SportsLine golf expert Brady Kannon just locked in his PGA Tour best bets for the 2025 British Open at Royal Portrush Golf Club

Northern Irishman Darren Clarke, the 2012 Open champion who is a longtime Portrush member, was speaking generally of the course but he might as well have been speaking specifically of Calamity Corner when he said, “There’s no place like it. It’s brutal and beautiful – often at the same time.”

There will be 156 golfers teeing it up in the 153rd Open Championship. Among them will be 16 past champions of the oldest major in men's golf.

Rain showers can be expected at times for the 153rd Open Championship, which is being hosted on the coast of Northern Ireland.

In 2019, it was the first-ever sold-out Open. It was a hugely significant moment for Northern Ireland after a troubled past.

One of the best Open Championship traditions going—punishing drop zones—is back for the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush. Golf.com's an Dethier captured two photos of some of the nastier drop zones the R&A implemented this year: That's the good stuff. RELATED: Wyndham Clark suspended from Oakmont after damaging locker room during U.S. Open

Royal Portrush is not only open to visitors, but its yearly membership dues are what the average American golfer spends on public tee times.

Golf's oldest championship returns to Royal Portrush. It's the third time the British Open has gone to the Northern Ireland links. Shane Lowry won in 2019.

Set the coffee pot for the wee hours of the morning, because we’re heading to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland for the British Open this week. It’s going to be an early start for fans in the United States, but it should be well worth it with all of the drama and the fantastic return to links-style golf that should excite golf fans far and wide.

The Texas native is in rarefied air, however, having already proven his ability to build off the momentum of a win this season with back-to-back victories in May, first finishing 31-under at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in front of his family and hometown crowd, followed by the PGA Championship just 14 days later.

SportsLine golf expert Brady Kannon just locked in his PGA Tour best bets for the 2025 British Open at Royal Portrush Golf Club

Fourteen years ago this week, as he calmly strutted up the 18th fairway at Royal St. George's Golf Club — his first and perhaps only major championship firmly in his back pocket — Darren Clarke admits there was a feeling of joy that swept over him like none he'd ever felt.