Royal Birkdale has baked out into a brown, rock-hard test in the days before The Open Championship, with players warning of extreme conditions rarely seen at a modern major.
According to a fresh on-the-ground report from GOLF.com, the fairways and greens at Royal Birkdale had already lost their colour by Monday, with the outlet’s reporters describing the driest course they have seen at an Open in the last four years, as a prolonged heatwave grips England’s north-west coast ahead of home favourite Tommy Fleetwood’s bid for a hometown Claret Jug.
Michael Kim Delivers Blunt Verdict On Fiery Fairways
PGA Tour pro Michael Kim, playing his fourth Open and eighth straight major, gave the starkest assessment after a practice round on Monday. “Guys… it is FIRM out here,” Kim wrote on X, adding that the course was “brown and FIRM” and that he had hit a 4-iron 290 yards downwind on more than one hole, according to GOLF.com. Kim also warned players to steer well clear of Birkdale’s fairway pot bunkers, calling them “bad” and advising to “avoid at all cost.”
PGA Tour’s own forecast confirms the heatwave is set to hold, with Thursday’s opening round expected to reach highs of 82F and only a slim chance of rain through the week, meaning the course is unlikely to soften before defending champion Scottie Scheffler and the rest of the 156-man field tee off.
With driving distances already spiking in practice, controlling the ball through the air and avoiding Birkdale’s punishing bunkers could matter more than raw power when the 154th Open gets under way on Thursday.
