These Top Finishers From 2017 Have Returned to Royal Birkdale for The Open

We all remember Jordan Spieth’s victory at Royal Birkdale in 2017. And even if you don’t remember, surely you’ve seen enough content about it this week to feel like you lived it. It’s all well deserved; it was the youngster’s third major championship, and featured the most Spieth-ian bogey imaginable followed by a scathing closing run to lift the Claret Jug.

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But what about the rest of the leaderboard? When we look back at past tournaments, it’s easy to lock in on the winners. But several other players turned in good weeks behind Spieth, and many of them are returning to Royal Birkdale for this year’s Open. Here are some of 2017’s best finishers looking to find that magic once again, nine years later.

I’m not going to lie here, this is why I wanted to write about this. I mean, be honest, did you know that Haotong Li finished third–behind only Jordan Spieth and Matt Kuchar–at the 2017 Open Championship?

Well, you might know that he backed it up eight years later, finishing T4 just last year at Royal Portrush. Haotong, renowned as one of the funniest personalities on TOUR, always seems to find ways to show up near the top of the leaderboard. He hasn’t found his best form yet in 2026, but what better spot to turn it around than on familiar ground?

Back in 2017, Rory was just three years into a major championship draught that would last more than a decade, but now–with back-to-back Masters under his belt–that pressure is gone. Steady play brought him a tie for fourth nine years ago, but he might need to find more fireworks if he wants to grab a second Open Championship win.

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Whether it’s from Rory or not, some fireworks are certain. On the dry fairways of Royal Birkdale, we could see drives easily reaching the 400-yard mark. We’ve already seen 5-irons pushing towards 300 yards.

Brooks–coming in fresh off of his first major victory at the 2017 U.S. Open–took the lead alongside the eventual champion at 5-under after Thursday. After his dramatic return to the PGA TOUR in January, he’s struggled to find consistent footing. The Open has given Brooks fits for his whole career, at least compared to his record at other majors.

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This was another one that I didn’t necessarily expect. 2026 will actually be Noren’s third time teeing it up in a Royal Birkdale Open. He made his first major start here in 2008, logging a T19 then, and backed it up with a T6 in 2017. Just following that trend, we might be looking at a top-5 finish for Noren this week.

2026 has looked a bit like a mirror-image of 2017–at least when it comes to The Open–for Matthew. In both years, the Englishman qualified for the major through Final Qualifying at Royal Cinque Ports. But will he be able to put on the same stellar performance in the event itself, nine years later?

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This year has been perhaps Hideki’s quietest since coming over to the TOUR full-time in 2014. Since losing the WM Phoenix Open to Chris Gotterup in a playoff, he hasn’t quite managed to find consistent form, not recording a single top-10 in almost five months.

We’d be here all day if we went through every single name, but others like Xander Schauffele, Adam Scott and Rickie Fowler recorded top-25s in 2017. With zero wins in 2026 between the three, they’ll look to recover some momentum on familiar turf in England.