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SOUTHPORT, Eng. - There are golf tournaments you attend, and then there's The Open.
Somewhere between the jet lag, your first pint, deciphering a thick Lancashire accent and walking through the dunes at Royal Birkdale, you realize you've stopped feeling like a tourist and started feeling like part of golf's oldest tradition.
Ryan Fox may have left Southport with the Claret Jug, but everyone who makes the pilgrimage to The Open leaves with lasting impressions.
Here are a few of mine.
1. The Open Championship is the greatest spectator event in golf
The Open is the greatest spectator event in all of golf, and it’s not even close.
Yes, the Masters is in a class of its own, with its pristine golf course, masterful spectator experience, approachable menu pricing, greatest-ever patron shop in sport and traditions unlike any other, and yet The Open still takes top prize. Not because The Open is a perfect experience. In fact, quite the opposite is true. The Open isn't great because everything runs perfectly. It's great because nothing feels manufactured. Every inconvenience somehow becomes part of the adventure.
The Open asks more of its fans than any tournament in golf. You pack rain gear for sunshine. You walk miles through dunes. You accept that your hotel may not have air conditioning…or an elevator. You wait on delayed trains and eat fish and chips three days in a row.
Somehow, all of it makes the experience richer.
Every day at The Open offers something new, something novel and something unexpected. It's a throwback to simpler times—a place where civility and camaraderie still feel like part of everyday life instead of relics from another era. You feel like you’re a part of the history of the game, the very fabric of its being. It’s truly a rite of passage, and there is just something about being at The Open that hits differently than any other event in golf.
2. Overheard at the 154th Open Championship
“It’s slow, innit? The play. They don’t fly around.”
“Enjoy your day. If you’re not enjoying it, still smile.”
“Who’s this fanny with an iron?”
“I’m not even pissed.” – a man, after tripping and spilling only half his beer (when, he claims, he’s not even drunk)
“Full fat or half fat?” – a bartender, asking if a guest wants diet tonic or regular
“He’s taller than I thought. His beard is fuller than I thought. What kind of oil do you think he uses?” … to which a friend deadpans, “Birdie juice.”
“We need to go to a Ryder Cup so we can yell whatever we want, like, ‘You suck!’”
“Tiger will win another major.”
3. My 2026 Open Championship hot take
There’s not much worse than a warm weather Open, and I don’t mean because the warm temperatures affect the course, the playing conditions and the overall outcome of the tournament. I’m talking about the experience as a fan, especially one coming over from America. It’s not the experience you want. It’s not the experience you were promised.
Whether you consciously realize it or not, committing to attend an Open means making a pact with yourself – you will weather the storms (metaphorical and literal), you will take whatever punches come your way (delayed flights, lost luggage, mushy peas) and you will wake up the next day ready to face it all over again.
You don't spend thousands of dollars flying across the Atlantic hoping for perfect weather. You come for sideways rain, fifty-degree temperatures in July and enough wind to make a 6-iron go 150 yards.
That's the deal. So, when it's sunny and 82 degrees, part of you feels cheated. Sure, you didn’t have to unpack your waterproofs or pull the official beanie over your ears, but somehow, you feel like part of the story is missing.
4. That's the spirit(s)
In America, we are accustomed to “member’s pours” at our golf club or neighborhood bar. But in the UK, no amount of flirting or tipping will land you a heavy pour, and that’s because they have strict laws about pouring spirits. Whether it’s whiskey or vodka, bartenders in the UK are legally mandated to ensure accurate and consistent measurement when serving spirits, so you will see your bartender measuring out that exact 25 milliliter amount when making every drink.
Suddenly, the popularity of beer in the UK makes perfect financial sense.
5. Biggest surprise
My biggest surprise of the week had nothing to do with golf, but rather how the town of Southport showed out for the World Cup semifinal match pitting England against Argentina on Wednesday night...or didn't. I went to a couple of pubs on Lord Street – the town’s main avenue - and was stunned by how few people were out and about. I expected Lord Street to resemble Bourbon Street, but it felt more like Sesame Street.
Aside from one lively watch party at the Lord Street Hotel, the city felt remarkably subdued. And I don’t mean there was a lull after England lost. Southport city center was quiet in the hours leading up to and during the game as well.
6. Bean there, tried that
One of the things Open spectators love most each year is the massive viewing areas in the Spectator Zone, where throngs of fans gather to eat, drink, shop and relax on oversized bean bags. And one of the things I love most each year is watching fans attempt to take those Open-branded bean bags home on Sunday night.
I witnessed it last year at Royal Portrush, and I watched it happen again this year at Royal Birkdale. On Sunday evening, I spotted a group of four men heading toward the exit, one of them carrying a bean bag slung over his shoulder.
As I walked past, I couldn't resist telling them there was no chance security was going to let that bean bag leave the property.
Without missing a beat, the man with the bag explained the elaborate plan he had devised: he had supposedly "purchased" the bean bag in a charity auction, paying £300 with the bean bag as his prize. I'll give the man credit for creativity, but I still wasn’t buying it. We each doubled down on our positions, and as I said goodbye, I wished the group good luck. I told them to find me on social media and let me know how it went (because at that point, I was emotionally invested in the outcome of their bean bag saga).
The following morning, I received a message from one of the men confirming what I already suspected: "He got stopped at the gate, he tried the £300 charity ploy but the guy on the gate pulled his radio out to check. He's absolutely gutted."
I'd say, "Better luck next year," but I know it wouldn't help.
7. Final takeaway
The magic of The Open isn’t simply that it’s the oldest championship in golf. It’s the major that asks the most of its spectators and, somehow, gives the most back. You come for the golf, but you leave remembering everything around it: the conversations with strangers, the walks through the dunes, the pints after a long day and the wonderfully imperfect moments that make the journey so memorable. If you’ve never made the trip across the pond for an Open Championship, put it at the very top of your golf bucket list. I promise you’ll come home with far more stories than souvenirs.
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