The 2026 Open Championship returns to Royal Birkdale for the 11th time this July, more times than any other course other than St. Andrews.
Following on from Scottie Scheffler's comfortable win at Royal Portrush a year ago, proceedings head back to England, and the picturesque Merseyside course.
Scheffler will be looking to defend his title to keep up the U.S. dominance in the event, with an American golfer winning four of the last five Open Championships.
You'd have top delve back to 12 years ago before you would find a British winner, Royal McIlroy at nearby Hoylake.
And of course many will be cheering on local hero Tommy Fleetwood, who grew up just a stone's throw away from the course in nearby Southport.
But, as action returns to Merseyside, we take a trip down memory lane and look at what happened the last time The Open took place at Royal Birkdale in 2017.
- How Wyndham Clark hung on and won the 2026 U.S. Open
The opening round
The brutality of Royal Birkdale was laid bare on the first hole, as 1998 Open champion Mark O'Meara hit a quadruple bogey after hitting his opening shot of the week out of bounds.
He ended up scoring 81, +11 for the day and unsurprisingly from there, he missed the cut and never returned to an Open Championship again.
It was also a tough day for Fleetwood, who could not benefit from the excellence of playing partners Brooks Koepka and Hideki Matsuyama, and he ended up going round in a six-over-par 76.
McIlroy, the 2014 champion, was almost out of it before he really began, with a disastrous front nine, in which he scored five bogies in his first six holes to go out in 39.
He recovered well when coming in with a score of 32 to end up only +1, and ensure he was in the fight.
It was not a tough day for all though, with Jordan Spieth, Koepka and Matt Kuchar flying the flag for the U.S. and leading on -5.
Englishman Paul Casey was a shot behind on -4, alongside Charl Schwartzel, while Ian Poulter was two shots back on -3.
Reigning champion Henrik Stenson scored 69 to sit one-under-par and four shots off the lead.
The second round
If the first round was difficult, the second round was an absolute bloodbath, with horrendous conditions making low scoring extremely challenging and only eight players going under par.
The rain and wind were so bad that play was suspended in the middle of Spieth's round, with the American having a 15-minute pause alongside playing partners Si-Woo Kim and Stenson under umbrellas.
Once the greens had been cleared to play again, Spieth delivered a masterclass given the circumstances.
An eagle on the 15th briefly gave him a three-shot lead, before eventually heading for the warmth and dry of the clubhouse with a one-under-par 69 for the day.
Koepka scored 72 to drift three shots back, while Kuchar's 71 saw him two strokes behind Spieth on -4 for the tournament.
Flying the flag for the home players was Poulter, whose level par 70 ensured he was with Koepka, sitting two shots back and ready to pounce over the weekend.
Another who was ready to pounce was McIlroy, whose 68 saw him suddenly only four shots off the lead -- how quickly golf can change given his opening six holes.
Fleetwood managed to make the cut with an impressive one-under-par 69, seeing his score hit +5, which was the cutline.
Moving day
Moving day proved to be one for the history books, with conditions easing and scoring much, much lower as a result.
Spieth took a stranglehold of the competition with another five-under-par 65 to take his score for the week to -11.
Kuchar was the main competitor to stick by Spieth but his 66 still saw him lose another stroke and sit three back at -8.
Canadian Austin Connelly also shot 66 to draw level with Koepka, whose 68 saw him return to -5.
Stenson was another who shot low with a 65 to edge into tied seventh, along with Chan Kim, Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Dustin Johnson, who scored 64 to put him -3.
But the day belonged to one man in particular -- South African Branden Grace.
Coming into the day at +4, he was not on many people's list of players to watch for the day.
That quickly changed though, as he ended up shooting 62, the lowest ever score at a major championship after eight birdies and 10 pars.
The final round
The day was all set for Spieth to win his third major and join an exclusive list of players.
Beginning the day three shots ahead, Spieth had a disastrous start, bogeying three of the opening four holes, meaning he was level with Kuchar through four.
Spieth then birdied the fifth, with Kuchar bogeying the sixth to open up a two-stroke lead.
That was disintegrated at the turn though, with Spieth hitting a bogey and Kuchar slotting in for birdie on the ninth to see the scores level heading into the back nine.
At the 13th, it appeared Spieth was struggling mentally, as he bogeyed to see Kuchar take the lead.
That lasted just one hole though, with a birdie on the 14th seeing him go back level with Kuchar on -8.
It was on the 15th that the tournament was effectively decided, with Kuchar scoring a birdie but Spieth making a 48-foot putt for eagle to put him back into the lead with only three holes to play.
Another birdie on the 16th, combined with par for Kuchar, put Spieth into a two-stroke lead with two holes to play.
That continued on 17, with both players scoring a birdie, and Spieth parred the 18th when Kuchar hit into a bunker and eventually bogeyed it.
The win saw Spieth join only the great Jack Nicklaus to win three of the four majors before his 24th birthday.
Elsewhere, Li Haotong delivered a bizarre 63 to finish third, scoring his first birdie on the eighth hole but then going through the back nine in 30, with birdies on the final four holes.
That saw him secure the best finish for an Asian player at the Open in 46 years.
Flying the flag for the UK, McIlroy finished strongly with a 67 to finish tied fourth with Cabrera-Bello.