The Open 2026: Tee Times, TV Schedule, Field and Favorites — Complete Viewer Guide

FINAL ROUND (July 19): Sam Burns holds a tight lead heading into Sunday at Royal Birkdale, per USA Today's leaderboard coverage. TV times and how to watch the closing round below.

The Open 2026 — golf's fourth and final major of the year — begins Thursday, July 16 at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England, with the champion lifting the Claret Jug on Sunday, July 19. For American fans that means very early alarms: first-round coverage starts around 1:30 a.m. ET on Peacock, with the main broadcast on USA Network from about 4 a.m. ET Thursday and Friday before the weekend shifts to NBC. This is a live viewer guide — we will update it with the full tee-time draw, pairings and TV windows through Sunday's finish.

When and Where: Dates and Venue

The 154th Open Championship runs July 16–19, 2026, at Royal Birkdale, the famed links on England's "Golf Coast" in Southport, Merseyside — the 11th time the club has hosted. Birkdale is widely considered one of the fairest tests on the Open rota: fairways run through flat-bottomed valleys between towering dunes, so good shots are rewarded rather than kicked sideways. The course has been renovated since Jordan Spieth won the last Birkdale Open in 2017, with a reworked back nine that includes a brand-new par-3 15th. General admission tickets were allocated by ballot and demand has been enormous; official hospitality and "The Open Experiences" packages — debuting at Birkdale — are handled through theopen.com.

How to Watch The Open 2026 in the US

NBC Sports and the R&A are delivering more than 300 hours of coverage across USA Network, NBC, Peacock and Golf Channel. The day-by-day plan (all times ET; windows may shift slightly, check local listings):

• Thursday, July 16 (Round 1): Early coverage from about 1:30 a.m. on Peacock; main broadcast on USA Network from 4 a.m. to mid-afternoon.
• Friday, July 17 (Round 2): Same pattern — Peacock from about 1:30 a.m., USA Network from 4 a.m.
• Saturday, July 18 (Round 3): Early window from about 5 a.m., with the main broadcast moving to NBC from 7 a.m. to around 3 p.m.
• Sunday, July 19 (Final Round): Early coverage from about 4 a.m., then NBC from 7 a.m. through the finish and the Claret Jug presentation, around 2 p.m.

Everything on NBC and USA Network also streams on Peacock, and dedicated featured-group feeds run all four days on Peacock, theopen.com and The Open app.

The Open 2026 Tee Times: What We Know So Far

The R&A publishes the full Round 1 and Round 2 draw at theopen.com in the days before the championship — expect it around Tuesday, July 14. Players go off the first tee in threesomes on Thursday and Friday, with the first group expected out around 6:35 a.m. local time (about 1:35 a.m. ET) and the final groups starting mid-afternoon in the UK. On the weekend the field plays in pairs, with the leaders off in the early UK afternoon — mid-morning on the US East Coast. Update note: we will add the marquee groupings (Scheffler, McIlroy and company) to this section the moment the draw drops.

The Field and the Favorites

The 156-player field qualified through exemptions, world ranking and final qualifying. Per CBS Sports, defending champion Scottie Scheffler is the +550 favorite, with Rory McIlroy next at +850; other books have Scheffler as low as +400 with McIlroy around +700. Behind the top two, Tommy Fleetwood (+1400) and Matt Fitzpatrick (+1500) lead the chasing pack on several boards, with Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau in the next tier. Scheffler has never finished outside the top 25 in five Open starts; McIlroy was T4 the last time The Open visited Birkdale in 2017.

Storylines to Watch

• Rory McIlroy's next chapter: Fresh off completing the career Grand Slam at the 2025 Masters — the subject of Prime Video's new documentary (see our Rory McIlroy documentary guide) — McIlroy arrives as the sentimental pick and the clear second favorite on UK soil, where he has a long record of contending.
• Scheffler going back-to-back: A successful defense would make him just the seventh American to win consecutive Opens.
• Tommy Fleetwood's homecoming: The Southport-raised Englishman gets a major on the links he grew up beside — and the odds board takes him seriously.
• Spieth returns: Jordan Spieth won the Claret Jug the last time The Open came to Birkdale in 2017.

Who Is the Defending Champion?

Scottie Scheffler won the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush in 2025, finishing 17-under 267 to beat Harris English by four shots for his fourth major title. The win gave Scheffler the third leg of the career Grand Slam — only the U.S. Open is missing — and he enters Birkdale as the world No. 1 and the man to beat.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)