Tournament: 154th Open Championship, July 16-19, 2025
Course: Royal Birkdale Golf Club, par 70, 7,223 yards. On the west coast of England, but up north between Blackpool and Liverpool.
Purse: $17 million in total, with $3.1 million to the winner.
Defending Champ: Scottie Scheffler. The UT-Austin golfer got some lucky bounces and nipped Georgia Bulldog Harris English by a slim 4 shot margin. Speaking of lucky bounces and favorable rulings, another UT-Austin golfer won at Birkdale the last time it was
held here in 2017.
Fun Fact: If your idea of a 150 year old golf course and clubhouse look something like St. Andrews, you’ll enjoy the change Birkdale offers. The course is what you’d expect from an Open Championship venue – dunes, on the ocean, pot bunkers, but the clubhouse is completely different. It was built in 1935 in an art deco style, and honestly looks completely out of place.
TV Times: Do you enjoy breakfast at Wimbledon? Then you’ll love this week. The time zone and latitude combine to provide us Yankees Americans early morning watching. Local tee times start around 6:30 am and continue until after 4 pm. So if you’re stateside, you can catch live golf starting at 1:30 am ET on Peacock, which switches over to USA at 4:00 am ET. That will continue Thursday and Friday until 3:30 pm ET.
After the field is cut, they let players sleep in for the weekend so Saturday coverage starts on USA at 5:00 am ET, with NBC picking it up at 7 until 3 pm. Sunday is much the same except for a start time of 4:00 am ET. Adjust your phone alarms accordingly.
‘Dawgs in the Field:6. Brian Harman, Harris English, Russell Henley, Sepp Straka, Keith Mitchell, and upcoming enrollee Mason Howell.
The British Open has given us some of the most memorable moments and victories in the history of golf. Bobby Jones completing the Grand Slam, Ben Hogan playing the British only once but winning, the Duel in the Sun with Nicklaus and Watson, Seve doing Seve things, Constantina Rocca’s dramatics to force the playoff with John Daly, the list goes on. But in this writer’s opinion, the greatest Open of all time is the 2024 championship at Royal Liverpool.
The fact that Brian Harman, in the face of inclement weather and anti-American fans, kept his cool when others around him were losing theirs, and that Harman matriculated in the Classic City and is a Damn Good ‘Dawg, has absolutely nothing to do with it.
Thursday, Round 1 tee times:
Harris English, 9:14 am local, 4:14 am ET
Russell Henley, 9:36 am local, 4:36 am ET
Brian Harman, 10:20 am local, 5:20 am ET
Keith Mitchell, 12:14 pm local, 7:14 am ET
Sepp Straka, 12:25 pm local, 7:25 am ET
Mason Howell, 1:31 pm local, 8:31 am ET
So that should help you get started. I wish you only the best viewing experience, and here’s hoping someone can bring the Claret Jug back to South Georgia where it belongs. And as always…
GO ‘DAWGS!!!
