The 156th Open Championship will be held at Royal Lytham & St Annes from 30 July to 6 August 2028, with championship rounds running 3–6 August. The R&A moved the event about two weeks later than its traditional mid-July slot to avoid a scheduling conflict with the Olympic golf competition in Los Angeles, which runs 19–29 July.
It will be the first Open played in August since 1893.
“We have worked collaboratively with the relevant bodies and our partners to agree alternative dates for staging our major championships in 2028 to accommodate the Olympic golf competitions. The Open will be back on its usual mid-July schedule in 2029”
R&A Chief Executive Mark Darbon said.
Royal Lytham & St Annes
The Lancashire links will stage The Open for the 12th time, and for the first time since 2012, when Ernie Els won by one stroke over Adam Scott. The club dates back to 1886, and Harry Colt redesigned the present course in 1919. For daily play, it measures 7,118 yards and has a par of 70.
The venue’s championship roll call includes Bobby Jones (1926), Peter Thomson, Tony Jacklin, Gary Player, Seve Ballesteros (twice), Tom Lehman and David Duval. Bob Charles’s 1963 victory there made him the first left-handed player to win a major.
Tickets
Standard tickets are allocated through a ballot system. Entries typically open during the previous year’s Open, meaning the ballot for 2028 is likely to launch around the time of the 2027 championship. Fans can register interest on The Open’s website for updates on the ballot, hospitality packages and ticket-inclusive travel options.
Getting There
The nearest airports are Liverpool John Lennon (about 45 km away) and Manchester (about 61.5 km). A train from Manchester Airport to Lytham St Annes takes around two hours, with fares starting from under £9. A taxi or rideshare covers the same distance in about 1 hour 10 minutes.
Based on previous Opens in the region, there is typically no public car parking at the course itself. Spectators are directed to managed park-and-ride sites. Preston’s Walton-le-Dale park-and-ride, located near the M6 and M65, offers free parking with buses running every 10 minutes on weekdays and Saturdays. Specific event transport arrangements for 2028 have not yet been announced.
Rail connections through Liverpool, Southport and Preston serve the wider Fylde coast area. Fans arriving at Liverpool Lime Street can walk to Liverpool Central in about 10 minutes to join Merseyrail services heading north along the coast.
Where to Stay
Lytham St Annes has a wide range of accommodation, with over 2,000 hotels listed across the area. Southport, Liverpool and Preston all offer practical regional bases with direct rail links to the coast. Official ticket-inclusive travel packages, which bundle accommodation with entry, are expected to become available through The Open’s website once bookings open.
Early planning is advisable. Open week accommodation in the immediate area books up quickly once dates and venues are confirmed.
Simon Bale
Simon Bale is the publisher of Golf Today. A low single-figure handicap golfer, he was previously a major shareholder and course reviewer for Top100GolfCourses.com for over a decade, starting in 2010. Through this role, he developed extensive knowledge of golf course design and architecture while playing more than 300 courses worldwide.