It has been 35 years since an Australian won The Open at Royal Birkdale, and this week, seven of them will set out to try and change that.

Ian Baker-Finch was the last, back in 1991, following Peter Thomson's wins in 1954 and 1965. 

The Open is the fourth and final men's golf major of the year, and the only one played outside the United States. It begins tomorrow, with the first group set to tee off at 3:35pm (AEST).

Min Woo Lee seems the most likely to trouble the leaderboard after finishing runner-up at last week’s Scottish Open, but you never know when it comes to golf.

So, if you're a fan of watching highly paid professionals hit a tiny ball around a lumpy field of grass with a metal stick, the next few days should deliver.

If not, we'll keep you up to date here!

3 minutes and 36 seconds
That is Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar's lead at the Tour de France after his Stage 10 win at Le Lioran on Tuesday. Some spectators along the Bastille Day route booed the four-time Tour champion, seemingly displeased with the world champion’s dominance. Afterwards, he said: "To all the guys that were booing, they give us more power." Pogačar, 26, is closing in on a record-equalling fifth title.

"Violence against women has no place. Not in our community, not in our game, and not in the values the Australian Football Hall of Fame seeks to uphold."
AFL Commission chair Craig Drummond in a statement following the removal of former St Kilda and Western Bulldogs player Nicky Winmar from the Australian Football Hall of Fame, after he was found guilty of three assault charges this month. The Commission can strip inductees found guilty of an indictable offence under a 2023 charter change. Winmar, inducted in 2022 after 251 AFL games, becomes only the second player removed after Barry Cable in 2023.

American soccer player Wee Willie McLean played on the wing for the U.S. at the 1934 FIFA World Cup, then vanished in 1938. His disappearance stayed unsolved for 84 years. Journalists Pablo Maurer and Matt Pentz solved the mystery for The Athletic in 2022. He had lived in Iowa under an assumed name, dying in 1977 after decades in state care.

🏉 Wests Tigers five-eighth Jarome Luai will join the Parramatta Eels for 2027 before signing with the Papua New Guinea Chiefs when they join the league in 2028. It means that Luai ends his time at the Tigers 12 months early. Tigers coach Benji Marshall shut down reports of a rift with the four-time premiership winner, calling the rumours "bullsh*t". The Tigers sit 13th on the NRL ladder and have won just two of 10 matches since Luai's move to the Chiefs was announced.

🏉 Adelaide Crows defender Josh Worrell is set to face court after being reported by South Australia Police over a crash involving a pedestrian at Woodville last Friday. Police allege the 25-year-old was driving when his vehicle struck a 29-year-old man. The pedestrian was injured and taken to the hospital by Worrell. Police say Worrell will be summoned over alleged aggravated driving without due care and failing to present to police within 90 minutes after the collision. The Adelaide Football Club said it's supporting Worrell.

🏊 Australian swimmer Shayna Jack has announced her retirement from the sport, confirming next week's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow will be her final competition. The 27-year-old won two relay gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics and 17 world championship medals across her career. Jack also served a two-year anti-doping ban after testing positive for a banned substance in 2019. She has always maintained her innocence. The Commonwealth Games run from 23 July.

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Sixteen years after winning their first and only World Cup title, Spain is heading back to the final following an impressive 2-0 win over title favourites France in the semifinals this morning.

Here’s what’s happening at the World Cup.

The 2010 World Cup and reigning European champions proved too good for France, who entered the match as favourites despite losing their two previous meetings with Spain in 2024 and 2025.

Spain opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with a penalty from Mikel Oyarzabal after 19-year-old Lamina Yamal was fouled by French defender Lucas Digne in the box. Pedro Porro doubled the lead in the 58th minute, finishing off a slick passing move. 

Spain will now face the winner of tomorrow morning’s semifinal between England and Argentina. It will be the country’s second appearance in a World Cup final.

Meanwhile, France missed the chance to become the first team since Brazil to appear in three consecutive World Cup finals. 

In the second semi-final, defending champions Argentina will face England in Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday at 5am (AEST).

This will be the sixth World Cup meeting between the sides, but their first since England’s 1-0 win in the 2002 group stage. Messi has never played against England, having been suspended for their most recent meeting: a 3-2 England friendly victory in Geneva in 2005.

You can watch the match on SBS or SBS on Demand. 

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Months out from the next season, players in Australia’s top men’s and women’s soccer leagues don’t have a pay agreement in place. 

The A-League and A-League Women’s last collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expired on 30 June, and players rejected the leagues’ latest offer last week after months of talks. 

So, what’s going on? 

The A‑Leagues are the top football competitions in Australia and New Zealand. There are 12 men’s teams and 11 women’s teams. 

The A-Leagues are run by an organisation called the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). 

Players in the A-Leagues are represented by Professional Footballers Australia (PFA), which also supports the Socceroos and the Matildas. 

Every five years, the PFA and the APL negotiate a CBA. What’s that? 

A CBA is a formal deal that covers things like minimum salaries, workloads, leave, dispute processes, and whether players can go on strike or protest. 

AFL, NRL, netball, and cricket players all have CBAs with their relevant sport’s governing bodies, and the A-Leagues are no different. The Matildas and Socceroos have a separate CBA with Football Australia. 

The APL offered men’s players a $100,000 lift to the salary cap – a limit on how much a team can spend on player wages to keep the competition balanced. It would have brought the cap to $2.7 million. 

The APL also proposed limiting the number of marquee signings (players who can be paid a salary outside the cap) to one per club. 

For women’s players, it offered an increase in the salary cap from $640,000 to $775,000, and to raise the minimum wage by 27%, taking it to just under $35,000 a season.

APL CEO Steve Rosich told TDA: “We have been negotiating in good faith with the PFA for the past eight months to agree a new CBA to ensure the sustainable growth of the A-Leagues for our clubs and players,  and are looking to continue to do so.”

Rosich said the APL would release the fixtures for the A-League Men’s next season this week. 

The PFA told TDA: “The players were asked to accept significant concessions without being given confidence that their reform objective would be achieved.” It said it believes the APL “lacks belief in the potential of the women’s game” and that its plans for the men’s league are “misguided”. 

PFA CEO Beau Busch added: “The fact that players voted overwhelmingly to reject the deal, which would have provided certainty… speaks to their commitment to the game’s long-term health and their belief that a new approach is needed.” 

Under the old CBA, players agreed not to take industrial action, such as holding demonstrations or going on strike. 

However, with no CBA currently in effect, players could potentially take action. 

Busch told TDA: “The players have concluded the current bargaining process cannot deliver the outcomes required.” 

He did not make any specific comments about the possibility of actions. 

Reporting by Pavitra Ravi.