Future Open Championship Venues

We take a look at where the Open will be held after this year’s Championship at Royal Troon

The 10th hole at Royal Portrush
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Next year The Open returns to Royal Portrush and then it's back to the North West of England and Royal Birkdale.

After that there are no venues confirmed though it might be likely that St Andrews, in keeping with staging The Open on a five-year cycle, will hold the 155th Open.

There are a number of world-class links then waiting on the sidelines, with Royal Lytham & St Annes (2012), Turnberry (2009) and Muirfield (2013) all having not hosted The Open for a number of years.  

153rd Open Championship - Royal Portrush (13-20 July, 2025)

Royal Portrush

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The Open heads to Royal Portrush in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, for just the third time in 2025. After a 68-year gap, the second staging of the Open at this venue was won by Ireland’s Shane Lowry in 2019, a hugely popular result for the home crowd.

The County Offaly native went into the final round with a four-shot lead after a third round 63, and though he only shot 72 in his final round, he finished six shots clear of Tommy Fleetwood for a dominant victory.

In 1951, the only other time the Open has been staged at Royal Portrush, it was Englishman Max Faulkner who came out on top.

154th Open Championship - Royal Birkdale (12-19 July, 2026)

Royal Birkdale

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The Open returns to Royal Birkdale in Southport for the 11th time and the first time since Jordan Spieth claimed his remarkable three-shot win here in 2017.

Then the American picked up five shots in his last five holes after carving his tee shot onto the driving range at the 13th. The club was founded in 1889 and was awarded royal status in 1951.

Three years later Peter Thomson won the first of his five Claret Jugs, he would also win here in 1965, and the roll call of winners otherwise looks like this; Arnold Palmer (1961), Lee Trevino (1971), Johnny Miller (1976), Tom Watson (1983), Ian Baker-Finch (1991), Mark O'Meara (1998) and Padraig Harrington (2008).

Future Open championship venues:

  • 2025: Royal Portrush Golf Club, Northern Ireland
  • 2026: Royal Birkdale Golf Club, England

Where will The Open take place in 2027?

The R&A traditionally bounces The Open between England, Scotland and now Northern Ireland so each country doesn't host two in a row. By that logic, we can assume that it will return to Scotland in 2027 for the 155th playing.

It will be five years after the 150th, so will it return to St Andrews' Old Course? We'd have to make that the favorite. If that did happen, we'd expect it to return to England in 2028 so perhaps we get to finally see a return for Royal Lytham and St Annes or back to Royal St George's. There has also been talk of The Open heading to Ireland and Portmarnock. We can only speculate at this point.

Mark Townsend
Contributing editor

Mark has worked in golf for over 20 years having started off his journalistic life at the Press Association and BBC Sport before moving to Sky Sports where he became their golf editor on skysports.com. He then worked at National Club Golfer and Lady Golfer where he was the deputy editor and he has interviewed many of the leading names in the game, both male and female, ghosted columns for the likes of Robert Rock, Charley Hull and Dame Laura Davies, as well as playing the vast majority of our Top 100 GB&I courses. He loves links golf with a particular love of Royal Dornoch and Kingsbarns. He is now a freelance, also working for the PGA and Robert Rock. Loves tour golf, both men and women and he remains the long-standing owner of an horrific short game. He plays at Moortown with a handicap of 6.