The final Major of the year is upon us with the 2025 Open Championship. It will be played at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.

Royal Portrush Golf Club was founded in 1888 originally named The County Club and named The Royal County Club four years later.

Royal Portrush first hosted the Open Championship in 1951 which was the first time that the tournament was hosted outside of Great Britain. The course was renovated in 2016 in preparation for hosting the tournament in 2019. Some aspects of the renovation were changing holes 17 and 18 of the original design to current holes of 7 and 8 and hole 7 through 16 were changed to play as holes 9 to 18. The 2nd hole was also lengthened by 40 yards, the 12th hole was realigned. The amount of bunkers was increased from 59 to 62. The biggest change was changing from a par 72 to par 71. Despite the change the length of the course was increased by about 200 yards.

The Course last hosted the Open Championship in 2019 when Shane Lowry won with a score of 15 under par. He defeated Tommy Fleetwood by six strokes. Lowry shot 67 in the opening two rounds and then shot a course record 63 on Saturday to take a four stroke lead heading into Sunday. Rain and strong winds pushed tee times up on Sunday. The final round played extremely difficult with the bulk of the field shooting over par. Lowry was able to shoot one over par to win his first career Major.

Dunluce Links at Royal Portrush is a 7,391 yard links style par 71 with Fescue greens. There are two holes where water is in play and 62 bunkers on the course.

There are eleven par fours, four par threes and three par fives. Six of the eleven par fours range from 400-450 yards. Four are 450-500 yards and the 5th hole plays just over 380 yards. Four of the five most difficult holes on the course are par fours. The 11th hole being the most difficult boasting a 31% bogey rate and nearly 6% double or worse rate.

The par threes are relatively long with three of them playing 190 yards or longer. The 3rd hole is listed at 168 yards and is the shortest of the bunch. The par threes aren’t extremely difficult other than the 232 yard 17th hole which plays as the 3rd most difficult hole on the course.

The par fives play as the three easiest holes on the course. The 2nd and 12th hole are the two easiest and should be reachable by most of the field depending on the wind. The 7th hole is 595 yards and may not be reachable by some but it still boasts the highest Eagle rate on the course.

Off the tee golfers will see slightly smaller than average fairways that should be difficult to hit especially if the course plays fast and firm. Increased winds obviously decrease the likelihood of balls finding the fairway as well. The rough is currently listed as 2 inches but only six yards wide from the edge of the fairway. Balls that miss wildly will find a variety of lies as anything outside of that six yard area is listed as “unclassified”. Wayward tee shots could find deep rough or knee high Fescue.

Approach shots will vary in distance and golfers will find it difficult to hit greens in regulation. Many of the greens are table top in shape and have runoff areas into bunkers and or rough. Typical link courses allow for low running shots to roll onto the green. However many holes on the Dunluce Links have mounds or moguls in front of the green.

The greens themselves will be firm and fast. Fescue greens can run slower than the typical grass types golfers see on a weekly basis but should be ratcheted up a bit in a Major setting. It could bring 3-putts into play and golfers who just played at the Scottish Open could have some time adjusting after putting on extremely slow greens at the Renaissance Club. Around the green play will certainly be relied upon especially if the winds pick up.

All in all golfers will need to be accurate off the tee and find as many greens in regulation as possible to contend. A strong short game can make up for some accuracy errors but an emphasis of accuracy over power is the preferred strategy this week.

Open Championship: The Key Stats

• Fairways Gained
• Approach
• Bogey Avoidance
• Around the Green

PREVIOUS WINNERS

• 2024: Xander Schauffele -9(Troon)
• 2023: Brian Harmon -13(Liverpool)
• 2022: Cam Smith -20(St Andrews)
• 2021: Collin Morikawa -15(St Georges)
• 2019: Shane Lowry -15(Portrush)