Royal Birkdale has long been regarded as one of the purest tests in links golf. This year, it presents an even sterner examination.
The Open Championship returns to the famed Southport layout for the 11th time, but players arriving this week will find a course that has undergone its most significant transformation in decades.
Guided by architects Mackenzie & Ebert, Royal Birkdale features a new par-3 15th hole, a redesigned closing stretch and strategic alterations throughout the course designed to reward imagination as much as precision.
Even with the changes, two familiar names dominate the conversation entering golf's oldest championship – it’s the final time in 2026 we may see a titan-like battle at the top.
Scottie Scheffler returns as defending champion after his commanding four-shot victory at Royal Portrush last year, where the world's No. 1 separated himself from the field with another clinical display of ball-striking and consistency. Despite just one victory this season, Scheffler has remained the benchmark on the PGA Tour and remains the game’s top dog.
Rory McIlroy once again carries enormous expectations into his home stretch of the season. The Masters champion has built his schedule around the majors and arrives after another strong links preparation, hoping to add a second Claret Jug to the one he captured in 2014.
McIlroy's length has always been an asset at Birkdale, but with firmer fairways and more strategic options off the tee, creativity may prove just as valuable as power.
Tommy Fleetwood will also be among the sentimental favorites as he chases the first major championship of his career on home turf. Fleetwood grew up in nearby Southport, learned the game on the area's famed links and even spent time as a youngster sneaking onto Royal Birkdale. Returning to a course that sits just minutes from his hometown gives the Englishman a rare opportunity to contend for the Claret Jug in front of family, friends and local supporters eager to see one of their own finally capture golf's biggest prize.
The season's other major champions also arrive with momentum. Aaron Rai claimed his first major title with a breakthrough victory at the PGA Championship at Aronimink, becoming the first English winner of that event since Jim Barnes in 1919, while Wyndham Clark captured his second U.S. Open title in four years with a gritty one-shot victory at Shinnecock Hills.
Their victories have added further depth to what shapes as one of the strongest Open fields in recent years which includes two Canadians – Corey Conners and Nick Taylor. Conners finished tied for 10th at The Open last year, in the process becoming the first Canadian male to notch two top-10 finishes at majors in the same year since Mike Weir nearly 20 years prior.
Conners was in the mix at the U.S. Open before stalling on Sunday and finishing tied for 23rd. He, however, notched his first top-10 finish of the season the very next week at the Travelers Championship.
Taylor, meanwhile, was in one of the final groups on Sunday at the PGA Championship before struggling to take it into the house at Aronimink. Taylor has never found the weekend at The Open and will look for his luck to change in 2026.
The big story of this year’s Open, however, will be how Royal Birkdale’s makeover will influence how the championship unfolds.
The most striking addition is the new 241-yard par-3 15th, introducing a long one-shotter designed to encourage players to land tee shots short and use the contours to feed the ball onto the green. It adds another dimension to a back nine that already places a premium on decision-making.
The fifth hole, once considered one of the course's least memorable, has been transformed into a genuine risk-and-reward par 4. At just over 320 yards, many players will be tempted to attack the green from the tee, though new bunkering and reshaped surrounds leave little margin for error. The seventh has been shortened to a delicate par 3 that could produce wildly different scores depending on wind conditions, while the former 15th has become a redesigned par-5 14th featuring an elevated green perched on a dune and surrounded by bunkers.
Elsewhere, bunkers have been repositioned, green complexes reshaped and fairway contours restored across much of the course to create more strategic angles and reward thoughtful shot selection rather than brute force alone. The finishing hole also presents a new challenge, with revised teeing grounds and additional bunkering demanding two bold shots from anyone needing a birdie on Sunday.
The final men’s major of the season promises to be an exciting one – whether it’s Scheffler or McIlroy claiming another one of golf’s big prizes, a hometown hero getting to lift the Claret Jug, or maybe a Canadian making a magical major run.