Booking & Access
How to Get Tickets for The Open Championship
The R&A public ballot, the hospitality route, practice round access, and what the resale market looks like. A practical guide to getting into The Open — without paying three times face value.
The Open Championship is not a ticketed event in the same way as a concert or a football match. There is no single sales window, no universal queue that opens at a fixed time. There are instead three distinct routes into the grounds — the public ballot, the hospitality market, and practice round access — each with different lead times, price points, and practical experiences. Understanding which route suits your intentions is the first decision to make.
Route 1: The R&A Public Ballot
The primary route to standard grounds access is the R&A's own ballot system, operated through theopen.com. This is not the same as the Old Course Daily Ballot (which allocates tee times on the course to visiting golfers) — it is a separate system for spectator tickets to the championship.
How the ballot works
The R&A opens a registration of interest approximately 18 months before each championship. You register online, specifying which days you want to attend and how many tickets you need. At a later date — typically 12 months before the event — registered applicants are invited to purchase tickets from their allocation.
For St Andrews events specifically, the ballot is substantially oversubscribed. The 2022 150th Open at St Andrews was reported to have registrations at approximately 8:1 against available tickets for weekend championship days. Demand for Thursday and Sunday tends to exceed Wednesday and Saturday, though all four championship days at a St Andrews Open are competitive.
What to do now
Register your interest on theopen.com as soon as the 2027 registration window opens — the R&A will announce this via their website and email list. Register for multiple days if you can attend multiple days; this increases your probability of at least one successful allocation. Register as a pair or small group rather than a large one; pairs are statistically easier to accommodate than fourballs.
If you are allocated tickets, you pay at the time of purchase — the registration is not a commitment to buy. If you are unsuccessful in the ballot, you are not immediately out of options (see below).
Ticket prices (estimated from 2022 and 2024 Opens)
| Day | Estimated price |
|---|---|
| Practice round (Mon–Wed) | £30–£50 |
| Championship day grounds (Thu–Sun) | £95–£130 |
| Four-day grounds pass | £300–£380 (where released) |
| Grandstand seat (add-on) | £50–£120 |
| Junior grounds (under 16) | Free with a ticketed adult |
These are estimates pending R&A confirmation of 2027 prices.
Route 2: Practice rounds — the underrated option
Practice round tickets (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday before the championship) are cheaper, easier to obtain, and — for many visitors — a better experience than competition day grounds access. They are not widely understood.
On a practice round day at the Open:
- There are no ropes separating spectators from players on most holes. You can walk within ten feet of players as they work through their routines on holes 1 through 16. Only around the 18th green and the practice putting green does the marshalling become more structured.
- Players work through strategic decisions out loud. Practice rounds are reconnaissance — watching a player like Rory McIlroy discuss the 17th Road Hole approach with his caddie from five yards away is a qualitatively different experience from watching the same shot from a grandstand during competition.
- Access to autographs is genuinely possible. Senior players at the Open are more accessible on Tuesday practice mornings than almost anywhere else in professional golf. Around the practice putting green before the first groups go out, and at the 18th green in the afternoon, brief interactions are realistic.
- The course feels like a course rather than an event. No queues at catering concessions. No herding through crowd control corridors. No fight for a sightline.
The practical route to practice round tickets: the R&A releases practice round allocations through the same ballot system, and they are less oversubscribed than championship day tickets. If you are unsuccessful for a championship day, applying specifically for Tuesday or Wednesday practice rounds significantly improves your chances.
Route 3: Keith Prowse hospitality
Keith Prowse is the R&A's official hospitality partner for The Open Championship. They operate the full range of corporate and private hospitality packages at the venue — from half-day marquee access to multi-day packages with premium positions.
What hospitality actually means at the Open
A hospitality package for the Open is not a ticket with extras. It is a different type of event attendance. You have a dedicated entrance, access to a catered marquee or suite, a bar that doesn't involve a 20-minute queue, and a view of a specific part of the course from a fixed position. What you do not have is the ability to walk freely around 18 holes of a championship golf course and make your own decisions about where to watch.
The correct use of a hospitality package:
- A corporate group entertaining clients for whom the catering and atmosphere are as important as the golf
- A celebration (birthday, anniversary) where a premium experience is the point
- A group where one or more people are not particularly interested in watching a lot of golf
The incorrect use of a hospitality package, if you are the person who wants to spend the day watching as much golf as possible from different vantage points, is to spend a day in a marquee. Buy a grounds ticket and a packed lunch.
Keith Prowse pricing (estimated from 2022 Open)
| Package type | Estimated price per person |
|---|---|
| Half-day hospitality | £500–£800 |
| Full championship day | £800–£1,800 |
| Premium 18th position | £1,500–£3,000 |
| Multi-day corporate | £3,000–£6,000+ |
Keith Prowse 2027 Open packages will be listed at keithprowse.co.uk when the championship is confirmed. For the 2022 St Andrews Open, packages sold out within weeks of going on general sale, 12+ months before the event. Register an early enquiry through Keith Prowse's corporate enquiries team to be notified when 2027 packages become available.
The resale market
Open Championship tickets do appear on the secondary market. They appear on the R&A's own authorised resale platform, on Ticketmaster's resale function, and on StubHub. They also appear on unauthorised platforms at substantially higher prices.
A few practical notes on resale:
Use the R&A's platform where possible. The R&A introduced an authorised resale mechanism after the 2019 Open partly to reduce the volume of fraudulent tickets circulating. Tickets resold through the official platform carry full guarantee of authenticity.
Price expectations on resale. Championship day grounds tickets at the 2022 St Andrews Open were listed on secondary platforms at between 1.5x and 4x face value, depending on the day and proximity to the event. Thursday (moving day) and Sunday (final round) attract the highest premiums. Practice round tickets on the secondary market were priced closer to face value — another reason to prioritise practice rounds in the ballot.
Avoid cash-only transactions near the venue. Unofficial ticket sellers operate in the vicinity of major championships. This is not a reliable source of genuine tickets.
If you don't get tickets
The Open Championship at St Andrews is sufficiently well-organised that large sections of the course boundary along the West Sands and the public roads adjacent to the Links are accessible without a ticket. Crowds gather along the West Sands behind the 1st and 18th holes; views of play on the 1st and 18th fairways are partially available from public ground.
This is not a substitute for grounds access — you cannot follow play around the course, and the view from outside the perimeter is limited. But if ballot and resale attempts have all failed and you are in St Andrews during championship week, it is not nothing.
The R&A also operates a large screen area for non-ticket holders in the town during championship weeks.
Timeline for 2027
| Action | When |
|---|---|
| Register interest at theopen.com | As soon as 2027 registration opens (watch for announcement) |
| Ballot allocation invitation | Typically ~12 months before |
| Keith Prowse enquiry registration | Now (register for early notification) |
| Practice round allocation | Via same ballot; less oversubscribed |
| Resale market opens | As successful allocations resell (typically 3–6 months before) |
All prices and dates are estimates based on previous championships pending R&A confirmation of 2027 details. Verify all current information at theopen.com.
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