151st Open Championship: The Rundown

It’s hard to believe, but the final Major of the year is here. The 2023 Open Championship will be played at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake in the Wirrall Peninsula of England.

Royal Liverpool has previously hosted the Open Championship 12 times. Most recently was in 2014 when Rory Mcllroy won with a score of seventeen under. Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia both tied for second place that year and Adam Scott came in 5th place. The cut in 2014 was three over par. Tiger Woods won the previous time the Open was played here in 2006.

Royal Liverpool is a 7,300 yard Par 71 with Fescue greens. As far as Open Championship venues, Royal Liverpool is relatively flat. Windy conditions can absolutely wreak havoc with no protection on the course. Scoring relative to par will certainly depend on the weather.

The course has been tweaked a bit since 2014. Most notably, it has been changed from a par 72 to a par 71. There’s a new tee on the par five 15th hole that has added over 50 yards to the hole and it will now play 620 yards. The par five 18th has also been lengthened to play over 600 yards. The 17th hole is totally new. It’s a 136-yard par three. The hole has incredibly deep pot bunkers on either side and going long is a death sentence with sand followed by knee-high fescue.

Accuracy is key at Royal Liverpool, especially off the tee.

There are tight fairways and six holes where errant tee shots that are only slightly off course will end up out of bounds. Just off the fairways, rough will be manageable but a few yards out and golfers could be in ankle to knee-high fescue.

Greens will absolutely be missed with the number of run-offs on these greens. Around the green and scrambling will be key and scrambling is definitely more difficult here than tour average. Sand saves will be relied upon but too many balls in these deep bunkers will severely diminish any chance of a golfer lifting the Claret Jug.

As we saw with the Scottish Open, these types of greens can run much slower than tour average. Golfers who have previous experience or that can get themselves acclimated quickly will have an advantage. Those that do not will find themselves falling victim to three putts and likely falling down the leaderboard.

Ultimately, accuracy off the tee and on approach will be key. Avoiding big numbers and scrambling is absolutely necessary for anyone looking to contend.

There are 156 golfers in the field with the top 70 and ties making the cut.

The 151st Open Championship: Key Stats

• Links Experience
• Fairways Gained
• Scrambling
• 3 Putt Avoidance

The Open Championship: Previous Winners

2022: Cam Smith -20 (St Andrews)
2021: Collin Morikawa -15 (Royal St Georges)
2019: Shane Lowry -15 (Royal Portrush)
2018: Francesco Molinari -8 (Carnoustie)
2017: Jordan Spieth -12 (Royal Birkdale)