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A decision on whether to move the final round of The Open to avoid a clash with the World Cup final will be made after England’s semi-final against Argentina on Wednesday.<\/b><\/p>\n
If England beat Argentina – which kicks off at 20:00 BST and will be shown live across the BBC – they will reach Sunday’s World Cup final for the first time since winning it in 1966.<\/p>\n
Sunday’s play at Royal Birkdale is scheduled to finish around 90 minutes before football’s showpiece match kicks off in New Jersey at 20:00, with Spain already in the final.<\/p>\n
Should the golf go to a play-off, the two events are at risk of overlapping, creating a quandary for fans and broadcasters.<\/p>\n
BBC Sport understands that the World Cup final will not be shown on the big screens around the Southport links.<\/p>\n
“As an England football fan, it would be a great problem to have,” R&A chief executive Mark Darbon told BBC Sport. <\/p>\n
“Our current schedule sees us finish around 6:40pm. We think that gives us time to complete a play-off, if required.<\/p>\n
“As we stand right now, there are no plans to adjust timings.”<\/p>\n
Moving the final round of a major championship is not unheard of, but usually it is to avoid incoming bad weather.<\/p>\n
In 2019, the final round of the Masters<\/a> teed off at 07:30 local time in order to miss thunderstorms. Tiger Woods took full advantage to famously win his fifth Green Jacket.<\/a><\/p>\n As recently as May, the fourth round of the Cadillac Championship on the PGA Tour was brought forward to prevent play being affected by bad weather, but moving a major to avoid a potential clash with another sporting event would be an unusual move.<\/p>\n Organisers, the R&A, say they aim to make a decision before the weekend.<\/p>\n “If there was going to be a change, we’d be communicating that over next 48 hours,” said Darbon.<\/p>\n “At the moment, we’re comfortable with our timings. If we were to make a change, it would be a subtle change.<\/p>\n “We’ll maintain that under review and finalise our position after the semi-final.”<\/p>\n The Open uses a three-hole play-off with the aggregate score deciding the winner, and if players are still tied, a sudden-death play-off after that.<\/p>\n It has been 11 years since golf’s oldest major has been decided by a play-off, with Zach Johnson prevailing at St Andrews in 2015.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n