​SOUTHPORT, England — The last major championship of the men’s golf season arrives amid a swirl of questions about the PGA Tour’s future and the rival LIV Golf organization. Royal Birkdale Golf Club hosts the 154th Open Championship, which begins on Thursday, marking the 11th time the Open has been staged at this historic course. The last Open held at Royal Birkdale, in 2017, saw Jordan Spieth claim his third major and his only Claret Jug to date.
On Sunday, Victor Perez became the 15th LIV player to qualify for The Open thanks to a T9 finish at the Genesis Scottish Open, a co-sanctioned event on both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. That result allowed seven LIV players to compete alongside PGA Tour players in a rare, non-major setting. Yet, this week at Birkdale will be the final time this year that the top stars from LIV and the PGA Tour face off against one another. At the same time, the shape of professional golf in 2027 remains uncertain.
Following The Open, LIV is set to resume next week after an unintended 47-day summer break caused by the cancellation of its June event in New Orleans. LIV has four events remaining on its 2026 schedule and continues to seek new investors, with the Saudi PIF ending its funding after this season. Bryson DeChambeau’s LIV contract runs through the end of the year, but the sport’s most popular star has signaled a strong desire to help LIV endure at all costs. DeChambeau has missed the cut in all majors so far this year, a striking departure for him, as he had previously never missed more than two major cuts in a single season. Despite his struggles, DeChambeau remains the most recent LIV player to win a major title, triumphing at the 2024 U.S. Open. Jon Rahm is under contract with LIV for multiple years but has not been as vocal about aiding LIV’s survival as DeChambeau.
LIV had previously announced portions of its 2027 schedule, but the organization’s plans for next year remain unsettled until it secures new funding. Last week, LIV informed employees that it would file a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice, a U.S. legal requirement for companies with more than 100 workers to provide at least 60 days’ notice of potential mass layoffs.
The PGA Tour will continue with six more events after the season’s final major—three regular-season tournaments followed by three FedExCup Playoff events. The full 2027 PGA Tour calendar is expected to be formally released in late August at the Tour Championship, though many tournament dates have already been confirmed by individual event organizers.
Looking ahead, the 2028 PGA Tour season promises substantial upheaval with the introduction of a new two-series model. While high-level aspects of this structure were outlined by PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, the details remain to be finalized as the tour proceeds with its evolution over the next 18 months.