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Open Championship

Second Round at The Open

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PORTRUSH (Northern Ireland) – The 2024 British Amateur champion Jacob Skov Olesen of Denmark holds his first lead/co-lead after any round on TOUR. He has two prior starts on the PGA TOUR, the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon (T60), and last week’s 2025 ISCO Championship where he missed the cut.

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Haotong Li of China finished solo-third in his debut Open Championship start in 2017, his best finish in 47 prior TOUR starts. He holds his second 18-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR, the last being the 2019 WGC-HSBC Champions (T24).

Matt Fitzpatrick of England recorded his best opening-round score in his 10th start at The Open Championship. His previous best opening round was a (69) in 2017.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa posted his best score in 17 Open Championship rounds with the previous best being (68s) in R1/2021, R3/2022. Bezuidenhout holds his first lead/co-lead after any round in 119 PGA TOUR starts.

Harris English is making his 10th Open Championship start, with his lone Top-25 finish coming in 2013 (T15). He holds the first-round lead/co-lead for the sixth time on TOUR, and is 2-for-5 to date converting to victory (2013 FedEx St. Jude Championship and 2021 The Sentry.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (T6/-3) carded an opening-round (68) in bid to become the second straight player to win the PGA Championship and Open Championship in the same season (Xander Schauffele/2024). Scheffler is the only player to finish inside the Top 10 in the first three majors of 2025 (4th/Masters Tournament, 1st/PGA Championship, T7/U.S. Open).

The 2025 Masters Tournament champion and World No. 2 Rory McIlroy (T20/-1) could become the first player to win the Masters and Open Championship in the same year since Tiger Woods in 2005. McIlroy opened in 2019 at Royal Portrush with a (79).

The 2019 Open Championship winner (at Royal Portrush), Shane Lowry (T20/-1), recorded a 70 in R-1, but opened with a 67 in 2019.

In bid to become the first player to successfully defend at The Open since Padraig Harrington (2008), 2024 Open Championship winner Xander Schauffele (T32/E) posted a par (71).

The Open | Notes

  • Winds were blowing from SE 10-15 mph, with gusts to 23 mph
  • Five players sharing the first-round lead is the most at The Open Championship since a record six shared the lead at Royal St. George’s in 1938 (Jimmy Adams, Bill Cox, Ernest Whitcombe, Marcel Dallemagne, John Fallon, Jimmy Bruen Jr.).
  • A victory by any of the co-leaders would mark the 12th consecutive first-time Open Championship winner; the event has currently had 11 first-time winners, equaling the longest streak from 1994-2004; Ernie Els in 2012 is the last player tobecome a multiple winner of The Open Championship.

The Open | Leaderboard after 18 Holes

T1 Jacob Skov Olesen 67 (-4)

T1 Haotong Li 67 (-4)

T1 Matt Fitzpatrick 67 (-4)

T1 Christiaan Bezuidenhout 67 (-4)

T1 Harris English 67 (-4)

T6 Four Players 68 (-3)

Full Leaderboard: (The Open)

The Open Championship

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PGA Tour, LIV Players Tee-it-Up at Royal Portrush

PORTRUSH (Northern Ireland) – The 2025 Open Championship is the 33rd of 36 FedEx Cup regular season events. It is the final major of the season. Also being contested this weekend, The Barracuda, is the 34th of 36 events. There are only three weeks remaining until the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs

This weekend:

  • It’s the final major championship of the season (Previous Winners: Rory McIlroy/Masters Tournament, Scottie Scheffler/PGA Championship, J.J. Spaun/U.S. Open)
  • The Open returns to Royal Portrush for the third time: 1951 (won by MaxFaulkner), 2019 (Shane Lowry)
  • Adam Scott is scheduled to make his 97th consecutive major championship appearance, dating to the 2001 Open Championship; only Jack Nicklaus (146) has played in more than 100 straight majors
  • Chris Gotterup, winner of last week’s Genesis Scottish Open, qualified for The Open Championship via The Open Qualifying Series as one of the top three finishers, not otherwise qualified (others: Nicolai Højgaard, Matti Schmid).
  • The last player to win on TOUR and win a major the following week: RoryMcIlroy (2014 WGCBridgestone Invitational, 2014 PGA Championship). (The PGA used two be the final major of the season).

The 153rd Open | Royal Portrush

  • 54 players in the field competed in the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush, including nine of the Top 10.
  • The last 11 winners of The Open Championship won the event for the first time, starting with Phil Mickelson in 2013, tying the longest streak of first-time winners at The Open (1994-2004).
  • With three weeks remaining until the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, notable players in the field outside the Top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings entering The Open Championship include: Rickie Fowler (No. 71), Nicolai Højgaard (No. 73), Wyndham Clark (No. 78), Adam Scott (No. 83), Rasmus Højgaard (No. 84), Tom Kim (No. 87)

The Open | Tournament Preview

COURSE: Royal Portrush Golf Club, Portrush Northern Ireland

YARDAGE/PAR: 7,381 yards and a Par 71

ARCHITECT: Harry Colt

DEFENDING CHAMPION: Xander Schauffele

PRIZE Money (Purse/Winner’s Share): $17,000,000/$3,100,000

FEDEx CUP Points to Winner: 750

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @TheOpen

PGA TOUR SITE: (The Open)

The Open Championship Preview

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HOYLAKE – The Open Championship is the fourth and final major of the PGA Tour season. This is the 151st playing of The Open and the 13th at Royal Liverpool Golf Club (first since 2014).

World No. 2 and 24-time PGA Tour winner Rory McIlroy, who won last week’s Genesis Scottish Open, won The Open Championship the last time it was held at Royal Liverpool (2014). McIlroy has won four majors (2011 U.S. Open, 2012 PGA Championship, 2014 Open Championship, 2014 PGA Championship) but none since the start of the 2014-15 season. McIlroy has 19 “Top-10s” in majors since his most recent title, the most of any player in that span. He is making his 59th start in a major and 34th since winning the 2014 PGA Championship.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler has two wins this season (WM Phoenix Open, The PLAYERS Championship) and leads the Tour with 15 “Top-10s” this season and has finished T12 or better in each of his last 18 starts. Scheffler has made two starts at The Open Championship (T8/2021, T21/2022).

The 151st Open | Tournament Preview

COURSE: Royal Liverpool Golf Club (Hoylake Wirral, England)

PRIZE Money: $14,000,000 purse

FEDEx CUP Points to Winner: 600

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @TheOpen

PGA TOUR SITE: (The Open)

Cameron Smith Takes The Open

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McIlroy’s Open Champ Dreams Crushed at St. Andrews

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Making his 25th major championship appearance, Cameron Smith defeated Cameron Young by one stroke to win the 150th Open Championship. It marked his sixth win on Tour and first major championship title.

At 20-under, Smith equals the lowest score in relation to par in major championship history. With a 6-under (30) (including five straight birdies on Nos. 10-14), Smith carded the lowest closing nine-hole score by a winner in Open Championship history.

Smith’s (268) marks the lowest winning score by a champion at St. Andrews (269, Tiger Woods, 2000) while he became the fifth Australian to win The Open and first since Greg Norman in 1993. He joined Peter Thomson(1955) and Kel Nagle (1960) as Australian winners at St. Andrews.

Smith also joined Jack Nicklaus (1978) as the only players to win THE PLAYERS Championship and The Open in the same year.

This season marks the first time since the Masters Tournament began in 1934 that all four majors were won by players under the age of 30.

PGA Tour rookie Cameron Young’s runner-up finish is the best by a player in his Open debut at St. Andrews since Tony Lema won in 1964.

The Open | Final Leaderboard

Cameron Smith 67-64-73-64—268 (-20)

Cameron Young 64-69-71-65—269 (-19)

Rory McIlroy 66-68-66-70—270 (-18)

Tommy Fleetwood 72-69-66-67—274 (-14)

Viktor Hovland 68-66-66-74—274 (-14)

Full Leaderboard: (link)

McIlroy, Hovland Share Open Lead

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ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – At 16-under, Viktor Hovland and Rory McIlroy share the lead heading into the final round of The Open Championship of 2022. Among Open Championships contested at St. Andrews, Hovland and McIlroy’s opening 54-hole score (200) is second only to Nick Faldo’s (199) total in 1990.

McIlroy is in search of his fifth major championship victory and first since winning the 2014 PGA Championship. He is 9-for-15 in converting a 54-hole lead/co-lead to victory, including a 4-for-5 mark in majors.

Hovland is seeking his fourth PGA Tour victory and is 2-for-2 in converting a 54-hole lead/co-lead to victory. With a victory, he would become Norway’s first major championship winner.

With a win, McIlroy would collect his 22nd victory and move to T-28 on the PGA Tour’s all-time wins list.

Reigning Masters Tournament winner Scottie Scheffler (T-5) and U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick (T-8) are among six major championship winners in the Top 12 players on the 54-hole leaderboard.

First-round leader Cameron Young (T-3) trails by four strokes in bid to become the 11th player to win The Open Championship in debut appearance. The most recent was Collin Morikawa last year).

Second-round leader Cameron Smith (T-3) trails by four following a third-round 1-over (73). He’s hoping to join Jack Nicklaus (1978) as the only players to win THE PLAYERS Championship and The Open Championship in the same year.

The Open Leaderboard | After 54 Holes

Viktor Hovland 68-66-66—200 (-16)

Rory McIlroy 66-68-66—200 (-16)

Cameron Young 64-69-71—204 (-12)

Cameron Smith 67-64-73—204 (-12)

Si Woo Kim 69-69-67—205 (-11)

Scottie Scheffler 68-68-69—205 (-11)

Full Leaderboard: (The Open)

Great Weekend Ahead at St Andrews

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ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Cameron Smith’s total of (131) tied the fourth-lowest opening 36-hole score in Open Championship history and is the lowest in The Open at St. Andrews. With a two-stroke lead over first-round leader Cameron Young, Smith holds the 36-hole lead/co-lead for the second time in a major championship (2020 Masters/shared 36-hole lead with four others before finishing T-2) and the fourth time in an individual stroke-play event on Tour. He is 1-for-3 in converting.

Making his 90th major championship start, three-time Open Championship winner Tiger Woods missed the cut for the fourth time in 22 starts at The Open. Woods shot (153) which is his highest 36-hole score at The Open and third-highest in a major championship.

Rory McIlroy trails by three strokes in bid for fifth major championship win and first since winning the 2014 PGA Championship.

At T-3, Viktor Hovland holds his best 36-hole position in a major championship. His previous best was T-17.

World No. 1 and FedEx Cup leader Scottie Scheffler sits T-6, the 16th time in last 19 major championship rounds inside the Top 10.

Four of six amateurs in the field made the cut: Barclay Brown, Filippo Celli, Sam Bairstow and Aaron Jarvis.

Collin Morikawa becomes the first defending champion to miss the cut at The Open since Darren Clarke in 2012 and all four past champions at St. Andrews missed the cut: Zach Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen, Tiger Woods and John Daly.

The Open Leaderboard | After 36 Holes

Cameron Smith 67-64—131 (-13)

Cameron Young 64-69—133 (-11)

Rory McIlroy 66-68—134 (-10)

Viktor Hovland 68-66—134 (-10)

Dustin Johnson 68-67—135 (-9)

Full Leaderboard: (The Open)

Cameron Young Leads The Open (R-1)

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ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – St. Andrews is hosting the 150th edition of The Open, marking the 30th time the championship has been contested at The Old Course. After an 8-under (64) in his Open Championship debut, PGA Tour rookie Cameron Young leads by two over Rory McIlroy.

Young holds his third first-round lead/co-lead of the season, tied with McIlroy for most on Tour. McIlroy’s (66) is his best opening round at The Open since carding the same score en route to winning at Hoylake in 2014.

Making his 90th major championship start, three-time Open Championship winner Tiger Woods equals the highest opening round score in his 22 starts at the event.

World No. 1 and FedEx Cup leader Scottie Scheffler sits T-5, marking the 15th time in the last 18 major championship rounds he has been inside the Top 10 on the leaderboard.

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Genesis Scottish Open champion Xander Schauffele posted a 3-under (69) in bid to become the first player since McIlroy in 2014 to follow a win on the Tour with a major championship victory the following week.

The 2021 Open champion Collin Morikawa opened with an even-par (72) in bid to become the first player to successfully defend at The Open since Padraig Harrington in 2008.

The first-round scores for past champions at St. Andrews: Louis Oosthuizen(71), Zach Johnson (72), John Daly (73), Woods (78).

Justin Rose (back injury) and Erik Van Rooyen (neck injury) withdrew prior to the start of the first round and were replaced by Rikuya Hoshino and Aaron Rai, respectively. Both the last-minute alternates opened with a 3-over (75).

The Open Leaderboard | After 18 Holes

Cameron Young 64 (-8)

Rory McIlroy 66 (-6)

Cameron Smith 67 (-5)

Robert Dinwiddie 67 (-5)

 

The 150th Open Championship

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FIFE, SCOTLAND – The Old Course at St Andrews Links is playing host for this week’s Open Championship, the 150th edition of the championship and the 2022 season’s final major. This is the 30th time that St Andrews has hosted The Open.

Most recently, Zach Johnson won a three-man playoff over Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen in 2015, the most recent playoff in The Open Championship. Other notable past champions at the Old Course include Sam Snead (1946), Peter Thomson (1955), Jack Nicklaus (1970, 1978), Seve Ballesteros (1984), Nick Faldo (1990) and Tiger Woods (2000, 2005).

Defending champion Collin Morikawa‘s most recent victory on Tour came at the 2021 Open. Morikawa, a five-time Tour winner, is winless in his last 19 starts, the longest drought of his PGA career (previous: 17). The last player to successfully defend a title in a major was Brooks Koepka at the 2019 PGA Championship, while the last player to do so at The Open was Padraig Harrington in 2008.

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82-time PGA Tour winner and 15-time major champion Tiger Woods is making his first start on Tour since the 2022 PGA Championship and 22nd in The Open (first since 2019/MC). Woods has won The Open three times (2000, 2005, 2006), with the first two coming at St Andrews. Woods is making his third start of the season, having made the cut in the first two majors. He finished 47th at the Masters Tournament and WD after the third round of the PGA Championship (74-69-79).

World No. 1 and FedEx Cup leader Scottie Scheffler has four wins this season, including his first career major championship title at the Masters. Ten players (17 instances) have won five or more times in a season including multiple majors. Most recently, Jordan Spieth did so in 2014-15 (5 wins, 2 majors). The last player to win five times in a season on Tour was Justin Thomas in 2016-17. Scheffler, who is making his 13th major start, finished T-8 in his Open Championship debut in 2021.

Jon Rahm is in search of his second career major championship title and second Tour win this season. Rahm, who became the first player from Spain to win the U.S. Open when he won in 2021, finished T-3 at the 2021 Open Championship. The only player from Spain to win The Open Championship was Seve Ballesteros (1979, 1984, 1988). Rahm enters the week having made the cut in each of his last 14 starts, the longest active streak on Tour. His last missed cut was at the season-opening Fortinet Championship).

Rory McIlroy, a four-time major champion, has not won a major since the start of 2015. McIlroy won the final two majors of 2014 (The Open Championship, PGA Championship) and has 16 Top-10s in majors since then, the most of any player in that span. McIlroy recently moved into a tie for 31st on the all-time PGA TOUR wins list with his 21st career title at the 2022 RBC Canadian Open.

Reigning FedEx Cup Champion Patrick Cantlay is the highest-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking (No. 4) without a major championship title.

The only player to win THE PLAYERS Championship and The Open Championship in the same year is Jack Nicklaus (1978).

2022 PLAYERS winner Cameron Smith can join him with a win.

Eleven players qualified for The Open Championship via the Open Qualifying Series at PGA Tour events this season: Chris Kirk and Talor Gooch at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard; Wyndham Clark and Keith Mitchell at the RBC Canadian Open; J.T. Poston, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Emiliano Grillo at the John Deere Classic; Kurt Kitayama, Brandon Wu and Jamie Donaldson at the Genesis Scottish Open; and Trey Mullinax at the Barbasol Championship. Mullinax earned the final spot in The Open with his win last week which was the first of his PGA Tour career. He also earned a spot in next season’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, the PLAYERS Championship and PGA Championship.

The Old Course at St Andrews Links is playing host for this week’s Open Championship, the 150th edition of the championship and the 2022 season’s final major. This is the 30th time that St Andrews has hosted The Open.