Royal Birkdale

Ryan Fox Wins the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale

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The First New Zealander to Lift the Claret Jug Since Bob Charles in 1963.

Victorious Ryan Fox holds the Claret Jug aloft

Ryan Fox won the 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on Sunday, birdieing four of his last six holes to finish at ten under par and edge Cameron Young by a single stroke. It is Fox’s first major title at thirty-nine, and it makes him only the third New Zealander in history to win the Claret Jug — the first since Bob Charles in 1963. Sam Burns, who had led since Friday, closed with a two-over 72 to finish third. Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood tied for fourth.

A Brutal Cut Set the Tone

Packed Stands at the 18th, where many watched their favourites miss the cut

Royal Birkdale’s firm fairways and pot bunkers made their intentions clear early. The cut line settled at one-over 141, and it caught two of the season’s form players. Matt Fitzpatrick, in contention for PGA TOUR Player of the Year, opened 72-72 and missed his first major cut since the 2024 PGA Championship. Wyndham Clark, the reigning U.S. Open champion, ballooned to seven-over after eight holes of his second round before a late eagle-birdie-birdie surge softened the damage — not enough to survive the weekend. Royal Birkdale does not care about reputation. It only cares about ball-striking.

Burns and Fox Rewrote the Record Books

Sam Burns set a course record to go into Sunday leading by 2

The weekend belonged to two players moving in opposite directions on the leaderboard. Sam Burns’s (pictured above) back-to-back 62-65 set a new record for the lowest 36-hole score in major championship history and put him two clear heading into Sunday. Ryan Fox matched that third-round 62 himself, closing the gap and setting up a final round that neither man’s card could have predicted. Lucas Herbert added his own piece of history along the way, matching a nine-hole scoring record during the tournament — a reminder of just how scoreable Birkdale played once the wind finally eased.

The Birdie That Won It

Sam Burns, joy of the winning putt

Fox’s final round was quiet until it wasn’t. Four birdies across his last six holes turned a share of the lead into a genuine chance, and on the 72nd hole he had a decision to make: play safe for a likely play-off, or go after the pin. He told his caddie they were going to “take it on.” An eleven-foot putt found the middle of the cup. Cameron Young, playing in the group ahead, closed with a bogey that left him a stroke short. Fox called the two shots into the final green “probably the two best of my life” — a fair claim, given what they were worth.

A Long Wait, Finally Over

Fox has spent the better part of a decade as one of the most respected ball-strikers on either the DP World Tour or the PGA TOUR without a major to his name, including a runner-up finish at the 2024 U.S. Open that left him agonisingly short. The Claret Jug carries a winner’s share reported at $3.2 million from a $17.5 million purse, but for a player who has built his career on consistency rather than headlines, the number matters less than the name now attached to the trophy. New Zealand golf has waited sixty-three years for a moment like this. Fox delivered it in front of a crowd that had adopted him as their own by Sunday afternoon.

Where the Season Goes From Here

Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood’s tie for fourth keeps both inside the conversation as the majors season winds down. Fleetwood, still chasing a maiden major of his own, will point to Birkdale as further evidence that the breakthrough is close rather than distant. Scheffler, already the game’s dominant figure, adds another top finish to a résumé that hardly needs one. Sam Burns leaves Birkdale with a share of record-book history even without the trophy, and a 54-hole lead he will want back sooner rather than later.

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For golfers inspired to test their own ball-striking against the same firm-and-fast conditions that decided this Open, the Algarve’s coastline offers a similar examination without the risk of a rain delay. Palmares, set along the cliffs above Meia Praia beach, plays as firm and demanding as anything Royal Birkdale served up this week.

Browse our Algarve golf holidays and see what the fairways have in store.


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Chacarra Goes Back-to-Back — and Lands an Open Debut

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Two DP World Tour titles in two weeks, and a PGA Tour card now firmly in his sights

Eugenio Chacarra closed out the Italian Open on Sunday with a bogey-free 64, winning by five shots at Circolo Golf Torino. It was the 26-year-old Spaniard’s second DP World Tour title in as many weeks, following his win at the KLM Open earlier in June. Both the manner and the timing matter.

A flawless Sunday in Turin

A victorious Eugenio Chacarra waves to the crowd

Chacarra reached 24-under for the week, five clear of England’s Matt Wallace, with Chile’s Joaquín Niemann a further shot back in third. The closing round was the work of a player in full control — five birdies in his first ten holes, then an eagle at the par-five 15th to settle the matter. He never looked troubled. (ESPN)

A ticket to Royal Birkdale

The victory carried a significant reward beyond the trophy. Chacarra secured the final Open Championship place available to unexempt players through the Open Qualifying Series, booking his debut at Royal Birkdale next month. For a player who has watched the game’s oldest major on television since boyhood, it is a milestone moment.

The bigger prize in sight

The win lifted Chacarra to third in the Race to Dubai, behind only Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy, and put him top of the standings for the ten PGA Tour cards awarded to leading non-exempt players at season’s end. It marks a notable turnaround. A former LIV Golf player whose contract with Sergio García’s Fireballs was not renewed after 2024, Chacarra returned to the DP World Tour and won the Hero Indian Open in March 2025. Three titles in fifteen months later, the PGA Tour card he has chased since childhood is within reach.

Eugenio Chacarra with the Italian Open Trophy

A summer for Spanish golf

Chacarra’s form is part of a strong season for Spanish golf, and a reminder of the depth the country continues to produce. For anyone inspired to play where the Spanish game is at its finest, the courses of the Costa del Sol — championship layouts, reliable sunshine, and the kind of post-round dining that makes an evening — are hard to beat.

Browse our Costa del Sol golf holidays and see what the fuss is about.


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Europe’s Open: Five Names Worth Backing at Royal Birkdale

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Two majors down. One to go. And it happens to be the most European one.

Royal Birkdale Golf Course Southport

The 2026 major season has been, by any reasonable measure, a European one. Rory McIlroy defended his Masters title at Augusta in April — the fourth player in history to win back-to-back Green Jackets. Aaron Rai won the PGA Championship in May, becoming the first English-born player to claim a major since 1919. Two of the three majors played so far this year have gone to Europe. The fourth, the oldest and the most naturally European of them all, arrives at Royal Birkdale on 16 July. Here are the five names worth backing.

Tommy Fleetwood — The Hometown Favourite

Tommy Fleetwood mid-swing

If there is a script written for this Open, it ends with Fleetwood’s name on the trophy. He grew up in Southport. He knows every gust off the Irish Sea, every quirk of that coastline — and, one suspects, every pub on the high street. The gallery at Birkdale will carry him loudly, and for four days. He finished tied eleventh at Shinnecock Hills last weekend. His links record is exceptional. The only thing Fleetwood has never done is win a major. Birkdale in July, in front of a crowd entirely on his side, feels like the moment that changes.

Aaron Rai — The Man With Momentum

Aaron Rai with the Wanamaker Trophy, Aronimink, May 2026

Three weeks ago, Rai won the PGA Championship at Aronimink. He did it without any of the drama that typically surrounds major week — calmly, methodically, with the composure of someone who had done it before. He hadn’t. He was also tied eleventh at Shinnecock Hills last weekend. The form is there. The belief, clearly, is there. Links golf will suit him. This is a player who could win two majors in a calendar year, and if that thought has not yet crossed his mind, it will have crossed his caddie’s.

Rory McIlroy — The Links Specialist

Tommy Fleetwood mid-swing

McIlroy won The Open at Royal Liverpool in 2014. He has six major titles and back-to-back Masters victories. His Shinnecock weekend was painful — a promising start that unravelled over two difficult back nines — but he has already confirmed the next two weeks will be spent playing links golf at home. The Scottish Open follows on 9 July, four days before Birkdale. There is a reason McIlroy talks about The Open the way other players talk about Augusta. The links game is the one he trusts most. He is not the favourite. He is, however, dangerous.

Shane Lowry — The Experience Card

Tommy Fleetwood mid-swing

Lowry won at Royal Portrush in 2019 in conditions that resembled a weather event more than a golf tournament. He won anyway. He is the sort of player who gets sharper when the wind gets up and the occasion gets heavy. Royal Birkdale in July can be both. Lowry will not feature prominently in the early conversations about this Open. That is almost certainly how he would prefer it.

Robert MacIntyre — The One Worth Watching

Tommy Fleetwood mid-swing

The young Scotsman plays links golf as though he was born to it — which, on the west coast of Scotland, he essentially was. MacIntyre has been building quietly toward a major for two years. The ingredients are there: the game, the temperament, the pedigree. Birkdale, with the right wind and the right week, might be where the building finally stops.

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The 154th Open Championship begins on 16 July. If it has you thinking about golf in rather more agreeable temperatures, the Algarve’s coastal courses offer firm fairways and Atlantic winds year-round — the next best thing to a week on the Lancashire coast. Browse our Algarve golf holidays and start planning.


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