Here are the next 2 courses

All indications are that Royal Troon will once again be an excellent test for the 2024 Open Championship.

There was some concern among locals after Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson caused a stir en route to Stenson’s Open Championship record of 20-under 264 in 2016. But after the opening rounds, in which the scoring average was well over three over par, those concerns have dissipated.

With an exciting weekend ahead at Troon, we look ahead to the future of the event.

Unlike the USGA and the U.S. Open, the R&A maintains a rotation of nine courses for use in the Open Championship. Additionally, while the U.S. Open has course assignments each year through 2043, with additional courses scheduled through 2051, the Open Championship has only two courses scheduled for the next two years.

The one theme the Open likes to maintain is the alternation between Scottish and English hosts, with the occasional mix of Northern Ireland’s Royal Portrush.

Read below for the full schedule of Open Championship venues for the next two years.

2025: Royal Portrush Golf Club – Portrush, Northern Ireland

It may have taken 68 years for Royal Portrush to win its second Open Championship, but it will take just six years to win its third. The Open returns to Northern Ireland next year, which will no doubt make 2024 Open Championship 36-hole leader Shane Lowry very happy. Lowry won at Portrush in 2019, while Rory McIlroy, who set the course record at Portrush when he was just 16, missed the cut in his first Open played on home soil.

2026: Royal Birkdale Golf Club – Southport, England

The Open Championship returns to England with a visit to Royal Birkdale in 2026, which is not far from the site of the 2023 Open at Royal Liverpool. This will be the 11th time that Birkdale has hosted golf’s oldest major, despite only joining the rota in 1954. Jordan Spieth memorably won the last Open played there in 2017, making a dramatic bogey from the practice course on the 13th on Sunday before completing a searing series of birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie to overtake Matt Kuchar for the Claret Jug. The club is currently in the process of making major changes to the course ahead of the tournament, including a brand-new par-3 15th.

Jack Hirsch

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. Originally from Pennsylvania, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, where he earned degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also *still* tries to stay competitive in local amateurs. Prior to GOLF, Jack worked for two years at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a multimedia journalist/reporter, but also as a producer, anchor, and even a weather presenter. He can be reached at [email protected].