Royal Lytham And St George's The Favorites To Host 2028 Open Championship

We could finally know where the 2028 Open Championship will be held in the coming weeks, with both Royal Lytham & St Annes and Royal St George's viewed as favorites.

This year's Open will be held at Royal Birkdale with a return to St Andrews in 2027, but with just over two years to go the host of the 156th Open Championship in 2028 is still unknown.

That's in stark contrest to the US Open, as the USGA has named all but three hosts for the next 26 years right up until 2051.

An announcement from the R&A is expected in the next few weeks but recent developments seem to have ruled out Muirfield, while Turnberry is currently not being considered.

The 2028 Open Championship will be staged later than usual due to the Olympic Games being held in Los Angeles that year - with the tournament taking place between July 30-August 6.

The Telegraph's James Corrigan suggests both Lytham and St George's are vying for favoritism for 2028 given recent history and the current Open rota issues.

The R&A has already spoken about the infrastructure issues at Turnberry, while they're not keen on hosting The Open at the Ayrshire venue while Donald Trump is still a sitting US President.

And the recent news that the Genesis Scottish Open will be held at The Renaissance Club until 2030 appears to rule out Muirfield.

The two clubs are neighbors and it would cause huge logistical issues to host the two events in back-to-back weeks - while the famed links also has requested updates to make to the course to allow for expanded practice facilities and an increase in crowd numbers.

With 16 Open Championships, only St Andrews on the current rota has hosted the battle for the Claret Jug more than Muirfield, but the wait for a first return since 2013 looks likely to go on a little longer.

Lytham has made structural changes including building a brand new hole to make the course big enough to stage a modern Open - with those changes being displayed this year when it hosts the AIG Women's Open.

With the Claret Jug last lifted on the Lancashire links by Ernie Els back in 2012, it'd be a welcome return to the course where so much history has been created during 11 previous Opens being held there.

St George's has staged 15 Opens, with the last only a few years ago in 2021, and with Birkdale, Troon, Portrush and Hoylake also more recent hosts the options for 2028 are limited.

Carnoustie could be the wildcard, with the eight-time host last welcoming The Open back in 2018 for Francesco Molinari's one Major victory, but there seems to be little buzz about a return right now.

The R&A will seemingly put us out of our misery in the coming weeks but it looks a straight fight between the two English venues.

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