One hundred and fifty-six of the world’s best golfers are slated to play in the 154th Open Championship this week at Royal Birkdale Golf Club, marking the conclusion of the 2026 men’s major season.
The last time Royal Birkdale hosted The Open was in 2017, when Jordan Spieth won his third and most recent major title. The now-32-year-old Spieth returns to Southport this week with only two victories in the near decade since he hoisted the Claret Jug.
“I’m quite frustrated with the results considering I know where my game is at,” Spieth said Monday. “It’s better than it was four or five years ago when I got back to top 10 in the world. It’s without a doubt better than it was then; it’s just not quite showing up in results.”
Spieth might not top the list of contenders this week, but his is one of many storylines to follow. Another is the slew of Englishmen playing on home soil. They will try to do one of two things come Sunday: win a major on home soil while England wins a World Cup title across the pond, or be the pride and joy of their nation if The Three Lions can’t pull it off.
“That would be a great day,” Southport native Tommy Fleetwood said of the prospect of a double win.
Another Englishman was the last man to earn a spot in the field on Monday: Joe Dean.
Dean emerged victorious in the 12-man Last Chance Qualifier, hosted at Royal Birkdale. He will make his third start at The Open following a T-70 in 2017 and T-25 in 2024. He has his fiancée, Emily, caddying for him this week. Next Tuesday, they will get married about two hours away in Worksop.
From Spieth to Fleetwood to Dean and every other man in the field, here’s my full ranking:
1-10
1. Rory McIlroy: McIlroy is in familiar territory at Royal Birkdale, where he finished T-4 in his last appearance in 2017. The reigning back-to-back Masters champion is coming off a T-7 at the Genesis Scottish Open, putting momentum on his side. His lone Open Championship came 12 years ago in 2014.
2. Scottie Scheffler: Scheffler is coming off his first missed cut in nearly four years. It was also the first time the world No. 1 has finished outside the top 25 in 15 starts this season. The cut meant he got some extra practice time in at Royal Birkdale, and although he has never played the course, he is the reigning Open champion.
3. Tommy Fleetwood: If there’s a story to root for this week, it’s this one. Fleetwood won his first PGA Tour title when he triumphed at the Tour Championship last August. Now he’s looking for his first major title in his hometown of Southport, England. Even better, if The Three Lions make it to Sunday’s World Cup final, England could have one of its best sporting days in history with a win from both Fleetwood and the soccer team. (Truthfully, there are quite a few Englishmen on this list who could make that happen this week.)
4. Matt Fitzpatrick: Fitzpatrick is enjoying his best season on Tour to date, with three wins in 2026. The 2022 U.S. Open champion’s game suits this course quite well, and winning on home soil would certainly be a great way to notch his second major win.
5. Justin Rose: Rose has one win on Tour this season, coming at the Farmers in February. The 2013 U.S. Open champion has one of the best major track records this season, with a T-3 at the Masters, T-10 at the PGA and T-11 at the U.S. Open. The last time he played at Royal Birkdale, he finished T-54.
6. Collin Morikawa: New dad Morikawa has fared well since his return from a brief paternity leave, finishing T-29 at the RBC Canadian Open, T-17 at the U.S. Open and solo third at the Travelers. The 2021 Open champion is looking for his third major title.
7. Jon Rahm: Rahm has had an up-and-down season. While he’s earned two wins on the LIV circuit, he’s seen a T-38 at the Masters, T-2 at the PGA and was cut at the U.S. Open. With LIV on a nearly two month break and the U.S. Open being his most recent tournament, it’s hard to tell where the Spaniard’s game is.
8. Xander Schauffele: Schauffele is still looking for his first win in 2026 and is coming off a missed cut at the Scottish Open. Similarly to Rose, the 2024 Open (and PGA) champion has seen excellent results at majors this year, with a T-9 at the Masters, T-7 at the PGA and T-11 at the U.S. Open. Schauffele has one of the best major track records of the entire field, with two wins and 17 top 10s in 37 career starts.
9. Jordan Spieth: Spieth is an interesting one — but isn’t he always? The 2017 Open winner at Royal Birkdale, Spieth has only won twice on Tour since that triumph — and no majors. Maybe a return to a familiar place with fond memories will spark something? The course has changed substantially in the past nine years.
10. Cameron Young: Young finally won his first Tour title at the Wyndham last fall and seemed to never look back, firing off wins at The Players and the Cadillac this spring. Logically, a major seems like the next thing on the to-do list. Young missed the cut at The Open last year, but he was runner-up in 2022 and T-8 in 2023 — he can play some links golf.
11-20
11. Sam Burns: Burns was widely expected to skip the final major of the season because of the imminent birth of his second child, so it was a surprise when he showed up in Southport. Hopefully Baby Burns will stick it out another week so their dad can try and make some magic happen after a heartbreaking runner-up at the U.S. Open.
12. Chris Gotterup: Along with Fitzpatrick, Gotterup is one of the hottest players on Tour this season. He has won three times in 2026, with the most recent coming at the John Deere Classic two weeks ago. After a T-11 at the Scottish, Gotterup seems geared up for another chance at his first major.
13. Viktor Hovland: Hovland and Scheffler gave fans a thriller of a Monday finish at the Travelers three weeks ago. The European followed that with a T-13 at the Scottish. A major question mark is his recent major record: missed cuts at both the U.S. Open and PGA. Maybe the Norwegians will row into Southport and give him some good luck.
14. Tom Kim: Kim is coming off his first win in three years after besting the field at The Renaissance Club. While that course and Royal Birkdale don’t lend themselves to each other, Kim has momentum on his side. He can draw from that recent win and his T-2 at The Open in 2023 to avoid his third straight missed cut at this tournament.
15. Patrick Reed: Of Reed’s four Tour starts this season, he has three top 15s (Masters, PGA, Scottish) and one missed cut (U.S. Open). The 2018 Masters champion is playing good golf as he gears up to return full time in 2027 and has two DP World Tour wins this year.
16. Russell Henley: Henley seems to go two ways at majors: in contention or missing the cut. Since his T-4 at the Masters in 2023, he has six top 10s and five MC.
17. Wyndham Clark: Clark has won the U.S. Open twice now. His next best finish at a major came at the 2025 Open, where he was T-4.
18. Haotong Li: Li has become a fan favorite on Tour recently, growing his fan base massively since being paired with Scheffler in the final group of the final round of The Open a year ago. But did you know that T-4 wasn’t his only top 10 at this tournament? Li finished solo third at Royal Birkdale back in 2017.
19. Min Woo Lee: The runner-up to Kim at the Scottish last weekend, Lee has seen a mixed bag of finishes at majors this season, with two cuts and a T-18 at the PGA.
20. Brooks Koepka: Koepka’s return to the Tour has seem glimmers of his past greatness, but there have also been some struggles. Namely, a recent hand injury seems to have caused some damage, resulting in a WD from the Canadian Open. He has missed the cut in his past two starts at the U.S. Open and Scottish.
21-30
21. Jason Day
22. Shane Lowry
23. Justin Thomas
24. Robert MacIntyre
25. Ludvig Åberg
26. Sahith Theegala
27. Hideki Matsuyama
28. Aaron Rai
29. Bryson DeChambeau
30. Padraig Harrington
31-40
31. J.J. Spaun
32. Sepp Straka
33. Si Woo Kim
34. Brian Harman
35. Tyrrell Hatton
36. Gary Woodland
37. Cameron Smith
38. Keegan Bradley
39. Harris English
40. Johnny Keefer
41-50
41. Rickie Fowler
42. Keith Mitchell
43. Alex Noren
44. Kristoffer Reitan
45. Adam Scott
46. Max Homa
47. Patrick Cantlay
48. Ryan Fox
49. Daniel Berger
50. Joaquin Niemann
51-60
51. Sungjae Im
52. Nicolai Højgaard
53. Alex Fitzpatrick
54. Jacob Bridgeman
55. Corey Conners
56. Ryan Gerard
57. Ben Griffin
58. Akshay Bhatia
59. Nick Taylor
60. J.T. Poston
61-70
61. Henrik Stenson
62. Michael Thorbjornsen
63. Maverick McNealy
64. Jake Knapp
65. Thomas Detry
66. Rasmus Højgaard
67. Stewart Cink
68. Andy Sullivan
69. Jayden Schaper
70. Michael Brennan
71-80
71. Darren Clarke
72. Marco Penge
73. Billy Horschel
74. Michael Kim
75. Alex Smalley
76. Harry Hall
77. Kurt Kitayama
78. Aldrich Potgieter
79. Lucas Herbert
80. Andrew Novak
81-90
81. Matt McCarty
82. Tom McKibbin
83. Daniel Brown
84. Victor Perez
85. Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
86. Laurie Canter
87. Max Greyserman
88. Casey Jarvis
89. Daniel Hillier
90. Joakim Lagergren
91-100
91. Frederic Lacroix
92. Bernd Wiesberger
93. MJ Daffue
94. Eric Cole
95. Martin Couvra
96. Pierceson Coody
97. Bud Cauley
98. Jesper Svensson
99. Nico Echavarria
100. Keita Nakajima
101-110
101. Jordan Smith
102. Eugenio Chacarra
103. Scott Vincent
104. Cameron John
105. Jackson Suber
106. Hennie Du Plessis
107. Alistair Docherty
108. Jose Luis Ballester
109. Matt Wallace
110. Sam Stevens
111-120
111. Jeongwoo Ham
112. John Parry
113. James Nicholas
114. Naoyuki Kataoka
115. Francesco Laporta
116. Joe Dean
117. Matthew Jordan
118. David Puig
119. Kazuki Higa
120. Peter Uihlein
121-130
121. Francesco Molinari
122. Dan Bradbury
123. Ryo Hisatsune
124. Austen Truslow
125. Shaun Norris
126. David Duval
127. Travis Smyth
128. Marcus Plunkett
129. Kota Kaneko
130. Sami Valimaki
131-140
131. Antoine Rozner
132. Matthew Baldwin
133. Tom Sloman
134. Jack McDonald
135. Angel Ayora
136. Kazuma Kobori
137. Ryutaro Nagano
138. Tiger Christensen
139. a-Mason Howell
140. Adrien Saddier
141-150
141. Matthew Southgate
142. Ren Yonezawa
143. a-Fifa Laopakdee
144. a-Mateo Pulcini
145. Caleb Surratt
146. a-Jack Buchanan
147. a-Stuart Grehan
148. Jiho Yang
149. a-Tim Wiedemeyer
150. Sam Bairstow
151-156
151. Michael Hollick
152. a-Lev Grinberg
153. a-Alejandro de Castro Piera
154. a-David Howard
155. Baard Skogen
156. a-Nevill Ruiter
