The Open Championship, a Wonderland of Golf SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – For some of us out there – kids with wanderlust for example – the Open Championship was always our favorite of the majors. Yes – gasp! – even more than the Masters. Remember: we get Augusta National every year. But courses like St. Andrews and Royal Troon, Muirfield and St. George’s? Those...
SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – Bryson DeChambeau took a 2-stroke penalty at The Open Championship on Friday night after R&A officials deemed he had improved his swing path by trampling some tall grass near his ball on the short par-4n 5th hole. Bryson was seen making his way into heavy, thick rough, and walking around and swinging his club. At the time...
SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – For the second time in as many Open Championships Royal Birkdale has surrendered the lowest score ever posted over a single round in a major championship. Twice actually, as Australia’s Lucas Herbert posted 62 to finish the first two rounds at 8-under, then young American star Sam Burns followed with another 62, this time bogey free...
SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – This will be a fascinating year to watch the statistics for individual golf holes, because Royal Birkdale and the R&A believe that they – with the help of golf architect Tom Mackenzie – may have solved a pesky issue. For decades, the book on Birkdale was simple: go low on the outward nine while the prevailing wind is with you...
SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – American Jackson Suber, on his first trip to Europe, leads the 154th Open Championship, but a cartographer’s dream are on his heels as once again the Open Championship proves itself the de facto world championship of golf, as players from around the world populate the top of the leaderboard. Though six Americans are in the top 13...
SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – They are, perhaps, the two biggest names in the game right now, and both are chasing even more glory at the 154th Open Championship, held this week at quintessentially English venue Royal Birkdale. Scheffler, winner of last year’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush seeks back-to-back Claret Jugs and a fifth major victory. Rory seeks...
SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – Agincourt. Westminster Abbey. William Shakespeare. Lord Nelson. Elizabeth the Second, The Beatles, The RAF. Wimbledon. High tea. Royal Birkdale. What do they all have in common? They are all iconic gifts of England. Royal Birkdale may be one of the younger additions to the Open Rota – its first Open was 1954 – a mere 72 years...
SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – It’s been ten years since the world’s greatest golfers have tackled mighty Royal Birkdale for an Open Championship. There are some changes to the golf course, primarily to equate the difficulty of the nines and to diversify the par-3s. But the links golf challenges of Birkdale endure, as does the unpredictability of wind and weather...
SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – Like a dream from which you never want to wake, a walk amidst the heaving dunes and rumpled fairways of Royal Birkdale is a golfer’s greatest wish come to life. The sting of the salty spray in your nostrils, the wild, whirling winds whipping the flag, and the fairways winding through the mighty dunes like pathways through a maze: a...
Southport and Ainsdale – Ancient and Venerable, Rare and Wonderful —Special to JF.com and Golf News Net— [Editor’s Note: Last year our Indomitable Sportsman, Jay Flemma, spent a glorious eight days lost amidst the fabulous dunes of northwest England – England’s Golf Coast as it is called. As we turn towards GNN’s live coverage of the 2026 Open...
The Royal and Ancient announced that Royal Lytham and St. Anne’s near Blackpool, England will host the 2028 Open Championship, the 12th in Lytham’s illustrious history. The Open was last held there in 201 when Adam Scott bogeyed the last four holes coming home, while Ernie Else birdied 18 to pip him at the post. David Duval won his only major there in...
Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Over 150 Years of Championship History [Editor’s Note: This article also appears at Golf Course Trades. Our Indomitable Sportsman Jay Flemma takes us back to northwest England’s Royal Liverpool Golf Club, this time for a walk though over 150 years of golf history. Click here for last month’s breakdown of the golf course and its design.]...
Royal Lytham & St. Anne’s Celebrating 100 Years of Open Championship Heritage [Editor’s Note: While we record some more radio shows and prep for a glorious return to England for more from the northwest golf coast, Jay has this review of a century of professional major championship heritage at Royal Lytham. And St. Anne’s. Coming soon: Lytham’s archivist and...
[Editor’s Note: Our Indomitable Sportsman, Jay Flemma, has returned from northwest England’s fabled Golf Coast with stories from their Open Championship venues and more. In this column, he analyzes the golf architecture of Royal Liverpool Golf Club, perennial Open Championship venue since 1897.] HOYLAKE, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – The tang of the salty sea air, the soft...
LYTHAM ST. ANNE’S, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND – It was somewhere just off the sixth fairway of Royal Lytham and St. Anne’s Golf Club when, lost amidst the heaving sea of shaggy, marram-grassed hills, I felt the metaphoric lightning strike. It was electrifying how much fun I was having. I had no idea where the green was; it was made blind by dunes towering above me on...