The 149th Open – Tournament Preview
COURSE: Royal St. George’s Golf Club (Sandwich, Kent, England)
ARCHITECT: William Laidlaw Purves
YARDS/PAR: 7,189 yards/Par 70
PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: $6,200,000 /$1,116,000
DEFENDING CHAMPION: Shane Lowry (July, 2019)
PAST RESULTS: (link)
PAST CHAMPIONS: (link)
FEDEx CUP Points Total/Winner: 23,379/600
SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @TheOpen
PGA TOUR SITE: (The Open)
TV COVERAGE: Thursday, July 15 and Friday, July 16: From 4:00am to 3:00pm (EDT) on Golf Channel. *(See additional Peacock Channel coverage listed below).
On Saturday, July 17, Round 3 coverage 5:00am to 7:00am (EDT) on Golf Channel. NBC takes over from 7:00am to 3:00pm (EDT). On Sunday, July 18: Golf Channel opens final round coverage 4:00am to 7:00am (EDT) and NBC wraps it up from 7:00am to 2:00pm (EDT).
STREAMING: Streaming coverage is different this week, with Peacock Channel promoting its service and connection to NBC Sports and Golf Channel. On Thursday and Friday, Peacock will cover The Open from 1:30am (EDT) to 4am (EDT) and from 3:00pm to 4pm (EDT each day.
The OPEN RADIO COVERAGE: Due to rights restrictions, The Open will not be online via PGATour.com. SiriusXM Radio will have live radio calls of The Open with Thursday and Friday coverage 2:00am (EDT) to completion of play. Weekend coverage on Sirius XM Radio begins at 4:00am (EDT) until conclusion. The Open Radio is available on Sirius 208/XM 92).
The Open Championship was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was the only one of the four men’s major championships not played during the 2020 calendar year (other three were rescheduled). Prior to 2020, the last time The Open was not played was from 1940-1945 due to World War II.
Royal St. George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent, England, will host The Open for the 15th time and first since 2011 (won by Darren Clarke). The course first hosted the event in 1894 and other past champions include Harry Vardon and Walter Hagen (twice each).
The 2021 U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm will attempt to become the first player since Jordan Spieth (2015 Masters Tournament, 2015 U.S. Open) to win back-to-back majors. Rahm finished T-11 in 2019, his best result in four starts at The Open.
Due in part to the tournament being canceled in 2020, several of the top players on the PGA Tour have not competed in The Open, including three of the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking: Collin Morikawa (No. 4), Viktor Hovland (No. 14) and Scottie Scheffler (No. 19).
None of the top 10 players in the current Official World Golf Ranking have won The Open. The highest ranked golfer to have won an Open championship is No. 11 Rory McIlroy.
The Basics:
Tournament Tee Times begin Thursday at 1:35am (EDT)/6:35am (local) through 11:16 (EDT)/4:16pm (local).
Weather: Thursday’s forecast in Sandwich, Kent, England is for partly cloudy skies, 60-degrees (F), but 84% humidity. There’s a 10% chance of rain.