Play The 2026 Open at Royal Birkdale on Your Tabletop
14 July 2026
Birkdale Is Back
The Open returns to Royal Birkdale on 16 July. Four days of links golf, crosswinds off the Irish Sea, and those towering dunes swallowing anything that drifts offline.
It is the oldest championship in the game and the one major that refuses to play nice. Birkdale in particular has a habit of humbling the best in the world. Low scores are earned, not given.
So I built a tabletop pack to play right alongside it.
Play Every Round As It Happens
Here's the plan. The Open runs Thursday to Sunday. This pack lets you run your own championship over the exact same four days, one round at a time, at your kitchen table.
The full 156-player field is rated. Every name in the draw, from the favourites to the qualifiers nobody expects to make the weekend. You roll it out round by round, watch your leaderboard take shape, sweat the cut line on Friday night, and see who is standing on Sunday.
It is powered by the Under Par engine, the same system behind the Masters and PGA Championship packs. If you have played those, you already know the feel. If you haven't, this is a clean place to start.
Built For Birkdale, Not Just Any Course
This isn't a generic field dropped onto a blank layout. The scoring is calibrated to how Birkdale actually plays. Tougher than your average Open rota course, winners in the red but not by miles. No fantasy -15 runaways here.
You get options too. Keep it quick with round-by-round resolution and blitz a full championship in an evening. Or slow it right down with the hole-by-hole cards and grind out the brute 6th, the six bunkers guarding the 18th, and every pressure putt in between.
Here's the 1st at Birkdale, straight from the deck:
One card, one d100 roll, and the opener at Birkdale comes to life. Out-of-bounds right, thick fescue left, a small green that punishes anything long. Eighteen of these in the pack.
Want to Get Started Early?
Can't wait until Thursday? You don't have to sit on your hands.
The Under Par Full Bag bundles a stack of courses and tours together in one collection. Plenty of golf to keep you busy right up to the first tee at Birkdale.
It's Live. The First Tee Is Thursday.
The Open tees off at Birkdale on Thursday, and the pack is ready now. Run your own championship over the exact same four days the pros do.
That's the whole idea. Their leaderboard on the telly, yours on the table, both moving round by round to Sunday.
Grab it, pick your golfer, and get your dice ready. See you on the first tee.