Open Championship 2026 Day-By-Day Weather Forecast

A flag in the breeze in front of a grandstand at The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale — (Image credit: Getty Images)

With the weather forecast for the 154th Open Championship as it is, this could be a week for the links golf purists at Royal Birkdale.

As thanks to a heatwave across the UK and only a minimal chance of rain the glorious Southport links could provide us with a classic firm and fast Open Championship - with a stiff breeze that could make life particularly tough.

We've had some soggy Opens in recent times - Royal Portrush and Royal Troon in particular - with the last real sight of brown fairways coming back in 2018 at Carnoustie.

It may not be totally baked out this time, but there's still a big hint of brown around the Birkdale dunes as players arrived over the weekend - and with plenty of sunshine and drying winds to come it'll only get firmer and faster.

It was a bright and breezy start to Open week on Monday, with clear blue skies and beaming sunshine but also a challenging breeze that will offer significant gusts in the build-up and into Thursday's first round.

Birkdale has some of the flattest fairways on the Open rota but that wind coupled with rock hard ground could make holding them a tough prospect. Distance will not be an issue as there's plenty of roll available - and there's a lot of long irons going into the bags this week.

“It’s as close to Carnoustie as I’ve seen,” said Akshay Bhatia's caddie Joe Greiner.

The likes of Michael Kim and Maverick McNealy have already commented on how firm Birkdale is at the start of the week, and with three days of sunshine and wind to come, with no sign of rain, it will only get faster.

Open Championship Day-by-day weather forecast

Monday 13 July - Practice day

Sunny skies greeted our competitors at the start of the week, but it's not all good news as there's a decent breeze sweeping across Royal Birkdale and even more dangerous strong gusts.

High temperatures expected of 26C (79F) but those winds could gust up to 28mph later on in the day. A tough start for the guys out later to practice.

Tuesday 14 July - Practice day

More of the same on Tuesday with winds again reaching gusts of 28mph with a regular breeze of 12-18mph so again it will be tricky controlling the golf ball on those rock hard fairways.

Temperatures as high as 27C (81F) with again a zero percent chance of rain.

Wednesday 15 July - Practice day

More strong easterly winds on the final practice day, with gusts again high and maxing out at 24mph but it should start to die down as the day goes on.

More cloud around on Wednesday but temperatures consistent with the week at 28C (82F).

A yellow flag flying at Royal Birkdale ahead of the Open Championship 2026 — There's a hint of brown already at Royal BIrkdale

Thursday 16 July - First round

The temperature stays high for the first round with again 28C (82F) the maximum but more cloud is forecast than previously in the week.

The wind will be lighter than it has been all week but will still cause issues, not so much the constant 8-14mph breeze but the gusts of 20mph will be testing.

Friday 17 July - Second round

Mostly cloudy on Friday with the wind switching to a northerly and just 8-14mph without the strong gusts so that'll be a welcome relief.

Temperatures a little cooler at 25C (77F) and for the first time in the week there's more of a risk of some scattered showers.

Saturday 18 July - Third round

An almost identical picture to Friday expected on Saturday, with the same 25 (77F) maximum temperature and a mostly cloudy outlook - and as with Friday the same 20% chance of some scattered showers.

Sunday 19 July - Final round

The coldest day of the tournament is set to be the final day, with just 23C (73F) expected and again mostly cloudy skies with occasional sunshine.

A slight change in wind from north to north west and only a slight chance of rain, so it should be a dry finish for whoever lifts the Claret Jug come Sunday evening.

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website. Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush.