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Royal Birkdale, 14 July 2026
HEROES CLASSIC
The inaugural Heroes Classic took place at Royal Birkdale on Tuesday 14 July, with Team Scheffler taking the victory.
The 2025 Champion Golfer of the Year was playing alongside Justin Rose and 2025 Women's Amateur Champion Paula Martin Sampedro in front of packed grandstands at the iconic Southport venue.
With a stableford format plus a bonus points system in use, they finished two clear of runners-up Team Yamashita (Miyu Yamashita, Tommy Fleetwood and Bryan Habana). Team Harrington (Padraig Harrington, Jordan Spieth and Brendan Lawlor) ended their campaign a further two points behind.
The field
Champion Golfers Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth and Padraig Harrington were among those teeing it up in the Heroes Classic.
AIG Women's Open Champion Miyu Yamashita, 2025 Women's Amateur Champion Paula Martin Sampedro, former G4D Open Champion Brendan Lawlor and European Ryder Cup stars Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood joined them.
R&A ambassador Bryan Habana also took part in the star-studded event.
The teams
Team SCHEFFLER
Scottie Scheffler
Justin Rose
Paula Martin Sampedro
Team HARRINGTON
Padraig Harrington
Jordan Spieth
Brendan Lawlor
Team YAMASHITA
Miyu Yamashita
Tommy Fleetwood
Bryan Habana
The format
The Heroes Classic was contested in teams of three players over the 1st, 2nd and 9th holes at Royal Birkdale.
A Texas Scramble format was used with a scoring incentive in place to ensure each participant gets to hit as many shots as possible, creating team unity and enabling friendly competition.
Each hole was scored using the following Stableford system:
• Birdie - 3 points
• Par - 2 points
• Bogey - 1 point
• Double Bogey or worse - 0 points
If a team scores a birdie on a hole and each player has contributed one of the shots used to complete the hole, the team receives 1 bonus Stableford point for that hole. This can be awarded on multiple holes.
In the event of a tie, teams will compete in a sudden-death putt-off on the 9th green.
Practice Day tickets
The R&A once again experienced huge demand from fans in the ticket ballot for The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale meaning that almost all tickets across the week are sold out.
However increased capacity has resulted in a limited number of tickets being available to attend Practice Days which include the Last-Chance Qualifier on Monday 13 July and the Heroes Classic on Tuesday 14 July.
Fans can enhance their experience with Ticket Plus, offering general admission plus access to a private area featuring exclusive food and drinks, indoor and outdoor seating, a big screen, private restrooms, a £25 food voucher and a private bar.
