2023 Open Championship

The 2023 Open Championship, officially the 151st Open Championship, was a golf tournament played from 20–23 July 2023 at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, Merseyside, England. This was the 13th time that The Open was played at Royal Liverpool.

Brian Harman won his first career Open Championship by six shots over Jason Day, Tom Kim, Jon Rahm, and Sepp Straka. It was Harman's first career major championship and his first PGA Tour win in six years.

Organisation

The 2023 Open Championship was organized by the R&A, and was included in the PGA Tour, European Tour, and Japan Golf Tour calendars under the major championships category. The tournament was a 72-hole (4 rounds) stroke play competition held over 4 days, with 18 holes played each day. Play was in groups of three for the first two days, and groups of two in the final two days. Groupings for the first two days were decided by the organizers, with each group having one morning and one afternoon tee time. On the final two days, players teed off in reverse order of aggregate score, with the leaders last. After 36 holes there was a cut, after which the top 70 and ties progressed through to compete in the third and fourth rounds. In the event of a tie for the lowest score after four rounds, a three-hole aggregate playoff would have been held to determine the winner; this would have been followed by sudden-death extra holes if necessary until a winner emerges.

Venue

On 7 December 2020, the R&A announced that the Royal Liverpool Golf Club would host the 2023 edition of the Open, and the Royal Troon Golf Club will host the 2024 edition. The 2023 event is the 13th Open Championship played at Royal Liverpool. The most recent was in 2014, when Rory McIlroy won the event by two strokes for his third major title.

The Royal Liverpool Golf Club underwent a number of changes prior to the 2023 Open, including adding the new seventeenth hole, a par 3, lowering the par of the course to 71. Despite the decrease in par, the overall yardage of the course was increased by 71 yards to a total of 7,383 yards. New bunkers were added to holes one, thirteen, fourteen, and sixteen, the green on the fourth hole was reduced in size and modified to allow for harder pin positions, and longer championship tees were added to the seventh, fifteenth, and eighteenth hole.

Yardage by round

Field

The Open Championship field is made up of 156 players, who gained entry through various exemption criteria and qualifying tournaments. The criteria included past Open champions, recent major winners, top ranked players in the world rankings and from the leading world tours, and winners and high finishers from various designated tournaments, including the Open Qualifying Series; the winners of designated amateur events, including The Amateur Championship and U.S. Amateur, also gained exemption provided they remain an amateur. Anyone not qualifying via exemption, and had a handicap of 0.4 or lower, can gain entry through regional and final qualifying events.

Most exemption criteria remained unchanged from previous years; changes included the removal of exemptions for recent Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup players, and a new exemption for amateur golfers.

Round summaries

First round

''Thursday, 20 July 2023''

Tommy Fleetwood, who grew up just 20 miles from Royal Liverpool, made three straight birdies on the back nine and only one bogey in a five-under round of 66 to share the lead after the first round.

Amateur Christo Lamprecht chipped in for birdie at the par-4 14th hole and two-putted for birdie on the par-5 18th hole to tie Fleetwood for the first-round lead. His 66 was the lowest score by an amateur in the first round of the Open Championship since Tom Lewis in 2011. They were joined atop the leaderboard by Emiliano Grillo, who birdied five of his last eight holes.

Brian Harman holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th to finish at four-under 67 and part of a group tied for fourth place, along with Adrián Otaegui and Antoine Rozner. Reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark began his round with nine straight pars but made four birdies on the back nine to shoot 68 (−3) and end up in a tie for seventh place along with 2009 champion Stewart Cink and Max Homa.

Defending champion Cameron Smith made five bogeys in a one-over round of 72. Rory McIlroy, who won the last time the tournament was held at this course, was two-over on his round before consecutive birdies on holes 14–15. He saved par after having to play backwards from a greenside bunker on the 18th to shoot even-par 71.

Second round

''Friday, 21 July 2023''

Brian Harman birdied four straight holes on his front nine, then made 12 pars before holing a 15-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th hole to shoot a bogey-free round of 65 (−6). Harman's five-shot lead tied the largest after 36 holes at the Open Championship since 1934.

Tommy Fleetwood, who began the round in a three-way tie for the lead, was one over through nine holes before making a 58-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole. He made two more birdies on the back nine along with two bogeys to shoot an even-par 71 and finish alone in second place behind Harman. Sepp Straka finished his round with six birdies over his last seven holes and moved up to sole possession of third place with a round of 67 (−4). Amateur Christo Lamprecht, tied for the lead at the start of the round, bogeyed five of his first seven holes and did not make a birdie in an eight-over round of 79 to fall to a tie for 61st place.

The cut came at 145 (+3). Notables to miss the cut included 2021 champion Collin Morikawa, 2019 champion Shane Lowry, 2013 champion Phil Mickelson, and two-time major champions Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas.

Third round

''Saturday, 22 July 2023''

Brian Harman began the round with a five-shot lead but bogeyed two of his first four holes to cut his advantage to two shots. He then made four birdies the rest of his round, including a 20-foot putt on the 12th hole to reach 12 under for the tournament, to shoot a two-under 69 and move back in front by five shots heading to the final round.

Cameron Young holed a 30-foot birdie putt to open his round and made five more birdies, including both par 5s on the back nine, shooting 66 (−5) to finish alone in second place at seven under. Jon Rahm began the round in 39th place and 12 shots off the lead but made four straight birdies making the turn, playing the back nine in six under for a round of 63 (−8) and moving up to third place, six shots behind Harman. His 63 was the lowest round in an Open Championship at Royal Liverpool by two shots.

Tommy Fleetwood, playing in the final group with Harman, birdied the second hole to get within two shots of the lead but didn't make another birdie the rest of his round, shooting an even-par 71 to fall into a tie for fourth place with Jason Day, Viktor Hovland, Antoine Rozner, and Sepp Straka, seven shots back.

Final round

''Sunday, 23 July 2023''

Summary

Brian Harman shot a one-under 70 to win his first career Open Championship and major championship by six shots.

Harman began the round with a five-shot lead but bogeyed the par-5 fifth hole after taking a drop from thick bushes off the tee, his second bogey of the round that cut his lead to just three shots. He rebounded with birdies on his next two holes, including from 23 feet on the seventh hole, to reopen his five-shot advantage. After another bogey at the 13th, Harman holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the 14th and got up and down for birdie on the par-5 15th to reach 13-under for the tournament.
He parred his last three holes, playing out of a greenside bunker to seven feet on the 18th and making the putt to clinch the title.

A group of four players finished at seven under and tied for second place. Tom Kim, playing with a sprained ankle he suffered earlier in the week, eagled the fifth hole after reaching the green in two shots as part of a four-under round of 67. Sepp Straka was three under on his round and alone in second place until a closing bogey at the 18th gave him a 69 (−2). Jon Rahm made a 23-foot birdie putt on the 18th to shoot 70 (−1), while Jason Day holed out for birdie from the rough on the ninth and added another birdie at the 15th for a 69.

Rory McIlroy, the 2014 Open champion at Royal Liverpool, birdied three consecutive holes on his front nine to get within four shots of Harman's lead but was even par the rest of his round, finishing at six under and tied for sixth place with Emiliano Grillo. Cameron Young, playing in the final group with Harman, was three over on his round until a birdie at the 18th gave him a 73 (+2), dropping him into a tie for eighth place. Matthew Jordan, a member at Royal Liverpool, hit his approach on the 18th to six feet and made the birdie putt to finish at four under and in a tie for 10th place.

Final leaderboard

Scorecard

''Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par''

References

External links

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Media Guide

{{Golf on NBC

The Open Championship
Golf tournaments in England
Sport in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Open Championship
Open Championship
Open Championship