For years now, the Open Championship schedule has been suspiciously empty. After this year’s 154th Open at Royal Birkdale and next year’s return to the Old Course at St. Andrews, no other venues had been announced. Until today.

Early Monday morning, the R&A announced that the 2028 Open Championship would be hosted at Royal Lytham and St Annes in England. The news comes after many had speculated the 2028 could see Muirfield return to the Open spotlight after a lengthy absence due to controversy.

Here’s what you need to know.

R&A names Royal Lytham & St Annes as 2028 Open Championship venue

The R&A broke the big Open Championship news via press release, with CEO Mark Darbon praising Royal Lytham & St Annes and noting the illustrious champion when the Open was first held at the club in 1926: Bobby Jones.

“Royal Lytham & St Annes is widely renowned as one of the world’s finest links courses and has witnessed many great championship moments since The Open was first played there in 1926 when the legendary Bobby Jones won,” Darbon’s statement said. “This is one of golf’s most cherished and historic venues and The Open’s return to these famous links will spark huge interest among fans to be part of one of the world’s great sporting events and celebrate the rich traditions of golf’s original Championship.”

Royal Lytham & St Annes has a serious Open Championship pedigree, with the 1926 Open won by Jones just one of 11 Opens held at the course located in Lancashire, England.

In addition to Jones, other pros who won the Open at Royal Lytham include Gary Player, Seve Ballesteros and David Duval. When the club last hosted the Open in 2012, Ernie Els hoisted the Claret Jug for his second Open victory.

In the most recent GOLF Top 100 Courses in the World list, Royal Lytham was ranked No. 68.

The 2028 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes will not be played in mid-July as most Opens are due to the 2028 Olympics. Instead, the 2028 Open will be contested August 3-6.

Muirfield’s absence from Open Championship rota continues

While Royal Lytham is a prestigious course with a storied history, it doesn’t quite live up to the pedigree that Muirfield holds.

The famed Scottish links course has hosted 16 Open Championships, four more than Lytham when you include the 2028 Open.

While Lytham is ranked 68th in our Top 100 Courses list, Muirfield is 11th.

Muirfield’s past Open champions include many of the tournament’s greats, such as Harry Vardon, Walter Hagen, Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and Nick Faldo (twice). Ernie Els’ other Open win came at Muirfield.

And at the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield, Phil Mickelson shocked the world by capturing his only Open title, a tournament he thought he’d never win.

But the 2013 Open was the last held at Muirfield. The R&A then removed it from its longtime place in the Open rota following a controversial 2016 vote in which Muirfield members elected to continue its policy of barring women from joining the club.

At the time, the R&A said, “The Open is one of the world’s great sporting events and going forward we will not stage the Championship at a venue that does not admit women as members.”

The club later reversed its vote and accepted its first women members in 2019. That left many to wonder is Muirfield was destined to return to the Open stage.

Even Rory McIlroy voiced his support for an Open return to Muirfield. Earlier this year in Dubai, McIlroy argued that Muirfield “obviously rectified the issues that they had,” and praised the course as an Open venue.

“Muirfield deserves to be back on the Open rota,” McIlroy said in January.

Though now we know the Open will not go to Muirfield in 2028, there are still no future Open venues announced for 2029 and beyond.

Interestingly, Muirfield last hosted the Open in 2013, one year after Lytham hosted its most recent Open. With Lytham now returning in 2028, perhaps 2029 is the year the Open Championship finally returns to Muirfield.