These 13 Courses Have Hosted The Most Open Championships

The Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland is all set to host the Open Championship aka British Open aka The Open next week with all of the world’s best golfers tackling the 137-year-old links golf course.

2025 will mark the third time the Royal Portrush Golf Club has hosted the British Open Championship and here we take a look at the 13 golf courses that have hosted the most British Open Championships.

Links golf offers a totally different challenge compared to the courses PGA Tour players are used to and it is the primary reason the British Open Championship is so special each year. Scottie Scheffler will be the favorite, of course, but more than any individual golfer the eyes of the golf world will be transfixed on the course itself.

Open Championship courses are stunning. The closest thing we have to this in America might be the Bandon Dunes resort in Oregon where I was back in March. But Scotland, Ireland, and England have centuries of history that cannot be replicated across the pond. These are the Open Championship courses that have hosted the most.

Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club: 2

Currently tied with Royal Portrush at 2 Opens is the Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club in Deal, England. It hosted two British Opens in 1909 and 1920 and as things remain, it will stay at 2 because like many others on this list it is no longer in the Open Championship course rotation from The R&A.

Royal Portrush Golf Club: 3*

Royal Portrush Golf Club will soon break a two-way tie for having hosted the Open Championship twice. Next week will be the third British Open at Royal Portrush with the last two coming in 1951 and 2019.

Shane Lowry holds the Open Championship scoring record at Royal Portrush at -15 during the 2019 Open.

Turnberry: 4

Turnberry most recently hosted an Open Championship in 2009. The course in South Ayrshire, Scotland hosted 4 British Opens between 1977 and 2009 and it is currently no longer in the R&A’s Open Championship rotation.

Tom Watson (1977) and Nick Price (1994) hold the scoring record at Turnberry at -12 (268). Such a historic course, it would be incredible to see it return to the Open rotation at some point in the future.

Musselburgh Links: 6

Musselburgh Links in Musselburgh, Scotland is another course that is no longer in the Open Championship course rotation but it hosted 6 Opens between 1874-1889.

This course was previously certified as the oldest golf course in the world but that record has since been updated to award the record to St. Andrews. There is evidence golf was played here all the way back in in 1672.

Carnoustie Golf Links: 8

Carnoustie Golf Links in Carnoustie, Scotland has hosted 8 British Open Championships, most recently in 2018. Carnoustie’s first British Open was hosted in 1931.

Francesco Molinari set the Open Championship scoring record at Carnoustie back in 2018 when he finished 276 (−8).

Royal Birkdale Golf Club: 10

Jordan Spieth made history at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club in 2017 when he finished 268 (−12). That was the 10th and most recent time the Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England has hosted The Open but it will host again in 2016.

Other Open winners at Royal Birkale over the years have included Pádraig Harrington, Mark O’Meara, Ian Baker-Finch, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer, and Peter Thomson (twice).

Royal Troon Golf Club: 10

The Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland hosted The Open last year, its 10th time hosting the Open Championship since 1923.

Henrik Stenson’s score of -20 in 2016 tied for the lowest 72-hole score in Open Championship history. Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson both won majors at this course.

Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club: 11

The Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, England has hosted 11 Open Championships over the years, between 1926 and most recently in 2012.

Tom Lehman holds the scoring record here from the 1996 Open at 271 (−13). Ernie Els is the most recent winner back in 2012 at -7.

Royal Liverpool Golf Club: 13

The Royal Liverpool Golf Club has hosted 13 Open Championships between 1897 and most recently in 2023. Tiger Woods owns the scoring record at this 156 year-old course in Hoylake, England with his -18 score back in 2006.

Royal St George's Golf Club: 15

With 15 Open Championships to its name, Royal St. George’s Golf Club is one of the most historic courses on this list.

The course located in Sandwich, England hosted its first Open in 1894 and most recently in 2021. Collin Morikawa set the course’s Open scoring record that year at 265 (−15).

Muirfield: 16

Muirfield in Gullane, Scotland has hosted 16 Open Championships between 1892 and most recently in 2013. The great Tom Watson has the scoring record that at 271 (−13) back in 1980.

Other golf greats to win an Open Championship at Muirfield include Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo (twice), and plenty of others.

Prestwick Golf Club: 24

With the second most Open Championships hosted in history we have the Prestwick Golf Club in Prestwick, Scotland, a course that is no longer in the rotation by The R&A, sadly.

Prestwick Golf Club has hosted 24 Open Championships, all between 1860 and 1925. This course sits about 30 miles outside of Glasgow and was built back in 1851 when the legendary Old Tom Morris was Prestwick GC’s “Keeper of the Green, Ball and Club Maker” between 1851 and 1864.

Old Course at St Andrews: 30

The Old Course at St Andrews aka ‘The Home Of Golf’ has hosted more Open Championships than any other course in Scotland, England, or Ireland with 30 Open Championships between 1873 and 2022.

Rory McIlroy recently remarked how it ‘means more’ winning titles at golf’s greatest venues and that certainly rings true at St. Andrews. Tiger Woods won two Opens here (2000, 2005), Jack won two. It is arguably the most famous golf course on earth, a toss up between here and Augusta.