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, when fans on the ground and on featured streams can watch players walking the links and fine-tuning their games. 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 tides on a links course, early- and late-day tee times can produce very different scoring conditions, so the leaderboard often swings sharply between the morning and afternoon waves. For the exact hole-by-hole tee times, the daily order of play and the precise Sunday finish window, check the official theopen.com schedule, which is confirmed close to the event. What you can plan now is the framework — block out 16–19 July, note that practice coverage may begin from 12 July, and map UK time to your own clock so you do not miss the leaders going out on the final day.

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, which air on BBC One and stream on BBC iPlayer, alongside full live coverage on BBC radio via Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds. 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. Worldwide, the R&A's own free platforms — R&A TV at randa.tv and The Open's official YouTube channel (youtube.com/theopen) — provide free official video content, including highlights and historically some featured-group and Par-3 streams. Be aware these free official streams can be geo-restricted in markets that already have a paying local rights holder, such as the UK and US, and whether the 2026 free feed includes full live rounds rather than highlights is not yet confirmed. In the US, the closest thing to free live TV is NBC's weekend coverage 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, spread across NBC, USA Network and the Peacock streaming service, with Golf Channel providing 'Live From' studio coverage around the rounds. The structure typically works like this: early-round and early-day coverage leans on USA Network and Peacock, with NBC's broadcast network taking the marquee weekend windows, while Peacock carries additional layers such as featured-group streams for fans who want to follow specific players or holes. The free element is NBC itself: as a broadcast network, NBC's weekend coverage is available free over the air with an antenna, so you can watch the heart of the championship without a subscription if you can receive a local NBC signal. USA Network, however, requires a TV provider login, and the full streaming experience — including early rounds and featured groups — lives on Peacock, which is a paid subscription. One honest caveat: the exact 2026 hour-by-hour splits between NBC, USA Network and Peacock have not been published this far out, so the network lineup is confirmed but the precise daily windows are based on the established pattern from recent years. Confirm the day-by-day US schedule on theopen.com's US broadcast listing closer to the event. We do not quote fixed prices, since Peacock's plans and promos change. If you are a US subscriber travelling abroad, 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 holds them through 2027. Coverage runs across Sky Sports Golf and, for the biggest sessions, the Sky Sports Main Event channel, with comprehensive multi-day, dawn-to-dusk programming and streaming 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 free-to-air highlights through 2027: an evening highlights programme on BBC One with streaming on BBC iPlayer, plus — and this is the standout free option — full live ball-by-ball commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live and the BBC Sounds app, so you can follow every shot live without paying a penny. The Open's status as an Ofcom 'listed event' (Group B) is what guarantees those free highlights and radio rights 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 picture varies by market, 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 new golf rights deal. Both are subscription services; there is no free-to-air live option in Australia, and the time difference means the action airs late at night and into the early hours AEST, so plan your viewing around the London clock. In Canada, coverage is on TSN and its TSN+ streaming platform, again a pay-TV or subscription service with no free-to-air alternative; TSN carried The Open in 2025. Worldwide, the R&A's official free outlets — R&A TV at randa.tv and The Open's YouTube channel — carry free official video including highlights and, historically, some featured and Par-3 content; these are the go-to free options in markets without a dedicated paid rights holder, though they can be geo-restricted where one exists. In Ireland, Sky Sports carries the live coverage as in the UK, with some free radio and highlights historically available via RTÉ, though the 2026-specific Irish details are not separately confirmed. Wherever you are, confirm the official listing close to the start, since platforms and branding can shift. If a feed exists in your home country, a VPN lets you reach it from abroad by connecting to a server back home.

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. Practice rounds run from 12 to 15 July, when featured streams and on-site coverage let you watch players reading the famous Royal Birkdale links before it counts. The first two rounds on Thursday and Friday send the full field out across both the morning and afternoon waves, and because a links course can play very differently with the changing coastal wind and tide, 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 to the Champion Golfer of the Year. Because the field and the pairings are confirmed close to the event, this guide does not name specific players or favourites in advance — those firm up nearer the time, so check theopen.com for the field, tee times and daily order of play. What you can plan now is the framework: confirm your broadcaster, map the UK session times to your own clock, and set up your VPN and broadcaster login before 16 July so you are ready for live coverage from the opening tee shots rather than scrambling once play begins.

The Open Championship 2026 — FAQ