Ryan Fox believes that a 10 handicap golfer could actually break 100 around Royal Birkdale in Open Championship conditions, but admitted that they would be relying on a number of good breaks.
Royal Birkdale has provided a brilliant stage for the final major of the season so far this week. The Southport course has been fair, but has also been prepared to trip players up should they get too greedy and make an error.
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Of course, most amateur golfers will never know just how difficult it is to play around a course like Birkdale when it is set up for the world’s best players.
What a 10 handicap golfer would shoot around Royal Birkdale in Open Championship conditions
YouTuber Erik Anders Lang got the opportunity to play Birkdale in the months before The Open Championship.
Lang played off a 5.8 handicap and went on to post a score of 94 in heavy winds. His caddie for the day claimed that the winning score at The Open Championship could be as high as six over par if that wind was around for all four days.
But it seems that Ryan Fox would expect plenty of golfers to be able to score well around Birkdale if given the opportunity.
Speaking after his second round on Friday, the New Zealander noted that amateur golfers would find Birkdale much friendlier than Shinnecock Hills.
“Shinnecock was absolutely brutal this year, and a 10-handicapper wouldn’t have broken 100 off the back tees the way we played it. But around here you can get away with missing a few shots here and there in the rough,” he said.
“I think a 10-handicap will still struggle, but if we drive it in the fairway the ball is going miles. They have a chance of breaking 100, I would say, but they could also have absolute nightmares in the bunkers, and that would be fun to watch, too.”
Where the cutline has fallen at all four majors in 2026
Interestingly, this year’s Open Championship looks set to have the lowest cutline of the four majors by some distance.
As the second round approached its conclusion, it appeared that those on one over par would end up making it through to the weekend.
Meanwhile, it was the case at The Masters, the PGA Championship, and the US Open that those at four over par after two rounds ended up making the cut.
So Birkdale has been the course that has generally been the least difficult. But that does not mean that it is a simple task by any means.
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