Updated July 16, 2026, 4:19 p.m. ET
The final men’s golf major of 2026 has arrived. The Open Championship began Thursday at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, where the winner will have his name etched on the prestigious Claret Jug as the Champion Golfer of the Year on Sunday. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is back to defend his title against a field loaded with the biggest names in golf, including Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Bryson DeChambeau and Jordan Spieth, who won The Open last time Royal Birkdale hosted. Get caught up with all the first-round action from Golfweek, including the full leaderboard plus highlights, breaking news and more from Thursday. The Open 2026 live leaderboard Keep tabs on every score posted all week at Royal Birkdale with The Open Championship 2026 leaderboard.
Here’s what it looked like at the top at the end of play on Thursday. Pos.
Name Score Hole 1 Jackson Suber -5 F T2 Sungjae Im -4 F T2 Daniel Brown -4 F T4 Thomas Detry -3 F T4 Robert MacIntyre -3 F T4 Francesco Molinari -3 F T4 Alex Smalley -3 F T4 Bryson DeChambeau -3 F T4 Ryan Gerard -3 F T4 MJ Daffue -3 F T4 Pierceson Coody -3 F T4 Cameron Young -3 F Watch The Open on Peacock Watch USA Network on Fubo
Who is Jackson Suber? Meet the PGA Tour pro who shot 65 Thursday at The Open 2026 to take a one-shot lead after 18 holes.
“This is my fifth day here. Monday was my first round of links golf, so I’ve played 27 holes before I played the first round today,” he said. “I’ve never been to Europe.”
Rory McIlroy closes with a birdie to get to 2 over There were four birdies on McIlroy’s Thursday scorecard.
Rory McIlroy bogeys the par-5 17th, falls to 3 over McIlroy has six bogeys in the first round and is now tied for T-106 in the 156-man. He’s eight shots back of the lead with a hole to play. He did birdie the par-3 15th, one of the more difficult holes in the first round. Rory McIlroy’s wild Open ride continues McIlroy missed several short putts on his first nine, drilled a 389-yard drive at No. 9 to drive the green and rolled in a long birdie at No. 13.
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Then, before heading to the 14th tee, he stopped for an in-round chat with on-course reporter Jim “Bones” Mackay while waiting for the tee to clear. McIlroy is 2 over through 13 holes. Harry Hall from up against a wall Check this out:
New solo leader at The Open 2026 His name: Jackson Suber. Tough break for Sepp Straka This thing was certainly tracking.
Scottie Scheffler signs for 2-under 68 The Open’s defending champion started with four birdies in his first six holes but then went 2 over the rest of the way, with nine straight pars on Nos. 8 through 16. Read more about his day here. Bryson DeChambeau ends day with a bogey DeChambeau’s tie for the lead was brief after he made bogey at the last but still, it’s a 3-under start to the week.
He’s one of three golfers who missed the cut in each of the first three majors of the year but is well on track to avoid the 0-fer. Bryson shot 67 but lost 1.11 strokes on the greens. He’s 111th right now. Bryson DeChambeau ties the lead at The Open Bryson DeChambeau entered the week looking to avoid the infamous “Cut Slam” — that is, missing the cut at all four majors in a single year. Well, so far, he’s putting himself in excellent position to play the weekend at Royal Birkdale. DeChambeau made his fifth birdie of the day at the 17th to get to 4 under and into a tie for the lead with one hole remaining in his first round. Jon Rahm off to solid start Thursday Jon Rahm made this birdie at the 11th to get to 2 under in the first round.
The two-time major champ is bogey-free on the day. Alex Smalley in contention at another major After a T-2 finish at the PGA Championship in May, Alex Smalley missed the cut at the U.S. Open. Now he’s back on top of the leaderboard, this time at the Open. Smalley is 5 under thru 15 after a brilliant approach on the difficult par-3 15th. He’s solo leader with three to play in his opening round.
Bryson DeChambeau goes for the green … and it pays off The par-4 10th will be an interesting hole to watch this week. Players can take a direct line over some moguls and wispy grass, like Bryson DeChambeau did Thursday, and get close to the green. DeChambeau came up short right of the putting surface and then got up and down for birdie.
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3 under and T-3 for DeChambeau, who has missed the cut in all three majors this year. New clubhouse leaders at Royal Birkdale Sungjae Im and Dan Brown have posted a new low score in the clubhouse, each signing for 4-under 66. Scottie Scheffler ties lead It took five holes for the defending Champion Golfer of the Year to once again find his name back on top of the leaderboard at The Open. Scottie Scheffler has three birdies in his first five holes and is tied for the lead alongside a group including Robert MacIntyre, Alex Smalley and Nick Taylor, who has three birdies in his first three holes. And guess what?
Scottie Scheffler has the solo lead at The Open. He birdies four of five holes and four of his first six to move to 4 under. Thomas Detry sets early clubhouse lead Thomas Detry was the second player to hit a tee shot Thursday at The Open, but he’s first on the leaderboard as he steps off the course at Royal Birkdale. Detry posts the early clubhouse lead with a 3-under 67 and now will sit back and hope for carnage as the day plays out. Bryson DeChambeau starts with pair of birdies The player who had plenty of people talking about him for all the wrong reason is shutting up the critics early. Bryson DeChambeau, who has missed the cut in the first three majors of the year, has started with a pair of birdies at The Open and is 2 under thru 2, two shots behind Alex Smalley, who is 4 under thru 5.
For Bryson, it’s the second time in his major career (2024 Masters) he has started a major with consecutive birdies, per stats guru Justin Ray. The Open 2026 tee times Click here to see every tee time for the first round of the 2026 Open Championship. Here’s a look at Thursday’s featured groups (all times ET):
4:58 a.m. – Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Tyrrell Hatton 5:09 a.m. – Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood 9:53 a.m. – Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry, Aaron Rai 10:15 a.m.
– Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick These pros have hit the most range balls this week The grind never ends, especially if you want to taste major championship glory. TopTracer is tracking who is working to find their game on the range and here are the leaders in balls hit this week:
Joakim Lagergren – 681 balls hit Daily Breakdown: Sunday (48), Monday (207), Tuesday (192), Wednesday (234) Alex Noren – 580 balls hit Daily Breakdown: Sunday (139), Monday (187), Tuesday (136), Wednesday (118) Sepp Straka – 516 balls hit Daily Breakdown: Sunday (0), Monday (83), Tuesday (145), Wednesday (288) Jordan Spieth – 504 balls hit Daily Breakdown: Sunday (78), Monday (152), Tuesday (123), Wednesday (151) Ludvig Åberg – 461 balls hit Daily Breakdown: Sunday (166), Monday (89), Tuesday (165), Wednesday (41) Detry grabs early lead Conditions are perfect for scoring on Thursday morning at Royal Birkdale. Belgian Thomas Detry has taken advantage and is setting the early pace at the 154th Open.
Detry, who joined LIV ahead of this season, birdied the first to jump straight into red figures. He bogeyed the difficult sixth hole but bounced back immediately with birdies at Nos. 7 and 8 and tacked on a third at 10 to become the first player to reach 3 under at the championship. He’s reeled off three straight pars to stay at 3 under thru 13. Alex Fitzpatrick, Matt’s younger brother, is in second at 2 under thru 10 and tied with Alex Smalley, who birdied the first two holes and made par at the third.
MacIntyre’s flying start Bobby Mac said in an interview recently that if he were to win The Open, the Scotsman would retire a happy man, dream fulfilled. Well, he’s off to a flying start to kicking up his feet starting next week.
MacIntyre birdied the first two holes at Royal Birkdale and has a clean card to set the pace through five holes. Belgian Thomas Detry has matched him at 2 under thru 8 to share the early lead at the 154th Open. Matthew Baldwin strikes opening tee shot Matthew Baldwin, a 40-year-old Brit, had the honors of hitting the first tee shot of the first round. Playing alongside Thomas Detry and James Nicholas, Baldwin hit an iron off the tee. He grew up a short distance from Royal Birkdale where he’s a member. Hole locations for The Open 2026 at Royal Birkdale The Open 2026 odds Here’s a look at the pre-tournament betting favorites for the Open Championship.
See the full list of odds at BetMGM. Scottie Scheffler (+750) Rory McIlroy (+900) Tommy Fleetwood (+1600) Matt Fitzpatrick (+1600) Jon Rahm (+2200) Viktor Hovland (+2500) Chris Gotterup (+2800) Xander Schauffele (+2800) Odds accurate as of 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday, July 15. The Open 2026 expert picks See who the Golfweek staff is picking to win the 2026 Open Championship and hoist the Claret Jug on Sunday.
The Open 2026 prize money, purse The winner of the 2026 Open Championship will receive $3.2 million, or 18 percent of the total purse, which is $17.75 million. It’s the largest prize fund in the history of The Open, but remains the smallest of the four men’s majors. See the full payout breakdown. The Open weather forecast Thursday’s forecast calls for clear skies with a high temperature in the low 80s and a northeast wind at 10-15 mph. It’s expected to be warm and sunny all week at Royal Birkdale, which is quite rare for an Open Championship. The Open 2026 field The full field list has 156 golfers, with three coming in from the final Open qualifying series event (the Genesis Scottish Open) and the very last one getting in after winning Monday’s Last-Chance Qualifier, the first-ever 12-for-1 knockout round of 18 holes.
Of course, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, No. 2 Rory McIlroy and the rest of the game’s top players are set to tee it up this week. There will also be 11 LIV golfers at Royal Birkdale. The Open future sites Unlike the USGA and the PGA of America, who have championship sites planned out for a few decades, the R&A has announced only the next two after this year:
2027 – St. Andrews, Old Course (Scotland) 2028 – Royal Lytham & St.
Annes (England) The Open past winners Here are the last 10 winners of The Open, including Jordan Spieth in 2017, which is the last time the event was held at Royal Birkdale. Scottie Scheffler (2025) Xander Schauffele (2024) Brian Harman (2023) Cameron Smith (2022) Collin Morikawa (2021) Shane Lowry (2019) Francesco Molinari (2018) Jordan Spieth (2017) Henrik Stenson (2016) Zach Johnson (2015)
