Golf Digest

By Greg Gottfried July 13, 2026 Divider The ball marker is a sneaky way to show off your golf bonafides. Maybe an Augusta National one to show that you’ve made the pilgrimage, or perhaps one “forged from solid tungsten” for $2,700. And yet, that all pales in comparison to an Olympic gold medal, which is exactly what Minnesota Wild forward Matt Boldy used at the American Century Championship. Of course, he sunk the putt. Was there ever any doubt?

SOUTHPORT, England — With respect to the 2015 Masters and U.S. Open, the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale was the magnum opus in Jordan Spieth’s borderline artistic career. Much like Spieth himself, Royal Birkdale looks a lot different nine years later. His 6-iron birdie at the par-3 14th in 2017 is literally no longer possible to recreate, given recent changes to Birkdale included the removal of that par 3 and a renovation and switch of the par-5 15th on the scorecard to No.14.

Rory McIlroy's first task at Royal Birkdale ahead of the 154th Open Championship is to fix one of the oldest problems in links golf. To stop the wind from wrecking his golf swing. You can see Rory get to work on the R&A's fantastic Live on the Range YouTube broadcast from Monday below (and subscribe to its YouTube Channel here). Rory's problem to solve, in theory at least, is fairly simple: Rory likes to see a subtle draw. That was his stock shot shape growing up, and his general comfort zone.

SOUTHPORT, England — Joe Dean stood 10 yards away, trying to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker to become the final golfer into the Open Championship field. But the man in the white shirt and straw hat wasn't watching him. He was looking instead down the 18th fairway, having just emerged through the amphitheater beside the Royal Birkdale clubhouse, a chute where the course opens like a theater curtain raising.

By Alex Myers July 13, 2026 Divider Someone made how much betting on Tom Kim?! The 24-year-old took home nearly $1.6 million for winning the Genesis Scottish Open, but that's nothing compared to what one of his backers made. According to DraftKings, one gambler placed a $47,700 pre-tournament bet on Kim at 84-to-1 odds. And we'll go ahead and do the math on that one to tell you that he won a little over $4 MILLION—or 2.5 times what Tom won for winning the actual tournament. Sheesh.

By Christopher Powers July 13, 2026 Divider This is the greatest "What's In My Bag" in Golf Digest history. If you're not following Jarod Hitchcock on X (@jarodhitchcock), you're doing it wrong. He's always sharing incredible content from the Golf Digest archive, and we don't even pay him to do it. On Sunday, he shared an old "What's In My Bag" from 2013, featuring former PGA Tour winner Charlie Beljan, and it's since gone viral for a very obvious reason: Man, what a wild inclusion.

SOUTHPORT, England — Joe Dean, an English golfer who grew up two hours from Royal Birkdale in Sheffield, hasn’t started writing his wedding speech despite the big day being next week. The 32-year-old will have a heck of a story to tell after a dramatic eagle helped him emerge as the winner among the 12 competitors in R&A’s inaugural Last-Chance Qualifier for the 154th Open Championship with his fiancée Emily on the bag.

How will you be remembered by your golf buddies when you die? It's probably not a question you think about often, but, sadly, it's an inevitable reality. And something that others will hear about as well if you're a prominent figure—and one of those golf buddies happens to be the President of the United States. Such is the case for Lindsey Graham, who passed suddenly over the weekend. Best known as a U.S. Senator, the South Carolinian was also a frequent playing partner of Donald Trump.

It was a long wait for Tom Kim. Over a thousand days since his last PGA Tour win and four years since he broke into the broader golf consciousness with a victory at The Renaissance Club. But on Sunday, Kim finally ended the winless drought with his second Genesis Scottish Open title, cementing himself as a British Open contender while also earning the attention of a fella by the name of Tiger Woods. Perhaps you’ve heard of him.

The 154th Open Championship will be visiting Southport and Royal Birkdale for the 11th time in the past 72 years. Four men in the 156-man field have competed in the past three championships held on this heralded links (1998, 2008, 2017): Stewart Cink, David Duval, Padraig Harrington and Justin Rose. Some may have guessed Darren Clarke. Clarke missed the 2008 Open Championship, but he is the only player in the field who competed at Royal Birkdale in 1991! Rose is a key name in Birkdale history.