On Monday morning, the R&A announced a major change to its flagship tournament, The Open Championship, for 2028. Instead of the normal mid-July dates, the 2028 Open will be pushed back to early August.
The reason? A conflict with the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Here’s what you need to know.
Olympic golf has postponed the 2028 Open Championship until August
of 2028 Summer Olympics are heading to sunny Los Angeles, California, the first Olympics to be held in the United States since the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. The last US Summer Olympics were the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
One event that was not included in 1996 that will be part of the 2028 Olympics is golf.
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Sean Zak
Golf first returned to the 2016 Olympics in Rio. The 2028 golf events will be played at the icon Riviera Country Clubhome of the PGA Tour Tiger Woods– hosted the Genesis Invitational. There will be separate tournaments for men and women, in addition to a new mixed team event.
But the dates for the 2028 Olympic golf competitions present a problem for one of golf’s most important tournaments: The Open Championship.
The Olympic golf events are scheduled for July 19-29, 2028. Traditionally, the Open Championship is held in mid-July. So something had to be done to solve this scheduling issue to allow the best male golfers to compete.
The answer came on Monday morning, when the R&A announced it would postpone the Open to 2028 to make way for the Olympics. The new dates for the Open 2028 will be August 3-6.
But the Men’s Open isn’t the only tour date on the move. Both the 2028 ISPS HANDA Senior Open and the 2028 AIG Women’s Open will also be held in August. The Senior Open will be held the week after the Open (August 10-13), and the Women’s Open will be played the week after that (August 17-20).
CEO of the R&A Mark Darbon explained the decision in a press release, adding that the Open would return to its usual July date in 2029.
“We have been working collaboratively with the relevant bodies and our partners to agree on alternative dates for hosting our major championships in 2028 to accommodate the Olympic golf competitions,” Darbon wrote. “We appreciate the constructive discussions we have had with all stakeholders and believe that providing clarity on the dates now will help plan the global golf calendar in 2028. We can also confirm that The Open will return to its normal mid-July dates in 2029.
While we now know the date of the 2028 Open Championship, we don’t know where it will be played. The R&A has yet to announce open host courses after 2027when will it return to the old course in st. Andrews.
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