How to watch the 2025 Open Championship | UK TV channel & more

Jonathan Victoria • 15 Jul 2025 Guides

Everything you need to know ahead of the 2024 Open Championship.

Golf’s most prestigious major will be contested once again this weekend and with the quality of the competition this season, it could be anyone lifting the Claret Jug on Sunday.

As the last major of the season, you won’t want to miss a moment of the action across the weekend, so we’re here to bring you the important information ahead of the competition, including how to watch the 2025 Open Championship, its history and more.

How to watch the Open Championship 2025

Every moment of the 2025 Open Championship will be available to watch live on Sky Sports as part of their deal with the PGA Tour.

Sky Sports was recently given consent by Ofcom to broadcast exclusive live coverage of the Open Championship from this year and lasting until 2027, meaning the next three editions of the tournament will only be available via Sky Sports.

Golf on Sky Sports

Sky Sports is the exclusive home of PGA Tour golf in the UK, so if you’re looking to watch this weekend or any weekend during the season, you’ll need a valid Sky Sports subscription.

If you’re already a Sky TV customer without Sky Sports, you can add it to your existing package, while for new customers, there are a range of Sky Sports package deals to choose from.

If you’re not a Sky customer or don’t want to switch to Sky, there are still options available to be able to gain access.

You can take the NOW TV route, which has several options for their Sports Membership, each granting access to all Sky Sports channels for a specified amount of time (one day or one month).

Virgin Media and BT also provide ways to get Sky Sports channels as part of their offering. With Virgin Media, it can be added on to an existing package or a newly made one, while BT has the same but also has a pre-made package that comes with TNT Sports as well as Sky Sports.

The Open Championship on Sky Sports Golf

The entire weekend will be shown across multiple Sky Sports channels; Sky Sports Golf, the dedicated golf channel; and Sky Sports Main Event, the flagship channel; finally on Sky Sports+, which can be access as a channel or on the Sky Sports app, which will have more streams available for even deeper coverage.

Sky Sports will be showing wall-to-wall coverage every day, running from the first tee shot on Sunday right through until the final putt is sunk on Sunday.

Extra coverage will be shown when play isn’t underway, including the ‘Live At The Range’ show, which gives a daily behind-the-scenes look at the course and build-up, news and interviews on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before the weekend begins.

‘The Open Verdict Live’ will be a live show after each day of play that will discuss the key talking points from the round, looking at the high flyers as well as the best moments from across the field.

Key times (BST)

Thursday

6:30am - 9:30pm – The Open: Day One Live

Friday

6:30am - 9:30pm – The Open: Day Two Live

Saturday

9:00am - 11:00am – Saturday at The Open Live

11:00am - 8:30pm – The Open: Day Three Live

Sunday

8:00am - 10:00am – Sunday at The Open Live

10:00am - 7:30pm – The Open: Day Three Live

History of the Open Championship

The Open Championship, better known simply as The Open, is the oldest and most prestigious golf tournament in the world, having been founded in 1860.

It is one of the four major golf tournaments on the PGA Tour calendar and the only one to be contested in the UK. It is also the fourth and final major played, contested each year in mid-July.

While it was founded in 1860, 164 years ago, 2025 will be the 153rd edition of the tournament. The only times it wasn’t held were in 1871 (no trophy available), 1915-1919 (World War I), 1940-1945 (World War II) and 2020 (COVID-19).

The name “The Open” stems from the fact that in theory, the tournament is open to all challengers - from the leading players on the PGA Tour right down to amateur golfers. However, that doesn’t mean anyone gets to be part of the field.

Players who do not receive an invite or have an exemption to the tournament must go through multiple highly competitive qualification rounds to qualify.

Winners of The Open are colloquially named Champion Golfer of the Year and are awarded the coveted Claret Jug. For some, the trophy holds as much if not more prestige than a green jacket won at The Masters.

The location of the Open Championship changes each year but typically remains in north England or Scotland, the home of golf. 

Many fans would name St Andrews in Scotland as the most iconic host venue, although fans of tradition may name the original host venue, Prestwick Golf Club, also found in Scotland. 

The venues are selected by The R&A, one of the governing bodies of golf worldwide, and will rotate each year, although they have always been a links golf courses, meaning they are courses generally built upon sandy coastlands, providing a tough challenge of dealing with the elements as well as a firmer playing surface.

Where is the 2025 Open Championship being played?

The 153rd Open Championship will see a return of Royal Portrush, changing the norm of northern England or Scotland and heading over to Northern Ireland.

About Royal Portrush Golf Club

Royal Portrush Golf Club is located in County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Established in 1888, it has been the location of the Open Championship only two times in the past; the last coming in 2019 and the first in 1951, being the first time the tournament was not held on the island of Great Britain.

The club comprises two courses, with the main one being The Dunluce Links course, the venue for the Open this year and widely recognised as one of the greatest courses in the world.

Some of the more iconic features include several signature holes, mostly the fourth, firth and sixteenth, the latter of which named Calamity Corner.

When is the Open Championship 2025?

The Open begins this weekend, starting on Thursday 17th July and will finish on Sunday 20th July.

2025 Open Championship: Field

The field of 156 players for the Open Championship this year includes several previous champions of the tournament as well as many other winners of the other majors. 

There’s 16 former champions included in the field this year, including the defending champion Xander Schauffele, and some home island heroes, namely Shane Lowry (winner in the 2019 edition at Portrush) and Padraig Harrington, a two-time Open Champion.

Of course, the loudest support will no doubt come for the truest hometown hero, the reigning Masters champion Rory McIlroy, who hails from Holywood, just an hours drive away.

There are also many debutants looking to make an impact at their first time of asking – 37 to be precise. Of those 37, nine are amateurs who will fight for the Silver Medal, given to the leading amateur at the end of the week.

2025 Open Championship: Tee times & pairings

The tee times for Thursday's Round 1 and Friday's Round 2 have been released, with Round 1 looking as such:

This table will be updated after Thursday to show Round 2's tee times.

Open Championship winners

There have been 90 different winners of the Open Championship in history, with 27 of those players having won multiple times.

The reason why there was no Open Championship in 1871 was that the previous year's champion, Young Tom Morris, won three consecutive titles, which in the rules states that the winner is then allowed to keep the ‘Challenge Belt’, the original award for winning The Open, leaving the tournament with no trophy.

Quite possibly the funniest fact about The Open is that the oldest winner and the youngest winner was father and son, and their record wins came in back-to-back years. Tom Morris Sr., or better known as Old Tom Morris, won his fourth and final title in 1867 at 46 years old, then his son came along and won his first of four titles in 1868 at age 17.

Past 5 winners

• 2024 – Xander Schauffele
• 2023 – Brian Harman
• 2022 – Cameron Smith
• 2021 – Collin Morikawa
• 2019 – Shane Lowry
• 2018 – Francesco Molinari
• 2017 – Jordan Spieth
• 2016 – Henrik Stenson
• 2015 – Zach Johnson
• 2014 – Rory McIlroy

All-time records

Most wins: 6 – Harry Vardon (1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1911, 1914)

Youngest winner: Tom Morris Jr.,17 years & 156 days (1868)

Oldest winner: Tom Morris Sr., 46 years & 102 days (1867)

Most consecutive wins: 4 – Tom Morris Jr. (1868-1870, 1872)

Lowest score over 72 holes: -20 – Henrik Stenson (2016) & Cameron Smith (2022)