The Open Championship: 2019 Open
Championship is headed to Northern Ireland for the first time in 68
years. The Claret Jug will take center stage at Royal Portrush in July,
and golf’s best will be aiming to claim the oldest Major championship
crown.
It’s the fourth and final major championship of the golf season. Who
will join the 2019 major winners group of Tiger Woods (the Masters),
Brooks Koepka (PGA championship) and Gary Woodland (U.S. Open) and hoist
the Claret jug? This is the 148th time they’ve determined the “champion
golfer of the year.” The defending champion is Francesco Molinari.
Open Championship 2019 Live golf scores, results
Play begins at 1:35 a.m. ET. Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland native
and the favorite, tees off at 5:09 a.m. in Round 1. Tiger Woods is set
to tee off at 10:10 a.m. Find all tee times. The fourth and final major
on the 2019 PGA Tour calendar is upon us. The best players in the world
have converged on Royal Portrush for the 148th British Open.
Golf’s oldest major used to fall third in the seasonal lineup before
the PGA Championship moved from August to May. This year, the month of
August is all about the Tour Championship after things wrap up in
Northern Ireland, so this weekend is the last time golf will be on the
mainstream radar until 2020.
Tiger Woods, as per usual, will be the main draw at Royal Portrush,
which is hosting the British Open for the first time since 1951.
Northern Ireland’s own Rory McIlroy, who has two wins on tour this year
but hasn’t won a major since 2014, is installed as the hometown betting
favorite and should contend.
Woods, ranked fifth in the world, recaptured the sports world’s
imagination by winning the Masters in April, only to miss the cut at the
PGA Championship weeks later. He has stabalized in two appearences
since – a top-10 finish at the Memorial Tournament and a tie for 21st at
the U.S. Open – but there’s still a pall of unfinished business over
Woods’ season. Royal Portrush represents his final chance in 2019 to
make a splash and perhaps inch one win closer to Jack Nicklaus’ all-time
major record.
