This course, not Muirfield, will host the 2028 Open Championship

For years, the Open Championship schedule has been suspiciously empty. after This year’s 154th opening at Royal Birkdale and next year’s return to the old course at St. Andrewsno other country had been announced. Until today.

Early Monday morning, the R&A announced that The Open Championship 2028 would be expected in Royal Lytham and St Annes in England. The news comes after many had speculated that 2028 could see Muirfield return to the Open spotlight after a long absence due to controversy.

Here’s what you need to know.

R&A names Royal Lytham & St Annes as 2028 Open Championship venue

The R&A released the big Open Championship news via press release, with CEO Mark Darbon praising Royal Lytham & St Annes and noting the outstanding champion when the Open was first held at the club in 1926: Bobby Jones.

“Royal Lytham & St Annes is widely recognized as one of the best links courses in the world and has witnessed many great championship moments since The Open was first played there in 1926 when the legendary Bobby Jones won,” Darbon’s statement said. “This is one of golf’s most beloved and historic venues and the return of The Open to these famous links will generate huge interest among fans to be part of one of the world’s great sporting events and celebrate the rich traditions of golf’s original championship.”

Royal Lytham & St Annes has a serious Open Championship pedigree, with the 1926 Open won by Jones just one of 11 Opens held at the course located in Lancashire, England.

In addition to Jones, other professionals who won the Open at Royal Lytham include Gary PlayerSeve Ballesteros and David Duval. When the club last hosted the Open in 2012, Ernie Els lifted the Claret Jug to his second Open victory.

In the latest List of the 100 best GOLF courses in the worldRoyal Lytham was ranked 68th.

The 2028 Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes will not be played in mid-July as most Opens are due to the 2028 Olympics. Instead, the 2028 Open will be played 3-6 August.

Muirfield’s absence from the Open Championship rota continues

While Royal Lytham is a prestigious course with a storied history, it doesn’t live up to the pedigree that Muirfield holds.

The famous Scottish links course has hosted 16 Open Championships, four more than Lytham when you include the 2028 Open.

While Lytham is ranked 68th in our list of the top 100 courses, Muirfield is 11th.

Past Muirfield Open champions include many of the tournament’s greats, such as Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen, Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and Nick Faldo (twice). Ernie Els’ others The open victory came at Muirfield.

And at the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield, Phil Mickelson shocked the world by capturing his only Open title, a tournament he thought he would never win.

But the 2013 Open was the last held at Muirfield. The R&A subsequently removed her from her long-standing Open rota seat following a controversial 2016 vote in which Muirfield members chose to continue its policy of banning women from joining the club.

At the time, the R&A said, “The Open is one of the biggest sporting events in the world and going forward we will not host the championship in a country that does not accept women as members.”

The club later reversed its vote and accepted the first women members in 2019. This left many wondering if Muirfield was destined to return to the open stage.

even Rory McIlroy has voiced his support for a return of the Open to Muirfield. Earlier this year in Dubai, McIlroy argued that Muirfield “clearly corrected the issues they had” and hailed the course as an open venue.

“Muirfield deserves to be back at the Rota Open,” McIlroy said in January.

Although we now know that the Open will not be going to Muirfield in 2028, there are still no future Open venues announced for 2029 and beyond.

Interestingly, Muirfield last hosted the Open in 2013, a year after Lytham hosted its most recent Open. With Lytham now returning to 2028, perhaps 2029 is the year the Open Championship finally returns to Muirfield.