin | -1 | 69 | 9:31 AM |
| T24 | Tyrrell Hatton | -1 | 69 | 10:04 AM |
| T24 | Shane Lowry | -1 | 69 | 4:47 AM |
| T24 | Keegan Bradley | -1 | 69 | 2:52 AM |
| T24 | Laurie Canter | -1 | 69 | 1:57 AM |
| T24 | Tommy Fleetwood | -1 | 69 | 10:15 AM |
| T24 | Antoine Rozner | -1 | 69 | 10:59 AM |
| T24 | Kurt Kitayama | -1 | 69 | 2:19 AM |
| T24 | Alex Fitzpatrick | -1 | 69 | 7:25 AM |
| T24 | Matthew Southgate | -1 | 69 | 7:36 AM |
| T24 | Kristoffer Reitan | -1 | 69 | 4:14 AM |
| T39 | J.J. Spaun | E | 70 | 4:36 AM |
| T39 | Marcus Plunkett | E | 70 | 6:04 AM |
| T39 | Lucas Herbert | E | 70 | 4:03 AM |
| T39 | Tom Kim | E | 70 | 3:25 AM |
| T39 | Min Woo Lee | E | 70 | 9:31 AM |
| T39 | Justin Thomas | E | 70 | 9:53 AM |
| T39 | Russell Henley | E | 70 | 9:42 AM |
| T39 | Cameron John | E | 70 | 5:53 AM |
| T39 | Sami Valimaki | E | 70 | 2:30 AM |
| T39 | Brooks Koepka | E | 70 | 4:47 AM |
| T39 | Johnny Keefer | E | 70 | 3:36 AM |
| T39 | Andy Sullivan | E | 70 | 6:52 AM |
| T39 | Jack Mcdonald | E | 70 | 11:10 AM |
| T39 | Viktor Hovland | E | 70 | 9:42 AM |
| T39 | Hennie Du Plessis | E | 70 | 8:20 AM |
| T39 | Kazuma Kobori | E | 70 | 10:48 AM |
| T39 | Jayden Schaper | E | 70 | 4:03 AM |
| T39 | Jacob Bridgeman | E | 70 | 5:20 AM |
| T39 | Michael Thorbjornsen | E | 70 | 8:53 AM |
| T39 | Chris Gotterup | E | 70 | 4:25 AM |
| T39 | Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra | E | 70 | 1:46 AM |
| T60 | Jose Luis Ballester Barrio | +1 | 71 | 8:20 AM |
| T60 | Thomas Sloman | +1 | 71 | 10:48 AM |
| T60 | Travis Smyth | +1 | 71 | 8:53 AM |
| T60 | Bernd Wiesberger | +1 | 71 | 2:41 AM |
| T60 | John Parry | +1 | 71 | 1:35 AM |
| T60 | Lev Grinberg(a) | +1 | 71 | 8:09 AM |
| T60 | J.T. Poston | +1 | 71 | 4:14 AM |
| T60 | Sam Stevens | +1 | 71 | 9:09 AM |
| T60 | Maverick McNealy | +1 | 71 | 10:37 AM |
| T60 | Sahith Theegala | +1 | 71 | 1:57 AM |
| T60 | Tom McKibbin | +1 | 71 | 8:09 AM |
| T60 | Patrick Cantlay | +1 | 71 | 5:31 AM |
| T60 | Aaron Rai | +1 | 71 | 4:47 AM |
| T60 | Corey Conners | +1 | 71 | 2:52 AM |
| T60 | Ryutaro Nagano | +1 | 71 | 11:21 AM |
| T60 | Xander Schauffele | +1 | 71 | 5:09 AM |
| T60 | Nico Echavarria | +1 | 71 | 5:31 AM |
| T60 | Rickie Fowler | +1 | 71 | 7:25 AM |
| T60 | Akshay Bhatia | +1 | 71 | 9:20 AM |
| T60 | Max Homa | +1 | 71 | 7:14 AM |
| T60 | Jake Knapp | +1 | 71 | 7:58 AM |
| T60 | Rasmus Hojgaard | +1 | 71 | 9:20 AM |
| T60 | Alex Noren | +1 | 71 | 9:53 AM |
| T60 | Ludvig Åberg | +1 | 71 | 4:58 AM |
| T60 | Billy Horschel | +1 | 71 | 3:25 AM |
| T85 | Nicolai Hojgaard | +2 | 72 | 4:36 AM |
| T85 | Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen | +2 | 72 | 5:20 AM |
| T85 | Joe Dean | +2 | 72 | 7:14 AM |
| T85 | Hideki Matsuyama | +2 | 72 | 9:31 AM |
| T85 | Sam Bairstow | +2 | 72 | 5:53 AM |
| T85 | Michael Hollick | +2 | 72 | 3:14 AM |
| T85 | Caleb Surratt | +2 | 72 | 10:59 AM |
| T85 | Matt Fitzpatrick | +2 | 72 | 5:09 AM |
| T85 | Patrick Reed | +2 | 72 | 4:14 AM |
| T85 | Frederic LaCroix | +2 | 72 | 11:10 AM |
| T85 | HaoTong Li | +2 | 72 | 3:03 AM |
| T85 | Kota Kaneko | +2 | 72 | 8:53 AM |
| T85 | Michael Brennan | +2 | 72 | 1:57 AM |
| T85 | Angel Ayora | +2 | 72 | 8:31 AM |
| T85 | Adam Scott | +2 | 72 | 4:25 AM |
| T85 | Daniel Hillier | +2 | 72 | 6:52 AM |
| T85 | Marco Penge | +2 | 72 | 3:14 AM |
| T85 | Rory McIlroy | +2 | 72 | 5:09 AM |
| T85 | Matthew Baldwin | +2 | 72 | 6:41 AM |
| T85 | Ryan Fox | +2 | 72 | 7:03 AM |
| T85 | Keith Mitchell | +2 | 72 | 2:08 AM |
| T106 | Jason Day | +3 | 73 | 9:53 AM |
| T106 | Keita Nakajima | +3 | 73 | 3:36 AM |
| T106 | Jordan Spieth | +3 | 73 | 10:15 AM |
| T106 | Naoyuki Kataoka | +3 | 73 | 6:04 AM |
| T106 | Darren Clarke | +3 | 73 | 2:41 AM |
| T106 | Andrew Novak | +3 | 73 | 7:03 AM |
| T106 | David Duval | +3 | 73 | 7:36 AM |
| T106 | Baard Skogen | +3 | 73 | 6:04 AM |
| T106 | Alistair Docherty | +3 | 73 | 5:42 AM |
| T106 | Jack Buchanan(a) | +3 | 73 | 3:47 AM |
| T106 | Casey Jarvis | +3 | 73 | 2:52 AM |
| T106 | Michael Kim | +3 | 73 | 6:52 AM |
| T106 | Mason Howell(a) | +3 | 73 | 3:25 AM |
| T106 | Cameron Smith | +3 | 73 | 2:08 AM |
| T106 | Wyndham Clark | +3 | 73 | 4:58 AM |
| T106 | Jesper Svensson | +3 | 73 | 3:47 AM |
| T106 | Alejandro De Castro Piera(a) | +3 | 73 | 11:21 AM |
| T106 | Harris English | +3 | 73 | 9:20 AM |
| T106 | Sam Burns | +3 | 73 | 4:25 AM |
| T106 | Tim Wiedemeyer(a) | +3 | 73 | 5:20 AM |
| T106 | Peter Uihlein | +3 | 73 | 5:42 AM |
| T106 | Kazuki Higa | +3 | 73 | 6:15 AM |
| T128 | David Puig | +4 | 74 | 10:37 AM |
| T128 | Martin Couvra | +4 | 74 | 7:36 AM |
| T128 | Dan Bradbury | +4 | 74 | 8:20 AM |
| T128 | Francesco Laporta | +4 | 74 | 5:42 AM |
| T128 | Stewart Cink | +4 | 74 | 8:42 AM |
| T128 | David Howard(a) | +4 | 74 | 10:48 AM |
| T128 | Brian Harman | +4 | 74 | 10:26 AM |
| T135 | Justin Rose | +5 | 75 | 9:42 AM |
| T135 | Mateo Pulcini(a) | +5 | 75 | 8:31 AM |
| T135 | Scott Vincent | +5 | 75 | 8:42 AM |
| T135 | Fifa Laopakdee(a) | +5 | 75 | 7:47 AM |
| T135 | Matt McCarty | +5 | 75 | 3:03 AM |
| T135 | Tiger Christensen | +5 | 75 | 1:35 AM |
| T135 | James Nicholas | +5 | 75 | 6:41 AM |
| T142 | Joaquin Niemann | +6 | 76 | 2:19 AM |
| T142 | Max Greyserman | +6 | 76 | 1:46 AM |
| T142 | Nevill Ruiter(a) | +6 | 76 | 6:15 AM |
| T142 | Eric Cole | +6 | 76 | 1:35 AM |
| T142 | Daniel Berger | +6 | 76 | 5:31 AM |
| T142 | Ren Yonezawa | +6 | 76 | 10:59 AM |
| T148 | Adrien Saddier | +7 | 77 | 2:41 AM |
| T148 | Jeong-Woo Ham | +7 | 77 | 11:21 AM |
| T148 | Harry Hall | +7 | 77 | 3:03 AM |
| T148 | Ji-Ho Yang | +7 | 77 | 6:15 AM |
| T148 | Matthew Jordan | +7 | 77 | 7:03 AM |
| T148 | Stuart Grehan(a) | +7 | 77 | 2:08 AM |
| 154 | Gary Woodland | +8 | 78 | 7:58 AM |
| 155 | Austen Truslow | +9 | 79 | 5:53 AM |
| 156 | Padraig Harrington | +10 | 80 | 3:14 AM |
