The fourth and final major of the 2025 campaign, this weekend’s event will see 156 gifted golfers compete for the revered Claret Jug. It’s been over a decade since Northern Irish representative Rory McIlroy became the latest ‘native’ to win the Open Championship, earning his second major thanks to a spectacular performance at Royal Liverpool.
The 36-year-old returns to home soil after suffering disappointment at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open in North Berwick, which saw him narrowly miss out on a fourth victory of the season. Having been level with McIlroy heading into the final day of play at the Renaissance Club, surprise package Chris Gotterup created some daylight between himself and his esteemed opponent down the back nine. The inexperienced American – who currently occupies 158th position in the WGR rankings – then held his nerve following a blip on the fifteenth, enabling him to claim the second title of his professional career.
This year’s Open Championship follows the traditional PGA format, with the competition starting early on Thursday and concluding four days later on Sunday evening. Ahead of the weekend, roughly half of the field will be cut to allow the top 70 (or so) participants to contest the championship’s final two rounds. Therefore, the winner is the player with the best (lowest) overall score after completing 72 holes.
Sky Sports will be providing comprehensive live coverage from Royal Portrush throughout this week, with viewers able to catch the action on Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event.
The 2025 Open Championship key information
Dates: Thursday, July 17th to Sunday, July 20th
Venue: Royal Portrush, County Antrim (Northern Ireland)
Opening tee times (approximate): 06:30 BST (Thursday and Friday), 11:00 BST (Saturday), and 10:00 BST (Sunday)
Competition format: Stroke play (the winner is the player who finishes with the lowest number of shots)
Rounds: Four (72 holes)
TV channel: Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event
Favourites: Scottie Scheffler – 5/1, Rory McIlroy – 6/1, Jon Rahm – 12/1
Odds courtesy of bet365. Correct at the time of publication and subject to change
Past winners
Last year, the Open Championship was staged at the stunning Royal Troon GC in South Ayrshire, the tenth occasion it’s been held at this venue since its inception in 1860. Having secured a maiden major title at Valhalla two months prior, Xander Schauffele romped to his first Open Championship crown. A final bogey-free round of 65 proved decisive, as the classy Californian pulled clear of Billy Horschel and Justin Rose to net an eye-watering $3.1m winners’ purse.
This is the second time in six years the competition has been held at Country Antrim’s showpiece course, with Shane Lowry scooping first prize in 2019. The charismatic Irishman navigated four rounds of Royal Portrush in an impressive 269 strokes, registering a score of 15 under par to finish six shots ahead of runner-up Tommy Fleetwood.
Almost seven decades prior to Lowry’s triumph, Royal Portrush staged its first and only other Open Championship. In 1951, Max Faulkner pipped Argentinian ace Antonio Cerdá to the Claret Jug despite failing to record a sub-70 score across any of the four rounds. In stark contrast to today’s prize sums, Faulkner received a modest £300 (out of a total rewards pot of £1,700) for his gallant efforts.
Where to watch the 2025 Open Championship
The undisputed home of golf in the United Kingdom, Sky Sports boasts exclusive broadcasting rights for the PGA Tour. Therefore, subscribers to the network can enjoy watching all of the golfing calendar’s key events, including the four majors, the FedEx Cup playoffs, and the biennial Presidents Cup.
In addition to accessing minute-by-minute coverage of the Open Championship’s main four days, Sky Sports customers are also able to tune in to live footage of the earlier practice rounds. Although most of the action from Royal Portrush will be screened on both Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event, Saturday’s early session won’t be shown on the latter. Programming on Thursday and Friday starts at 06:30 BST as the opening groups tee off, whilst preview shows will precede each of the weekend’s rounds.
There are plenty of different ways to become a Sky Sports customer, whether that be through NOW TV, a conventional Sky Sports subscription, or via your existing television network provider. For more information, click here.
The Open Championship on Sky Sports: Schedule
Thursday: 06:30 BST until finish (Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event)
Friday: 06:30 BST until finish (Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event)
Saturday: 09:00 BST – 14:00 BST (Sky Sports Golf) 14:00 BST until finish (Sky Sports Main Event)
Sunday: 08:00 BST until the winners’ presentation ceremony (Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event)
Favourites
Throughout its rich history and particularly in recent years, the Open Championship has produced plenty of unlikely champions. From Paul Lawrie’s final round heroics at Carnoustie to blistering breakthrough performance from Louis Oosthuizen in Fife, this competition often provides a compelling platform for the underdog to thrive. However, the bookies still expect one of the game’s superstar talents to emerge triumphant at Royal Portrush. Several familiar faces dominate the betting markets, although two of the favourites are yet to attain the Claret Jug.
We take a look at the three players commanding the shortest odds heading into this weekend’s tournament, offering a brief analysis of their chances of success.
Scottie Scheffler
Although considered by some to be the greatest golfer of his generation, Scottie Scheffler hasn’t yet come close to winning the Claret Jug. His strongest finish at the Open Championships came last year, sharing seventh position with Im Sung-jae and Jon Rahm after recording a four-round score of 283 at Royal Troon. Three months before his strong display in South Ayrshire, Scheffler was presented with a green jacket for the second time in his highly decorated career after surging ahead of his rivals at the Masters.
Having bizarrely sustained a serious hand injury while preparing Christmas dinner, the three-time PGA Tour Player of the Year suffered a delayed start to his 2025 campaign. However, Scheffler quickly recovered from his subsequent surgery to lift the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Texas, before securing a maiden PGA Championship crown at the intimidating Quail Hollow. A third victory on American soil within the space of four weeks came at June’s Memorial Tournament, as the New Jerseyan swept aside the field in the seventh signature event of the PGA Tour season.
Although he’s been able to produce his best form in any of his previous Open Championship appearances, it would take a brave man to write off Scheffler’s chances of at least challenging for the title this weekend. Currently priced at odds of 11/5 to secure a top-three finish, we believe this bet provides plenty of value.
Rory McIlroy
More than a decade has now passed since Rory McIlroy’s famous triumph at Royal Liverpool, the first and last time he hoisted the Claret Jug aloft. After procuring a limited amount of meaningful silverware for most of this intervening period, the County Down-born star appears to have well and truly put this difficult chapter behind him in recent months.
‘Wee Mac’ kickstarted his 2025 campaign with an impressive victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the Californian coast, before enjoying further success on America’s eastern seaboard by landing his second Players Championship title in Florida. A hugely emotional moment at Augusta then followed, as McIlroy ended his agonising wait to complete a Career Grand Slam.
There have been a few difficult moments following his eventual acquisition of the fabled green jacket – a 47th place finish at Quail Hollow and missing the cut at the Canadian Open were particularly disappointing developments – but the Northern Irishman will be more than ready to compete in front of a partisan home crowd this weekend.
Jon Rahm
Since defecting to the controversial LIV Golf League just over eighteen months ago, Jon Rahm has struggled to make the same impact at major tournaments as he has done in previous years. A late collapse at the 2025 PGA Championships saw the Basque native drop five shots along Quail Hollow’s infamous Green Mile to fall out of contention, while a topsy-turvy US Open performance didn’t exactly inspire much confidence.
However, it’s been the polar opposite story on the LIV circuit, where Rahm is currently chasing down back-to-back individual titles. Last weekend’s impressive score in Andalusia moved him within 13 points of overall leader Joaquin Niemann with three events remaining, whilst handing him his ninth top ten finish of the campaign.
Although the 30-year-old is yet to win an Open Championship, he does have two majors under his belt thanks to spectacular displays in the 2021 US Open and 2023 Masters. Furthermore, less than four months on from his victory at Augusta, ‘Rahmbo’ found himself within touching distance of eventual Claret Jug recipient Brian Harman. After navigating the third round in a staggering 63 strokes to claim the record for the lowest score set by an Open Championship participant at Royal Liverpool, the 2019 Race to Dubai winner couldn’t quite maintain his momentum on the all-important fourth day of play. Ultimately, he would be forced to settle for second place alongside Jason Day, Tom Kim, and Sepp Straka.
Could Rahm go one better than he did two years ago? At odds of 12/1 to win this weekend’s competition, he’s certainly worth a punt.