Golfers eye 'unprecedented' Open conditions at Royal Birkdale - ESPN

SOUTHPORT, England — Royal Birkdale Golf Club has often been called the «fairest» test of golf in the Open Championship rotation.

But the 154th Open Championship, which tees off Thursday, might require more strategy and patience from the 156-man field.

Two days before the opening round, the world's greatest golfers were raving Tuesday about the firm and fast conditions, which figures to be quite different from the last Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, when Jordan Spieth won on a wet and soft course in 2017.

«On each hole, there's a good bit of strategy; there's a decent amount of thinking,» world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said.

Temperatures have been unseasonably warm during the past few weeks on England's northwest coast, and forecasts predict little to no rain during each of the four rounds. High temperatures are expected to drop into the low 70s by the weekend.

Scheffler will attempt to become the first back-to-back winner of The Open since Padraig Harrington in 2008-09. He compared Royal Birkdale's current conditions to the 2022 Open Championship at the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland.

«This will be a firmer golf course,» he said. «This is the first forecast I remember seeing it had no rain in it for the week.»

That doesn't mean Royal Birkdale will play as easily as the Old Course, where Cameron Smith won the 150th Open with a 72-hole score of 20 under par.

Scheffler said golfers will have to figure out how to keep their drives in the fairways, many of which are narrower after a 2024 renovation. While Royal Birkdale doesn't have overly undulating fairways like other famous links courses, they are protected by mounding.

«The ball's just going to run for forever pretty much,» Scheffler said.

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