154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale: What to Watch

Where Links Golf Lives and Breathes

There's a particular quality to the light on England's northwest coast that defies adequate description. It's softer than you'd expect, filtered through sea mist and the ghosts of championships past. I've walked these fairways at Royal Birkdale more times than I can count, and each visit reveals something new—a bunker face I'd somehow missed, an angle I'd never considered, a wind that seems to blow from directions the compass doesn't recognize.

Today, the 154th Open Championship begins here, and the oldest major in golf returns to one of its most beloved theaters. This is Royal Birkdale's 11th hosting, and the first since Jordan Spieth captured the Claret Jug in 2017 with that remarkable back-nine charge.

The Weight of English Expectations

The last Englishman to lift the Claret Jug on English soil was Tony Jacklin, way back in 1969 at Royal Lytham. That's 57 years of near-misses, heartbreaks, and questions asked in every pub from Southport to Southampton. This year, 21 Englishmen will tee it up with that weight pressing on their shoulders.

Tommy Fleetwood carries the heaviest burden of all. This is his hometown. These are his people. The galleries will be thick with Scousers who've watched him grow from a promising junior to one of the finest ball-strikers in the world. Should Fleetwood secure his first major here, the roar might well be heard across the Irish Sea. But pressure does peculiar things to even the most talented players, and I've seen the hometown expectation crush spirits as often as it elevates them.

The Steady Hand of Fitzpatrick

Matt Fitzpatrick arrives with credentials that demand attention. The 2022 US Open champion has enjoyed a stellar run on the PGA Tour—two individual victories plus another triumph alongside his brother in the New Orleans team event. There's a clinical precision to Fitzpatrick's game that suits links golf beautifully. He doesn't overpower courses; he outsmarts them. An Open victory would place him second only to Rory McIlroy among European players of this generation.

Rose's Return to Where It All Began

And then there's Justin Rose, which brings us to one of golf's most enduring memories. It was 1998, right here at Royal Birkdale, when a 17-year-old amateur holed out from the rough on the 72nd hole to finish T4. I wasn't there that day, but I've spoken to people who were, and they still get misty-eyed recounting it. The entire course erupted.

Rose has since won the 2013 US Open at Merion and competed at the highest level for 28 years as a professional. The Claret Jug remains the prize that has eluded him. At Royal Birkdale, where his remarkable career truly launched, might we finally see Rose bloom in the championship that matters most to British golf?

The Defending Champion's Shadow

World number one Scottie Scheffler returns as the man to beat after his triumph at Royal Portrush last year. The American has dominated golf like few have in recent memory, and he'll arrive at Birkdale knowing precisely what it takes to navigate these links and lift the Claret Jug. The field will need to be at their absolute best to dethrone him.

The Course Awaits

Royal Birkdale is a course of towering dunes and sheltered valleys, of bunkers that seem designed by some particularly vindictive architect, of greens that read one way and break another. The wind here is not a factor—it is the factor. When it blows, and it will blow, par becomes a triumph and birdies feel like minor miracles.

Takeaway

The 154th Open marks Royal Birkdale's 11th hosting of the championship
England's 57-year drought on home soil looms large over Fleetwood, Fitzpatrick, and Rose
Justin Rose returns to the course where his career began with that unforgettable 1998 finish
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler arrives as world number one