Qualifying Venues confirmed for 2027 ISPS HANDA Senior Open at Royal Porthcawl

Europe’s only Senior Major Championship will visit the South Wales venue for the fourth time when the 40th edition of the event takes place from July 22-25, 2027.

Bridgend’s Southerndown Golf Club and Pyle and Kenfig Golf Club, Machynys in Llanelli, and Pennard Golf Club, in the Gower Peninsula, will all host aspiring over-50s players on Monday July 19, as they battle it out to earn a spot in the prestigious Championship on the stunning Welsh links.

This will be the first time Pennard Golf Club has staged an ISPS HANDA Senior Open qualifier, while the other three venues hosted in 2014, 2017 and 2023.

Southerndown is situated on a unique and unusual limestone-heath, giving some of the world’s most renowned course designers a unique tableau to work from. Willie Fernie, Herbert Fowler, Willie Park, Harry Colt and Donald Steel all played their part in making the venue what it is today.

Pyle and Kenfig Golf Club’s lofty sand dunes form part of Porthcawl’s wonderful stretch of golf. Glorious views and historic associations adorn this undulating course with its natural hazard of hillocks, valleys and towering dunes.

Machynys is a Nicklaus-designed modern links course, which opened in 2005 and has already hosted an unprecedented 16 Championships, including four R&A events and four LET Championships of Europe.

Machynys has also been named the Welsh Golf Club of the Year in 2026 by Wales Golf.
Pennard Golf Club, located eight miles west of Swansea in the Gower Peninsula, was founded in 1896, and the course owes most of its appeal today first to James Braid and then to C.K. Cotton. The holes are routed over classically undulating and tumbling linksland, full of hummocks, hillocks and hollows, and pocked with dunes large and small.

Edward Kitson, Championship Director of the ISPS HANDA Senior Open, said: “This year’s Championship returns to a true links course in Royal Porthcawl, and we are proud to announce these four prestigious golf clubs as our Qualifying Venues.
“Every single player who qualifies from Southerndown, Pyle and Kenfig, Machynys or Pennard will have truly earned their spot in the 2027 ISPS HANDA Senior Open.

“Interest in Europe’s only Senior Major continues to grow and this provides an exciting opportunity for those wishing to take part.”

The ISPS HANDA Senior Open is co-sanctioned by the Staysure Legends Tour and PGA Tour Champions and counts on both the Staysure Legends Tour Order of Merit and the Schwab Cup.

Information on how to enter the 2027 ISPS HANDA Senior Open will follow in the new year.