The Open tees off at Royal Birkdale on Thursday, here we look at how the field played their way into the final Major of the year.
1. The Open champions aged 60 or under on 20 July 2025 (for all Champions up until 2024)
Stewart Cink, Darren Clarke, Brian Harman (3,4,12), Pádraig Harrington (17), Shane Lowry (3,5,12), Rory McIlroy (4,5,6,9,12,13), Francesco Molinari (3), Collin Morikawa (3,5,12), Louis Oosthuizen, Cameron Smith (3), Jordan Spieth (3,5), Henrik Stenson (3)
2. The Open Champions aged 55 or under on 20 July 2025 (for all Champions from 2024)
Xander Schauffele (3,4,5,10), Scottie Scheffler (3,4,5,9,10,12,13)
3. The Open Champions for 2014-2024
4. First 10 anyone tying for 10th place in The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush in 2025
Wyndham Clark (5,11), Corey Conners (12), Bryson DeChambeau (5, 11), Harris English (5,12), Matt Fitzpatrick (5,6,11), Chris Gotterup (5,12), Russell Henley (5,12), Haotong Li (6), Robert MacIntyre (5,6,12)
5. The first 50 players on the OWGR for Week 21, 2026
Ludvig Aberg (12), Daniel Berger, Akshay Bhatia (12), Keegan Bradley (12), Jacob Bridgeman (12) Sam Burns (12), Patrick Cantlay (12), Jason Day, Tommy Fleetwood (6,12), Rickie Fowler, Ryan Gerard, Ben Griffin (12), Tyrrell Hatton (6), Nicolai Hojgaard (6), Viktor Hovland (12), Michael Kim, Si Woo Kim, Kurt Kitayama, Jake Knapp, Min Woo Lee, Hideki Matsuyama (12), Matt McCarty, Maverick McNealy (12), Alex Noren (6,7), Marco Penge (6), Jon Rahm (9) Aaron Rai (6,10), Patrick Reed, Kristoffer Reitan (6), Justin Rose (6,12), Adam Scott, Alex Smalley, JJ Spaun (11,12), Sepp Straka (12), Justin Thomas (10,12), Gary Woodland, Cameron Young (12,13)
6. First 25 in the Final Race to Dubai Rankings for 2025
Angel Ayora, Dan Brown, Laurie Canter, Martin Couvra, Daniel Hillier, Rasmus Hojgaard, Joakim Lagergren, Keita Nakajima, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, John Parry, Adrien Saddier, Jordan Smith
7. The BMW PGA Championship winners for 2023-2025
Ryan Fox, Billy Horschel
8. Top five players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2026 Race to Dubai Rankings through the BMW International Open
Jayden Schaper, Andy Sullivan, Bernd Wiesberger, Dan Bradbury, Hennie Du Plessis
9. The Masters Tournament Champions for 2022-2026
10. The PGA Champions for 2022-2026
Brooks Koepka
11. The US Open Champions for 2022-2026
12. Top 30 players from the 2025 FedEx Cup points list
Harry Hall, Sungjae Im, Andrew Novak, Nick Taylor
13. The PLAYERS Champions for 2024-2026
14. Top five players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2026 FedEx Cup points list through the Travelers Championship
Alex Fitzpatrick
15. Top player, not already exempt, in the top 5 of the 2026 LIV Golf League individual standings through LIV Golf Andalucía
Joaquin Niemann
16. Top five players from the OWGR’s International Federation Ranking List as of Week 21, 2026
18. Winner of the 2025 US Amateur
Mason Howell (a)
19. Recipient of the 2025 Mark H. McCormack Medal
Jackson Koivun – forfeited his exemption by turning pro
20. Winner of the 2025 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship
Fifa Laopakdee
21. Winner of the 2026 Latin America Amateur Championship
Mateo Pulcini
22. Winner of the 2026 Africa Amateur Championship
Jack Buchanan (a)
23. Winner of the 2026 Amateur Championship
Stuart Grehan
24. Winner of the 2026 European Amateur
Tim Wiedemeyer
25. Winner of the 2026 Open Amateur Series
Lev Grinberg
Exemptions 18-25 can only be taken up by players retaining their amateur status.
The following players earned their place via the OWGR to complete the field
Sam Stevens, Nicolas Echavarria, Pierceson Coody, Ryo Hisatsune, Michael Brennan, David Puig, Tom Kim, Eric Cole, Keith Mitchell, Matt Wallace, Sami Valimaki, Max Homa, Thomas Detry, Max Greyserman, Sahith Theegala
Open Qualifying Series
Open de Espana – Marco Penge (5,6)
Japan Open Golf Championship – Naoyuki Kataoka
Link Hong Kong Open – Tom McKibbin
Crown Australia Open – Michael Hollick, Si Woo Kim (5), Adam Scott (5)
New Zealand Open – Lucas Herbert
Investec South African Open – Casey Jarvis (16), Frederic Lacroix, Francesco Laporta
Visa Argentina Open – Alistair Docherty
Arnold Palmer Invitational – Daniel Berger (5)
Singapore Open – Jeong-woo Ham , Cameron John
KOLON Korea Open – Jiho Yang
Mizuno Open – Shaun Norris, Ryutaro Nagano, Ren Yonezawa
Memorial Tournament – JT Poston
RBC Canadian Open – Bud Cauley, Jackson Suber, Jesper Svensson
Italian Open – Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra
Genesis Scottish Open – Johnny Keefer, Michael Thorbjornsen, Victor Perez
Final Qualifying
Burnham & Berrow – James Nicholas, Caleb Surratt, Tom Sloman, Alejandro De Castro Piera, Austen Truslow
Dundonald Links – Jack McDonald, Matthew Baldwin, David Howard, Nevill Ruiter, Marcus Plunkett
Royal Cinque Ports – Baard Bjoernevik Skogen, MJ Daffue, Matthew Southgate, Peter Uihlein, Antoine Rozner
West Lancashire – Sam Bairstow, Jose Luis Ballester, Kazuma Kobori, Tiger Christensen, Matthew Jordan
Article Link: The Open: How the field qualified for Royal Birkdale