NEWS 

NEL MONDO… Golf -The 154th Open returns to Royal Birkdale for the first time since 2017 and 50 current and former HotelPlanner Tour members will be looking to become the Champion Golfer of the Year.

By@Pierbattista Patrizia 

By@Mirella Pierbattista    BY@Elisa Nardocci Avv. 

By@EXIBI 

By@Redazione

There are seven current HotelPlanner Tour members joining the 43 alumni at Royal Birkdale this week; MJ Daffue, who has won twice on the 2026 Road to Mallorca, Matthew Southgate, who won the Swiss Challenge in May, Tom Sloman and Jack McDonald. Baard Skogen is set to make his Major debut this week, with Tiger Christensen making his second Open appearance. Matthew Baldwin is also in the field, and the Royal Birkdale member will signify the start of the tournament on Thursday morning as he takes the opening tee shot.

HotelPlanner Tour alumni Sam Bairstow, Matthew Jordan, Peter Uihlein and Antoine Rozner all secured their place at Royal Birkdale after coming through Final Qualifying in June.

Former Open Champion Henrik Stenson, who won three times on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2000, tees it up this week, ten years after his memorable win at Royal Troon where he closed with a 63, the joint lowest round in Major history at the time.

A fourth Open appearance for Marco Penge awaits as he looks to hunt down his first major win.

Fellow compatriot John Parry aced the 13th during round three at Royal Portrush last year, a magical moment for the Englishman, whose inspired weekend performance earned him a 16th placed finish.

Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Alex Noren, Nicolai Højgaard and Rasmus Højgaard are the Ryder Cup Europe contingent teeing it up in Southport. Brooks Koepka, who won four times on the HotelPlanner Tour between 2012 and 2013 is also in the field eyeing his sixth Major victory.

Notable recent alumni Kristoffer Reitan and Alex Fitzpatrick will be hoping to continue their good form this week. Class of ’24 graduate Reitan has made the cut at The Masters and PGA Championship this year and will look for another strong finish this week.

2024 Road to Mallorca Number One Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen makes his Open debut this week due to his 15th place finish on the Race to Dubai Rankings last year.

Casey Jarvis, Jayden Schaper, Aaron Rai and Bernd Wiesberger have enjoyed successful starts to 2026, and with six wins between them, they’ll be looking to add to that tally at Royal Birkdale.

The last man in the field is Joe Dean, who came through a last chance qualifier on Monday, topping a field of 12 to secure the singular space that was up for grabs at the start of the day. He joins other HotelPlanner Tour alumni in Angel Ayora, Dan Bradbury, Daniel Brown, Laurie Canter, Martin Couvra, Thomas Detry, Hennie Du Plessis, Ryan Fox, Daniel Hillier, Stuart Grehan, Frederic Lacroix, Joakim Lagergren, Francesco Laporta, Robert MacIntyre, Tom McKibbin, Victor Perez, Adrien Saddier, Jordan Smith, Jesper Svensson and Matt Wallace.

The 154th Open will take place from July 16-19.