While it doesn't seem like all that long ago that we were gearing up for the first major championship of this 2026 golf season at The Masters, here we are for the fourth and final one of the year, as England's Royal Birkdale Golf Club is set to host the 154th playing of the sport's oldest major, The Open Championship.
This year marks the 11th time the British Open has been contested at Royal Birkdale, and this historic track on the Merseyside coastline has certainly produced a lengthy list of high-profile winners in Peter Thomson (twice), Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Ian Baker-Finch, Mark O'Meara, Padraig Harrington, and, of course, Jordan Speith, who took golf fans on the wildest of rides over his last six holes on Sunday the last time this tourney took place here in 2017.
Things will get a little easier (but not by much) over the weekend once the field dwindles down to the top 70 and ties after 36 holes, but on Thursday and Friday, the coverage gets rolling at 1:30 a.m. ET with the UK five hours ahead in terms of time zones (and eight hours ahead of PST).
The Open Championship 2026 TV schedule, live stream info
USA Network, the NBC Sports Network, and NBC will handle television coverage for this 2026 edition of The Open Championship, with Peacock and the Golf Channel Mobile App picking up the streaming coverage. All week long, you can also catch various feeds at TheOpen.com. Here's a look at the full schedule (all times Eastern).
Round 1: Thursday, July 16
- 1:30-4:00 a.m. (NBC Sports Network/Peacock)
- 4:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (USA Network/Golf Channel Mobile)
Round 2: Friday, July 17
- 1:30-4:00 a.m. (NBC Sports Network/Peacock)
- 4:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (USA Network/Golf Channel Mobile)
Round 3: Saturday, July 18
- 5:00-7:00 a.m. (USA Network/Golf Channel Mobile)
- 7:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)
Round 4: Sunday, July 19
- 4:00-7:00 a.m. (USA Network/Golf Channel Mobile)
- 7:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)
The Open Championship 2026 tee times
As it goes with most major championships, viewers will get a number of high-profile threesomes over the first two days.
In looking to become the first back-to-back winner of the British since Padraig Harrington did so in 2007 and 2008, with that second win coming at none other than Royal Birkdale, Scheffler, who failed to play the final two rounds of a tournament in nearly four years after missing the cut last week at the Scottish Open, will kick off his week in a very interesting trio alongside a pair of LIV players in Tyrrell Hatton, who has played well as of late, and Bryson DeChambeau, who's missed the cut in each of the first three major championships this year.
McIlroy is always one of the most popular players in any tournament in which he tees it up, especially in Europe, but he may not even be the most popular player in his own group for the first 36 holes, as one of his playing partners is Matt Fitzpatrick, who's looking to become the first Englishman to win The Open Championship since Nick Faldo at Muirfield in 1992. The Ryder Cup teammates will be joined by Xander Schauffele, who took this title two years ago at Royal Troon.
Spieth, who has just two victories since his win at Royal Birkdale nine years ago and hasn't seen the winner's circle since the 2022 RBC Heritage, will tee it up alongside Jon Rahm and another fan favorite this week in England's Tommy Fleetwood.
Here are the tee times for the first two rounds of the 2026 edition of The Open Championship (all times Eastern).
Round 1
- 1:35 a.m. – Matthew Baldwin, Thomas Detry, James Nicholas
- 1:46 a.m. – Michael Kim, Daniel Hillier, Andy Sullivan
- 1:57 a.m. – Ryan Fox, Andrew Novak, Matthew Jordan
- 2:08 a.m. – Henrik Stenson, Max Homa, Joe Dean
- 2:19 a.m. – Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler, Alex Fitzpatrick
- 2:30 a.m. – David Duval, Martin Couvra, Matthew Southgate
- 2:41 a.m. – Sungjae Im, Daniel Brown, Fifa Laopakdee (a)
- 2:52 a.m. – Gary Woodland, Jake Knapp, Jordan Smith
- 3:03 a.m. – Francesco Molinari, Tom McKibbin, Lev Grinberg (a)
- 3:14 a.m. – Hennie Du Plessis, Jose Luis Ballester, Dan Bradbury
- 3:25 a.m. – Angel Ayora, Victor Perez, Mateo Pulcini (a)
- 3:36 a.m. – Stewart Cink, Scott Vincent, Joakim Lagergren
- 3:47 a.m. – Michael Thorbjornsen, Kota Kaneko, Travis Smyth
- 4:03 a.m. – Alex Smalley, Sam Stevens, Ryo Hisatsune
- 4:14 a.m. – Akshay Bhatia, Harris English, Rasmus Højgaard
- 4:25 a.m. – Ben Griffin, Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee
- 4:36 a.m. – Russell Henley, Justin Rose, Viktor Hovland
- 4:47 a.m. – Justin Thomas, Alex Noren, Jason Day
- 4:58 a.m. – Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton, Bryson DeChambeau
- 5:09 a.m. – Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm
- 5:20 a.m. – Brian Harman, Si Woo Kim, Nick Taylor
- 5:31 a.m. – Ryan Gerard, Maverick McNealy, David Puig
- 5:42 a.m. – Kazuma Kobori, Tom Sloman, David Howard (a)
- 5:53 a.m. – Antoine Rozner, Ren Yonezawa, Caleb Surratt
- 6:04 a.m. – M.J. Daffue, Frederic Lacroix, Jack McDonald
- 6:15 a.m. – Jeongwoo Ham, Ryutaro Nagano, Alejandro De Castro Piera (a)
- 6:41 a.m. – John Parry, Eric Cole, Tiger Christensen
- 6:52 a.m. – Eugenio Chacarra, Matt Wallace, Max Greyserman
- 7:03 a.m. – Michael Brennan, Sahith Theegala, Laurie Canter
- 7:14 a.m. – Cameron Smith, Keith Mitchell, Stuart Grehan (a)
- 7:25 a.m. – Sepp Straka, Joaquin Niemann, Kurt Kitayama
- 7:36 a.m. – Sami Valimaki, Shaun Norris, Jackson Suber
- 7:47 a.m. – Darren Clarke, Adrien Saddier, Bernd Wiesberger
- 7:58 a.m. – Keegan Bradley, Corey Conners, Casey Jarvis
- 8:09 a.m. – Matt McCarty, Harry Hall, Haotong Li
- 8:20 a.m. – Padraig Harrington, Marco Penge, Michael Hollick
- 8:31 a.m. – Tom Kim, Billy Horschel, Mason Howell (a)
- 8:42 a.m. – Johnny Keefer, Pierceson Coody, Keita Nakajima
- 8:53 a.m. – Aldrich Potgieter, Jesper Svensson, Jack Buchanan (a)
- 9:09 a.m. – Bud Cauley, Jayden Schaper, Lucas Herbert
- 9:20 a.m. – Kristoffer Reitan, Patrick Reed, J.T. Poston
- 9:31 a.m. – Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Adam Scott
- 9:42 a.m. – Collin Morikawa, J.J. Spaun, Nicolai Højgaard
- 9:53 a.m. – Shane Lowry, Aaron Rai, Brooks Koepka
- 10:04 a.m. – Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Ludvig Åberg
- 10:15 a.m. – Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick
- 10:26 a.m. – Jacob Bridgeman, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Tim Wiedemeyer (a)
- 10:37 a.m. – Patrick Cantlay, Daniel Berger, Nico Echavarria
- 10:48 a.m. – Peter Uihlein, Alistair Docherty, Francesco Laporta
- 10:59 a.m. – Cameron John, Austen Truslow, Sam Bairstow
- 11:10 a.m. – Naoyuki Kataoka, Marcus Plunkett, Baard Skogen
- 11:21 a.m. – Kazuki Higa, Jiho Yang, Nevill Ruiter (a)
Round 2
- 1:35 a.m. – John Parry, Eric Cole, Tiger Christensen
- 1:46 a.m. – Eugenio Chacarra, Matt Wallace, Max Greyserman
- 1:57 a.m. – Michael Brennan, Sahith Theegala, Laurie Canter
- 2:08 a.m. – Cameron Smith, Keith Mitchell, Stuart Grehan (a)
- 2:19 a.m. – Sepp Straka, Joaquin Niemann, Kurt Kitayama
- 2:30 a.m. – Sami Valimaki, Shaun Norris, Jackson Suber
- 2:41 a.m. – Darren Clarke, Adrien Saddier, Bernd Wiesberger
- 2:52 a.m. – Keegan Bradley, Corey Conners, Casey Jarvis
- 3:03 a.m. – Matt McCarty, Harry Hall, Haotong Li
- 3:14 a.m. – Padraig Harrington, Marco Penge, Michael Hollick
- 3:25 a.m. – Tom Kim, Billy Horschel, Mason Howell (a)
- 3:36 a.m. – Johnny Keefer, Pierceson Coody, Keita Nakajima
- 3:47 a.m. – Aldrich Potgieter, Jesper Svensson, Jack Buchanan (a)
- 4:03 a.m. – Bud Cauley, Jayden Schaper, Lucas Herbert
- 4:14 a.m. – Kristoffer Reitan, Patrick Reed, J.T. Poston
- 4:25 a.m. – Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Adam Scott
- 4:36 a.m. – Collin Morikawa, J.J. Spaun, Nicolai Højgaard
- 4:47 a.m. – Shane Lowry, Aaron Rai, Brooks Koepka
- 4:58 a.m. – Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Ludvig Åberg
- 5:09 a.m. – Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick
- 5:20 a.m. – Jacob Bridgeman, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Tim Wiedemeyer (a)
- 5:31 a.m. – Patrick Cantlay, Daniel Berger, Nico Echavarria
- 5:42 a.m. – Peter Uihlein, Alistair Docherty, Francesco Laporta
- 5:53 a.m. – Cameron John, Austen Truslow, Sam Bairstow
- 6:04 a.m. – Naoyuki Kataoka, Marcus Plunkett, Baard Skogen
- 6:15 a.m. – Kazuki Higa, Jiho Yang, Nevill Ruiter (a)
- 6:41 a.m. – Matthew Baldwin, Thomas Detry, James Nicholas
- 6:52 a.m. – Michael Kim, Daniel Hillier, Andy Sullivan
- 7:03 a.m. – Ryan Fox, Andrew Novak, Matthew Jordan
- 7:14 a.m. – Henrik Stenson, Max Homa, Joe Dean
- 7:25 a.m. – Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler, Alex Fitzpatrick
- 7:36 a.m. – David Duval, Martin Couvra, Matthew Southgate
- 7:47 a.m. – Sungjae Im, Daniel Brown, Fifa Laopakdee (a)
- 7:58 a.m. – Gary Woodland, Jake Knapp, Jordan Smith
- 8:09 a.m. – Francesco Molinari, Tom McKibbin, Lev Grinberg (a)
- 8:20 a.m. – Hennie Du Plessis, Jose Luis Ballester, Dan Bradbury
- 8:31 a.m. – Angel Ayora, Victor Perez, Mateo Pulcini (a)
- 8:42 a.m. – Stewart Cink, Scott Vincent, Joakim Lagergren
- 8:53 a.m. – Michael Thorbjornsen, Kota Kaneko, Travis Smyth
- 9:09 a.m. – Alex Smalley, Sam Stevens, Ryo Hisatsune
- 9:20 a.m. – Akshay Bhatia, Harris English, Rasmus Højgaard
- 9:31 a.m. – Ben Griffin, Hideki Matsuyama, Min Woo Lee
- 9:42 a.m. – Russell Henley, Justin Rose, Viktor Hovland
- 9:53 a.m. – Justin Thomas, Alex Noren, Jason Day
- 10:04 a.m. – Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton, Bryson DeChambeau
- 10:15 a.m. – Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm
- 10:26 a.m. – Brian Harman, Si Woo Kim, Nick Taylor
- 10:37 a.m. – Ryan Gerard, Maverick McNealy, David Puig
- 10:48 a.m. – Kazuma Kobori, Tom Sloman, David Howard (a)
- 10:59 a.m. – Antoine Rozner, Ren Yonezawa, Caleb Surratt
- 11:10 a.m. – M.J. Daffue, Frederic Lacroix, Jack McDonald
- 11:21 a.m. – Jeongwoo Ham, Ryutaro Nagano, Alejandro De Castro Piera (a)
Royal Birkdale has undergone changes since the 2017 Open Championship
Now, this won't be the same Royal Birkdale we've seen in the past, as the course has undergone a massive makeover, with essentially every single hole going through some sort of change. But even beyond the renovations, the course will play differently than it did nine years ago, as temps have been unseasonably warm over the last few weeks, and there's basically no rain in the forecast over the next few days.
So, it's going to be fast and firm out there, which should make things very interesting for defending champion Scottie Scheffler, past winner Rory McIlroy, and the rest of the elite 156-man field.
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