2026 British Open Championship

[Carolina Speed]

Surprised no one has started this thread! I should've, (earlier), but just have very limited time right now. What little I've seen has been interesting as American Bryson DeChambeau was accessed a 2 stroke penalty for improving an area of his intended swing during the second round, but remains in contention at -6 and four back of leader Sam Burns. -10.
McIlroy, Rose, etc. nowhere to be found. Rose missed the cut and McIlroy is 8 back at -2. Would've like to have seen Rory or Justin in contention. Scottie Scheffler has an outside chance at -4.
1. Burns -10
T2. R. Fox -8
T2. SW Kim -8
T6. DeChambeau -6
T11. Scheffler -4

I'll be pulling for one of the 3 Americans.

 

[icsept]

Good leaderboard. I’d like to see Burns get one. He’s been close a few times.

 

[Don Wassall]

I've been on vacation and didn't watch any of it until part of the final round. 39 year old New Zealander Ryan Fox birdied the final hole and won at -10, defeating Cam Young (-9) who had a sizzling final round, Sam Burns (once again a near miss at -8), Scottie Scheffler at -7 who like Young had a great final round, and England's favorite Tommy Fleetwood who was -7.

 

[Snow Plow]

That was a great birdie on 18 by Fox to win as I believe only 4 players had birdied all day.

What do you think about watching The Open as they call it? To me, it’s not even close to Augusta but nothing really is I guess. The course was bland and the crowd was not really into it since most the Europeans weren’t competing at the end. It seemed like just another generic tournament to me.

 

[Don Wassall]

It has a lot of tradition and history going for it. It was always called "The Open" across the pond but "The British Open" here until several years ago. My theory is because three of the four majors are played in the U.S., calling the other one "The Open" instead of "The British Open" here was a way of recognizing the unfairness of having 75% of them played here. When the U.S. totally dominated golf for generations it was no big deal but now the Euros regularly win the Ryder Cup and there are more good Asian players than before and so the golf majors look too American-centric, unlike in tennis where the four majors are played in four different countries. In days past it was the U.S. Open that was often given the "The Open" title.

The British Open was actually a backwater tournament until Arnold Palmer played in it and won it twice in the early '60s followed by Jack Nicklaus and the rest of the greats, who were all Americans then except for South African Gary Player. Back when trans-continental travel was more difficult than now and the prize money was a relative pittance, many American golfers didn't even play in it.

It's a very knowledgeable crowd for sure, and the walk up the 18th fairway by the winner is one of the great scenes in golf, rivaled only by the same scene at Augusta.

 

[white is right]

It has a lot of tradition and history going for it. It was always called "The Open" across the pond but "The British Open" here until several years ago. My theory is because three of the four majors are played in the U.S., calling the other one "The Open" instead of "The British Open" here was a way of recognizing the unfairness of having 75% of them played here. When the U.S. totally dominated golf for generations it was no big deal but now the Euros regularly win the Ryder Cup and there are more good Asian players than before and so the golf majors look too American-centric, unlike in tennis where the four majors are played in four different countries. In days past it was the U.S. Open that was often given the "The Open" title.

The British Open was actually a backwater tournament until Arnold Palmer played in it and won it twice in the early '60s followed by Jack Nicklaus and the rest of the greats, who were all Americans then except for South African Gary Player. Back when trans-continental travel was more difficult than now and the prize money was a relative pittance, many American golfers didn't even play in it.

It's a very knowledgeable crowd for sure, and the walk up the 18th fairway by the winner is one of the great scenes in golf, rivaled only by the same scene at Augusta.

Yes similar to the Australian Open in tennis travelling to Europe was a pain as it took a month each way and the player had to adjust to the time zone and didn't practice for a month. In the case of Australian Open it was 2 months each way and there was no prize money to until the late 60's so the winners list at this tournament was nearly exclusively Australians.

By the way winning this tournament more than doubled the career earnings of Fox who is close to 40 and is by definition a career journeyman. It will be interesting to see if goes on a run and strings together a series of impressive tournament placings off this showing.

 

[Don Wassall]

Yes similar to the Australian Open in tennis travelling to Europe was a pain as it took a month each way and the player had to adjust to the time zone and didn't practice for a month. In the case of Australian Open it was 2 months each way and there was no prize money to until the late 60's so the winners list at this tournament was nearly exclusively Australians.

American golfers began flying to the Open in the 1940s and '50s, but the tournament was still passed on by most until Arnie began playing there in 1960 and almost singlehandedly re-popularized the event. It paid so little then that even flying wasn't worth the hassle as the PGA Tour was the unchallenged center of the golf world. Nick Faldo said as much on Golf Channel's excellent three part series on Palmer's life, which is shown periodically and which I highly recommend to everyone, not just Palmer fans.

Bobby Jones played the British Open and popularized it in his heyday and he traveled by ocean steamer to get there, but after Jones it began a long decline until Palmer came along.