2026 Open Championship Preview
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. When I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. And when I find my ball in a fried egg, fried egg, the dreaded fried egg, fried egg, fried egg, fried egg, fried egg, fried egg lie, I'm about ready to run off the golf course.
Welcome back to the Friday Golf Podcast. We are here. The final major of the year. It's wild. I'm still getting used to this setup where you got the players in March and then it's just this like insane sprint. And before you know it, you blink. You can't blink during live, but if you blink during major season, the season's over. And here we are for the final men's major of the year, the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Birkdale, obviously a storied, storied championship host. We're going to talk about it in this preview episode. I'm joined by Kevin Van Valkenburgh and Joseph Labania on the front end of this. The back end, I'm going to talk with Dara Garahi, a friend of the Freidag from Ireland who's played basically all the great Lynx courses in Great Britain and Ireland and has played Royal Birkdale a bunch.
He's written on the website before for us and has been a wonderful contributor to the Friday over the years. So it's great to talk to Dara. And then obviously, Kevin and Joseph. Joseph recently did a kind of a strike mission to Royal Birkdale. So he'll give some of his thoughts on the golf course after spending a week over playing some of the great links courses in England. So, Birkdale is the most modern of the Rota courses in the Open. And it's got an illustrious list of winners. It's widely known as the most fair test. And the champions reveal a lot of people that won a lot of majors. So, Peter Thompson won in 54, Arnold Palmer in 61, Peter Thompson in 65, Lee Trevino in 71, Johnny Miller in 76, Tom Watson in 83, Ian Baker Finch in 91, Marco Mira in 98, Padraig Harrington in 2008, and Jordan Spieth in 2017.
So this will be the 11th time it has hosted the Open Championship. Before we get to Kevin and Joseph, today's episode and our week of coverage of the Open is brought to you by our friends over at Mercedes-Benz. From compact to powerhouse, Mercedes-Benz offers a variety of SUVs, each with flowing lines and precise edges, expertly balancing elegance with aerodynamics. You can further customize your driving experience, whether it's through the vast array of interior and exterior options or the hundreds of in-vehicle settings that can be personalized to best fit your needs. Intuitive MBUX AI learning capabilities can recognize your habits and driving preferences to create driver profiles unique to each driver.
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What is the Open Championship preview and who are the hosts and guests?
From massage seats to ambient lighting, they level up for every ride. Mercedes-Benz is proud to be an official patron of the Open Championship. All right. Let's welcome in Kevin Van Valkenburgh and Joseph LaMagna. Guys, off the top, we're going to do three things. So this is one. All right. I feel like this is a consistent talking point every time we get here. Do we like this major schedule? Do we like this being so condensed?
No, I would love it if we were stretching into August. I think that would be a lot better in terms of the rhythm of the season. It would feel like I'm already lamenting that the World Cup is almost over. And I'm feeling because I've had so much fun getting into the World Cup. And I feel like if you got interested in golf and all of a sudden it was going so fast, you would feel like, oh, man, I want I want this to go a little bit longer. I just miss the old schedule when we're stretching into August.
The World Cup is like a wrecking ball, by the way, to anything.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–4:14
2
What is the Open Championship preview and who are the hosts and guests?
4:14–24:44
3
How does the new compressed major schedule affect players and storytelling?
24:44–36:25
4
Why is Royal Birkdale described as the 'fairest' Open rota test?
36:25–57:41
5
What course conditions and weather are expected to shape the 2026 Open at Birkdale?
57:41–1:30:54
6
How do Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler stack up as favorites coming into Birkdale?
1:30:54–2:03:56
Speakers
9 identifiedMore from The Fried Egg Golf Podcast
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The End of LIV Golf 1.0 & a New Tour Championship in 2028
Yolk with Doak 47: New Projects & Listener Q&A
August Pro Golf Check-In: Top Storylines for PGA Tour Playoffs
A Conversation with Ryan Gerard
Takeaways from the 2026 Open Championship with Trevor Immelman