It’s the oldest of the men’s major tournaments, first played at Prestwick in Scotland in 1860.
This is the 151st edition of the Open Championship.
Royal Liverpool Golf Club is hosting the Open Championship for the 13th time. Among English golf courses, only Royal St George’s has played host to the tournament on more occasions (15).
Since 2000, the average winning score to par at Royal Liverpool is 17-under par (Tiger Woods shot 18 under in 2006 and Rory McIlroy shot 17 under in 2014). It’s the lowest of any Open venue to have hosted the tournament at least twice in that span, ahead of St. Andrews (avg. of 16.8-under par).
Seven of the last eight Open Championships have produced a double-digit under-par winning score. That had only been the case once in the previous seven editions of the Open. And there has only been one playoff in the last 12 Open Championships (2015) after there were four playoffs in the eight previous editions.
McIlroy, who sank putts for birdies on his last two holes to win the Genesis Scottish Open last weekend, took home his only Open Championship victory at Royal Liverpool in 2014. It was the last time the Hoylake course hosted the tournament.
McIlroy is winless in his last 33 major tournament appearances. However, he’s had 19 top-10 finishes at the majors in that span, more than any other golfer.
Here are the rest of the need-to-know stats and facts for the Open Championship:
- It is the fourth time that Tiger Woods will not be teeing it up at the Open in the last seven editions of the tournament. His last Open win came at Royal Liverpool in 2006 when he only hit one driver in the four days of competition. It was his third victory in the tournament but his only one outside of St. Andrews.
- Cameron Smith, who won at St. Andrews last year, will be aiming to become the first golfer since Padraig Harrington to win back-to-back Opens (2007, 2008). In fact, there have been back-to-back victories in the last two occurrences of an Open being played at Royal Liverpool the year after it was held at St. Andrews: Peter Thomson in 1955 and 1956, and Woods in 2005 and 2006.
- Since 2015, Jordan Spieth has five top-10 finishes in seven Opens, more than any other golfer in that span. In fact, Spieth’s last two performances in Open tournaments played on English soil are first (2017, Birkdale – his last major win) and second (2021, St George’s).
- Brooks Koepka, who finished on top of the leaderboard to win the PGA Championship in May, has secured a top-10 finish in four of his last six Open appearances. He’s the last golfer to win multiple majors in a calendar year with two in 2018. All five of Koepka’s major victories have taken place on U.S. soil (three PGAs, two U.S. Opens). In fact, Koepka and Byron Nelson are the only golfers to have won five or more majors without ever winning one outside the U.S.
- Scottie Scheffler is first on the PGA Tour in average strokes gained per round and the favorite (7.3% chance of winning) in this tournament, according to our projections. Jon Rahm (6.0%), Rory McIlroy (4.5%), Patrick Cantlay (4.4%) and Xander Schauffele (3.9%) round out the top five, per FRACAS.
- Scheffler is the only player to have registered a top 10 in each of the first three majors this year. He tied for 10th at the Masters, tied for second at the PGA Championship and took third at the US Open). Going back to 2020, he has finished inside the top 10 in 69% of his major tournament participation (nine out of 13).
- Including the 2022 Open Championship, Viktor Hovland is 27-under par across the last four major tournaments – the lowest total to par alongside Scheffler.
- Jon Rahm will aim to become the first golfer since Woods in 2005 to win the Masters and Open Championship in the same calendar year.
- Rickie Fowler had his best finish at the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in 2014 when he tied for second.
- Wyndham Clark won last month’s U.S. Open, marking the first time he’d finished in the top 70 at a major tournament. Since World War II, only one golfer has won a second major immediately after his maiden victory: Spieth in 2015.
- Clark is the most improved golfer this year among the current top 20 of the World Golf Rankings – he’s climbed 153 places in 2023, from 163rd to 10th. He’s also 24th in our FRACAS rankings.
- Only three golfers have had top-10 finishes in each of the last two Opens played at Royal Liverpool in 2006 and 2014: Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia and Jim Furyk.
- Harry Vardon holds the record for most wins at the Open Championship (six, including three in the 19th century and three in the 20th). Since World War II though, no golfer has won more Opens than Peter Thomson and Tom Watson (five each).
- Henrik Stenson and Cameron Smith hold the record for lowest score to par at the Open at 20 under (2016 for Stenson and 2022 for Smith).
- Nick Faldo is the last English golfer to win the Open Championship 31 years ago in 1992 at Muirfield. Since the turn of the century, only three Englishmen have won a major: Justin Rose (2013 U.S. Open), Danny Willett (2016 Masters) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (2022 U.S. Open).
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