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R&A chief executive Mark Durbon confirmed that plans are “under review” to change the timing of Sunday’s final round tee if England reach the FIFA World Cup final.
More than 300,000 fans are expected to attend the final men’s major of the year this week at Royal Birkdale, with Sunday’s final round scheduled to take place on the same day as the World Cup final in New Jersey.
The football final between Spain and England or Argentina will kick off at 8pm UK time at the MetLife Stadium, around 80 minutes after the final put on Merseyside.
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Durbon previously said the R&A would “try to avoid that clash where possible”, with the three-hole play-off potentially open to The Open and its trophy presentation when football is already underway.
In recent weeks there has been discussion among stakeholders about whether to move Sunday tee times forward to avoid clashes, with the R&A currently sticking to its planned schedule but prepared to revisit the situation once the World Cup finalists are confirmed.
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“I’m an England football fan, so having (them in the final) would be a big problem,” Darbon said at Wednesday’s pre-tournament press conference. “Also, as I’m an England football fan, we should wait to see how the semi-finals go before we jump too far.
“Obviously, in the background, we’re thinking about it a lot. Our final putt is currently scheduled for Sunday at 6:40 p.m. We feel that, even though we go into a three-hole playoff, we’ve got time to complete the championship.
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“At this stage, there are no plans to change anything, but we will keep it under review and finalize our position after the semi-finals.”
The Open uses a three-hole aggregate playoff to determine the winner if the score is tied after 72 holes, should the score be tied in sudden death. The last playoff for The Open was in 2015, when Jack Johnson won at St Andrews.
Tee times are often brought forward due to impending bad weather, while the R&A tweaked the tee times before the third round in last year’s competition so that fans were not affected by the Portash Sons of Ulster parade.
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Other sports have already changed their schedules to avoid clashing with the World Cup, with Wednesday’s Vitality Blast quarter-final initially planned for the evening but now kicking off at 4.30pm or 5pm.
The Betfred World Matchplay Darts event has already confirmed that there will be a last-minute rejig in their schedule if England progress, with the first three sessions planned to be brought forward to the weekend to avoid any action on Sunday evening.
When is the Open live on Sky Sports?
Wall-to-wall action kicks off with the final men’s major of the year on Thursday at 6.30am on Sky Sports Golf, the exclusive home of The Open in the UK and Ireland, Sky Sports Golf.
Sky Sports+ or The Sky Sports appwith extended coverage then beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday and 8 a.m. on Sunday.
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