R&A Has 'No Plans' To Move Final Round At The Open 'At This Stage' - Even If England Reach World Cup Final

The R&A has no plans "at this stage" to move Sunday's final round of the Open Championship forward to avoid a clash with the World Cup final - even if England make it into the big game for just the second time in history.

However, CEO Mark Darbon says that final plans for Sunday are not set in stone, and that he would "finalize our position after the semi-final" which is scheduled for Wednesday night.

England face Argentina in the second World Cup semi-final on Wednesday night and if they're victorious they will play Spain in Sunday's World Cup final in New Jersey.

The kick-off time in the UK is 8pm for Sunday's World Cup final, while the final round of the Open is set to conclude around 6.40pm - and despite initial talk of the R&A being prepared to move tee times forward if England get through, Darbon says there's no plans to do that at this stage.

A playoff at Royal Birkdale would move proceedings even further back, and that could run the risk of fans flooding out of the course to head home or into Southport and Liverpool to watch the World Cup final - but Darbon feels there is stil time for that even if sticking to the original schedule.

Darbon said in his pre-Open press conference on Wednesday that at this stage the R&A had no plans to bring Sunday's tee times forward to avoid a clash, although it very much sounded like he was keeping his options open until after England play their semi-final.

"I'm an England footbal fan so that would be a great problem to have, but also because I'm an England football fan we should probably wait and see how the semi-final goes before we get too far ahead," said Darbon.

"In the background we've been doing a lot of thinking about this. Our final putt is currently secheduled for around 6.40pm on Sunday. We think that even if we go to a three-hole playoff we've got time to complete the championship.

"So at this stage no plans to alter anything but we'll maintain that under review and we'll finalize our position after the semi-final."

It's a slight change of stance from previously, with Darbon saying back in April that they would want to avoid a clash with such a huge global sporting event - especially if England were participating.

"We're obviously conscious of other events happening on that date," Darbon said in April.

"As we approach the championship, we'll ensure we try and avoid that clash wherever possible.

"Of course some things are out of our control in terms of playoffs and the like, but we will attempt to avoid a clash, yes."

That seemed sensible, as even with a scheduled finish of around 6.40pm there is the distinct possibility of fans leaving early and missing the trophy presentation to go and watch the Three Lions appear in a first World Cup final since 1966.

It sounds like the R&A could reconsider if England do manage to beat Argentina on Wednesday, but for now the plan is to stick to the original start times.

What's your view? Should the R&A move the Open forward on Sunday if England make the World Cup final? Have your say and join the conversation below...

English golfers face semi-final dilemma

The R&A didn't help out many of the English golfers in the field in terms of watching the semi-final - with most of them handed early tee times on Thursday morning despite an 8pm kick-off for the Three Lions on Wednesday night.

Matt Fitzpatrick made a plea before the tee times were released, saying: "If anyone's listening, I really hope it's a late/early. It would be nice if all the English lads were late/early. That would be great."

But it seems only Fitzpatrick got his wish. His brother Alex tees off at 7.19am on Thursday, while Matthew Baldwin will hit the opening tee shot of the tournament at 6.35am.

As a member at Royal BIrkdale though, Baldwin will struggle to sleep anyway as he gets the honor of kicking off the tournament on his home course.

There's an English player in each of the first eight groups to go out on Thursday morning, with Justin Rose teeing off at 9.36am. But despite his meticulous preparation he admits he'll still be watching Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham's side in action.

"I was hoping for a later tee time," said Rose. "I'd take a win on penalties if it happened, but we're looking for a short, sharp match and a reasonable bedtime.

"I'm going to watch it with an eye on what's important for me and not get too high and low and keep my own emotions in check. We've got big things as well to do this week.

"It's a match where if you think that you're not going to watch it, you're probably kidding yourself."

If the likes of Rose, Fitzpatrick or Tommy Fleetwood are in contention on Sunday they'll obviously be thinking of nothing else but the Claret Jug and they'll happily miss the start of even a World Cup final to celebrate winning The Open.

But other players and fans might face a bit of a rush to get away from Birkdale and sat in front of the TV to watch the Three Lions if they have a chance to make their own bit of sporting history.