How to Watch The Open 2026

Where to watch The Open Championship 2026 by country

When and where: dates, venue and the schedule at Royal Birkdale

The 154th Open Championship is played over four days, Thursday 16 July to Sunday 19 July 2026, at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, on the Merseyside coast in north-west England — the 11th time the club has hosted golf's oldest major, first contested back in 1860. Before the championship proper, practice days run from Sunday 12 July to Wednesday 15 July, with the R&A's free Live at the Range show streaming from the practice ground on YouTube and R&A TV each weekday. Round 1 tee times are now confirmed: the first of 156 players go out at 6:35am BST on Thursday (Matthew Baldwin, Thomas Detry and James Nicholas have the honour), and the final group starts at 4:21pm — meaning roughly ten hours of continuous live golf per day in the first two rounds. The structure is the familiar major-championship rhythm: two stroke-play rounds on Thursday and Friday across the full field, a cut to the leading players and ties, then two more rounds over the weekend, with the Champion Golfer of the Year crowned and presented the Claret Jug late on Sunday afternoon. Because The Open follows the sun and the coastal wind on a links course, morning and afternoon waves can face completely different scoring conditions — Royal Birkdale sits exposed on the Irish Sea coast, and an afternoon blow has flipped leaderboards here before. Round 3 and 4 tee times are set after each cut, so check theopen.com for the weekend order of play. What you can plan now: block out 16–19 July, note that free practice-range coverage runs all week from 12 July, and map the BST times below to your own clock so you do not miss the leaders going out on Sunday.

Is The Open free to watch? Free options explained

This is where The Open differs sharply from some other British sporting majors, so it is worth being precise. In the UK there is no live free-to-air television: the BBC lost the live TV rights to Sky in 2016 and now holds only free-to-air highlights — a nightly programme on BBC Two, streaming on BBC iPlayer — alongside roughly 38 hours of live ball-by-ball commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds, running from the first tee shot on Thursday morning to the final putt on Sunday evening. So a UK fan can follow every shot live for free on the radio and watch a free highlights package each evening, but cannot watch the live action on free TV. The Open is classified as an Ofcom 'listed event' (Group B), which guarantees free highlights and secondary coverage rather than the full live free-to-air broadcast that Group A events such as the FIFA World Cup final receive. There is a second free audio route that many fans miss: The Open Radio, the R&A's own world-feed commentary, streams free globally on TheOpen.com, The Open app and R&A TV, and airs on talkSPORT 2 in the UK and SiriusXM in North America — preview shows start Tuesday 14 July, live commentary runs Thursday to Sunday. For free video, R&A TV (randa.tv) and The Open's YouTube channel carry official highlights plus the daily Live at the Range practice show (Monday–Friday of championship week), though live tournament video is geo-restricted in markets with a paying rights holder such as the UK and US. In the US, the closest thing to free live TV is NBC's weekend coverage — Saturday 7am–3pm ET and Sunday 7am–2pm ET — free over the air via an antenna. Everywhere else, full live coverage is paid.

Watching in the US: NBC, USA Network, Peacock and Golf Channel

For US viewers The Open is an NBC Sports property, and the full 2026 daily windows are now published (all times Eastern). Thursday 16 and Friday 17 July: Peacock has exclusive early coverage from 1:30am to 4am ET — the opening tee shots from Royal Birkdale — then USA Network takes over from 4am all the way to 3:30pm ET, a near-twelve-hour block covering both waves. Saturday 18 July: USA Network 5–7am ET, then NBC from 7am to 3pm ET. Sunday 19 July: USA Network 4–7am ET, then NBC from 7am to 2pm ET, carrying the Claret Jug presentation. Peacock also streams featured-group coverage all four days for fans who want to lock onto Scheffler's or McIlroy's group specifically, and simulcasts the USA and NBC windows; Golf Channel wraps every day with 'Live From The Open' studio coverage. The free element is NBC itself: as a broadcast network, its Saturday and Sunday windows are free over the air with an antenna, so you can watch the weekend — the heart of the championship — without any subscription if you can receive a local NBC signal. USA Network requires a TV provider login, and the full streaming experience, including those exclusive 1:30am first-tee windows and the featured groups, lives on Peacock, which is a paid subscription. We do not quote fixed prices, since Peacock's plans and promos change. If you are a US subscriber travelling abroad during Open week, your Peacock or NBC login is geo-blocked overseas, and a VPN set to a US server restores your own paid access.

Watching in the UK: Sky Sports live plus BBC highlights and radio

In the UK, live television coverage of The Open belongs exclusively to Sky Sports, which took over live rights in 2016 and — under the extension agreed with the R&A in January 2024 — holds them through at least 2028. The confirmed 2026 hours: live coverage starts at 6:30am on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 July on Sky Sports Golf — at least 15 hours of action each of the first two days — then extended weekend coverage from 9am Saturday and 8am Sunday, with the biggest sessions simulcast on Sky Sports Main Event and more than 75 hours of live programming across the seven days of championship week. New for Royal Birkdale, Sky adds a dedicated single-player feed following one marquee name through the afternoon of Rounds 1 and 2, alongside four Featured Groups each day (two morning, two afternoon) and bonus feeds on Sky Sports+ and the Sky Sports app. Streaming runs through Sky Go for subscribers or the standalone NOW pass for those without a full Sky package — the simplest no-contract route to the live action. This is a paid service, and importantly there is no live free-to-air TV alternative in the UK. The free layer comes from the BBC, which retains rights through 2027: a nightly highlights programme on BBC Two with streaming on BBC iPlayer, plus — the standout free option — around 38 hours of live ball-by-ball commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live and the BBC Sounds app, from the first tee shot Thursday to the final putt Sunday. The R&A's own The Open Radio also airs free on talkSPORT 2. The Open's status as an Ofcom 'listed event' (Group B) is what guarantees the free highlights and radio exist. If you are a UK Sky or NOW subscriber travelling abroad during the championship, your Sky Go or NOW stream will be geo-blocked once you leave the country, and a VPN set to a UK server restores your normal access; the same applies to BBC iPlayer highlights and BBC Sounds radio.

Other countries: Australia, Canada and the worldwide official feed

Outside the UK and US, the R&A's confirmed 2026 broadcast-partner list settles the picture, so know your home broadcaster before you travel. In Australia, The Open is on Fox Sports, available through Foxtel and the Kayo Sports streaming service — 2026 marks the first year all four golf majors, including The Open, are live and exclusive on Fox Sports following Foxtel Group's golf rights deal. Both are subscription services; there is no free-to-air live option in Australia, and the time difference means the action runs from mid-afternoon into the early hours AEST. In Canada, coverage is on TSN in English and RDS in French — both confirmed R&A partners for Royal Birkdale — with streaming via TSN+; again pay-TV or subscription, no free-to-air alternative. New Zealand is on Sky TV (Sky Sport). In Europe, the confirmed partners include Sky Deutschland for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Sky Italia in Italy, Canal+ in France and VGolf across the Nordics; South Africa is on SuperSport, Japan on U-NEXT and the Japan Golf Network, South Korea on JTBC, and Latin America on ESPN and Golf Channel Latin America. Ireland falls inside Sky Sports' UK & Ireland deal. Worldwide, the R&A's official free outlets — The Open Radio (free live commentary on TheOpen.com, The Open app and R&A TV), R&A TV video at randa.tv and The Open's YouTube channel — are the go-to free options, though live video is geo-restricted where a paid rights holder exists. Wherever you are, if a feed exists in your home country, a VPN lets you reach it from abroad by connecting to a server back home.

Round 1 tee times: when Scheffler, McIlroy and the marquee groups go out

The R&A published the Round 1 and 2 groupings on 13 July, and the marquee times are worth building your viewing day around (all times BST). Defending champion Scottie Scheffler — chasing back-to-back Claret Jugs after winning at Royal Portrush in 2025 — goes out at 9:58am on Thursday in the group of the week with Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton. Eleven minutes later, at 10:09am, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth and Southport's own Tommy Fleetwood — playing an Open on the links he grew up beside — walk off the first tee together. The afternoon wave answers back: Ludvig Åberg, Cameron Young and Wyndham Clark start at 3:04pm, and at 3:15pm comes the day's headline group — Rory McIlroy, who arrives having won back-to-back Masters in 2025 and 2026, alongside 2024 Champion Golfer Xander Schauffele and Matt Fitzpatrick. The first group of all (Matthew Baldwin, Thomas Detry, James Nicholas) tees off at 6:35am and the last at 4:21pm. Morning and afternoon waves flip for Round 2 on Friday, so Scheffler goes late and McIlroy early — which matters for US viewers, because Thursday's Scheffler group lands in Peacock/USA Network's early window at 4:58am ET while McIlroy's group starts at a comfortable 10:15am ET. Also in the 156-player field: 2025 runner-up Harris English, plus major champions and contenders across both tours. Weekend pairings are set after Friday's cut, leaders out last on Saturday and Sunday — check theopen.com once the cut falls.

Time-zone planner: The Open in your clock (US, Europe, Australia, India)

Royal Birkdale runs on British Summer Time (BST), and every session converts cleanly once you know the anchors: first tee 6:35am BST Thursday/Friday, marquee groups around 9:58am–10:09am and 3:04pm–3:15pm BST, and the Sunday finish typically between 6pm and 7pm BST. For US East Coast viewers (ET, five hours behind), play starts at 1:35am, Scheffler's Thursday group is 4:58am, McIlroy's is 10:15am, and the Sunday finish lands early-to-mid afternoon — golf as breakfast-through-lunch viewing all four days. West Coast (PT) subtract three more hours: the leaders finish Sunday around 10am–11am. In Central Europe (CEST, one hour ahead), everything shifts one hour later than the UK: first tee 7:35am, McIlroy 4:15pm, Sunday finish around 7pm–8pm — the friendliest time zone outside Britain. For Australian fans on the east coast (AEST, nine hours ahead), Thursday's first tee is 3:35pm, Scheffler's group starts 6:58pm — prime time — but the afternoon wave runs deep into the night: McIlroy's 3:15pm BST start is 12:15am AEST, and the Sunday finish lands around 3am–4am Monday, so set an alarm for the back nine rather than pulling an all-nighter. India (IST, four and a half hours ahead) gets a comfortable evening watch: first tee 11:05am, the morning marquee groups from about 2:30pm, McIlroy at 7:45pm, and the Sunday climax around 10:30pm–11:30pm IST — the whole final round fits before bed. New Zealand (NZST, eleven hours ahead) mirrors Australia two hours later. Pick your two or three must-watch windows, convert them once, and remember: if you are away from home, your broadcaster follows your subscription's country, not your location — a VPN connected to a home server keeps your usual schedule.

Why you need a VPN: geo-blocking and the honest caveats

Broadcasters buy Open Championship rights country by country, so every streaming service is geo-blocked: the app reads your IP address, works out which country you are connecting from, and only serves the live stream if you are inside the licensed territory. The moment you cross a border, your home broadcaster's app detects the foreign IP and either hides the live feed, swaps in different content, or shows a not-available error — even when you hold a valid subscription. This is why a UK Sky or NOW subscriber cannot just open Sky Go on holiday in Spain, why a US Peacock subscriber abroad hits a regional block, and why an Australian travelling overseas cannot reach Kayo. A VPN (virtual private network) solves this by routing your connection through a server in your home country and replacing your visible IP with one from that country, so to the broadcaster you appear to be back home and the stream unblocks normally. A crucial honesty point: a VPN does not grant you rights you do not have. You still need a valid subscription in the country you connect to, and accessing a broadcaster outside its licensed territory can breach that service's terms of use — BBC iPlayer's terms, for instance, require you to be in the UK with a valid TV Licence to watch at all. The sensible, intended use is reaching your own home broadcaster and your own subscription. As a bonus, a VPN encrypts your traffic, protecting your login on hotel and airport Wi-Fi.

How to watch The Open from abroad with a VPN: step by step

Restoring your home feed takes only a few minutes. 1) Choose and install a reputable VPN with reliable servers in your home country — ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Surfshark and CyberGhost are all strong options, and every pick carries a 30-day money-back guarantee (CyberGhost offers 45 days), so you can test it during the championship risk-free. 2) Create your account, download the app for your device, and sign in. 3) Connect to a server in your home country: a UK server for Sky Go, NOW, BBC iPlayer highlights or BBC Sounds radio; a US server for Peacock, NBC or USA Network; a Canadian server for TSN or TSN+; or an Australian server for Foxtel or Kayo. 4) Wait for the connection to confirm, then open your broadcaster's website or app and sign in as you normally would. 5) Start the live stream — it should now play as if you were at home. If it does not, disconnect, clear the broadcaster app's cache or your browser cookies, reconnect to a different server in the same country, and reload. A practical tip: always connect the VPN before opening the streaming app, never after, so the app never records your real foreign location. Because every recommended VPN has a money-back guarantee, you can confirm it unblocks your specific broadcaster before committing — sign up, test it on Thursday 16 July as the first round goes out, and keep it only if it reliably reaches your feed. Set everything up before then so you are ready from the opening tee shots.

Best VPNs for live HD golf

For live golf the priorities are sustained speed so the picture holds up in HD across long featured-group streams, reliable servers in the right countries, and a money-back guarantee so you can verify it works with your broadcaster before paying. ExpressVPN is the premium pick built for speed — its Lightway protocol is designed for low overhead, which helps keep live feeds stable in full HD, and it maintains servers across all the key Open markets. NordVPN holds the largest US market share, runs on its fast NordLynx protocol, and bundles threat protection, making it a dependable all-rounder for Peacock, Sky Go, TSN and the rest. Surfshark is the value standout because it allows unlimited simultaneous devices on one account, so a household can watch the leaders on the TV while someone else follows a featured group on a phone, all on a single subscription. CyberGhost is streaming-optimised with location-labelled servers and the longest trial window — a 45-day money-back guarantee versus the standard 30 days elsewhere — which comfortably covers the championship week plus setup time. Other solid options in the same lineup include IPVanish and Private Internet Access (PIA), both with large server networks; Proton VPN, the privacy-first Swiss provider that is the only one of our picks with a genuine free tier (though its free servers are not ideal for live HD sport); and budget pick TotalVPN. We earn a commission if you sign up through our links, at no extra cost to you, and current discount ranges appear live in our comparison table rather than as fixed prices here. Whichever you choose, test it against your actual broadcaster early — the money-back guarantee exists precisely so you can.

Device setup: phone, laptop, smart TV and Fire Stick

Most VPNs run on every device you would use to watch The Open, but the setup differs slightly by platform. On a phone or tablet (iOS or Android), install the VPN app from the App Store or Google Play, sign in, connect to your home-country server, then open your broadcaster app — the simplest route, and ideal for following featured groups or radio commentary on the move around the course. On a laptop, install the desktop app or a browser extension, connect, and watch on the broadcaster's website; laptops are the most flexible for switching between Peacock's featured-group streams or Sky's multiple channels. Smart TVs are trickier: Android TV and Google TV models can install the VPN app directly, but many Samsung and LG sets cannot, so the common workaround is to set the VPN up on your home Wi-Fi router, which makes every device on the network — including the TV — appear in your home country automatically. An Amazon Fire TV Stick is one of the easiest big-screen options because the major VPNs publish dedicated Fire TV apps: install the VPN from the Amazon Appstore, connect to your home server, then open your broadcaster app (Peacock, Sky Go, NOW, TSN, Kayo and so on) on the same Stick. If your TV cannot run a VPN and you do not want to configure a router, casting from a connected phone or laptop, or using a Fire Stick, are the most reliable big-screen paths for watching golf in HD. Set up and test your chosen device before Thursday 16 July so there are no surprises on day one, and remember UK BBC iPlayer access still requires a valid TV Licence.

Troubleshooting: stream not loading or proxy errors

If a broadcaster shows a proxy or VPN-detected error, or the stream simply will not load, work through these fixes in order. 1) Switch servers: broadcasters block individual VPN IP addresses, so disconnect and reconnect to a different server in the same country — a fresh IP often clears the block instantly. 2) Clear cookies and cache: streaming sites store location data, so clear your browser cookies or the app's cache, or open the stream in a private window, then reconnect. 3) Connect the VPN first: always connect to the VPN before opening the broadcaster app, never after, so the app never records your real location. 4) Check for location leaks: enable the VPN's leak protection and make sure device-level location services or GPS are not overriding your VPN IP, a common cause of blocks on mobile. 5) Fix buffering: for quality drops mid-round, connect to a server geographically closer to where your account is based, switch to a faster protocol (Lightway on ExpressVPN, NordLynx on NordVPN), or move closer to your router or use Ethernet. 6) Try a different protocol and update both apps: switching between WireGuard-based and OpenVPN protocols sometimes restores access on stubborn networks, and an out-of-date VPN or broadcaster app can fail silently. If several servers still fail, contact your VPN's live chat support; the reputable providers staff it around the clock and maintain dedicated streaming-server lists they can point you to. Because every recommended VPN offers a money-back guarantee (45 days for CyberGhost), you have a safety net if a service cannot reach your broadcaster — and the single most common fix is simply hopping to another server in the same country, so try that first.

Schedule and marquee context to plan around

With four championship days from 16 to 19 July, The Open builds toward a tense Sunday finish, so it is worth marking the sessions you most want to see in your own time zone. The storylines are unusually rich this year. Scottie Scheffler arrives as defending Champion Golfer, trying to become the first back-to-back Open winner since Padraig Harrington's 2007–08 double — and the last time The Open came to Royal Birkdale, in 2017, it produced Jordan Spieth's famous 13th-hole escape and final-round 69. Rory McIlroy comes in off consecutive Masters wins and a marquee Thursday pairing with 2024 champion Xander Schauffele. And Tommy Fleetwood — born and raised in Southport, minutes from the course — plays the closest thing to a home major any elite player gets, in a group with Jon Rahm and Spieth. The first two rounds on Thursday and Friday send the full field out across morning and afternoon waves, and because a links course can play very differently with the changing coastal wind, the cut line and the leaderboard can move dramatically between sessions — early starters in calm conditions sometimes hold an advantage over those caught in an afternoon blow, or vice versa. After the Friday cut, the weekend concentrates the drama as the leaders are paired in the final groups, climaxing with the Sunday back nine and the presentation of the Claret Jug. The practical plan: confirm your broadcaster, map the BST session times to your own clock using the planner above, and set up your VPN and broadcaster login before Thursday 16 July so you are ready from the 6:35am opening tee shot rather than scrambling once play begins.

The Open Championship 2026 — FAQ