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The 154th Open

Qualifying tracker

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20 players gain Open places as Royal Birkdale return draws closer

Andy Sullivan shot his second straight 67

Five players have gained exemptions for The 154th Open courtesy of their position on the DP World Tour Race to Dubai rankings.

Jayden Schaper, Andy Sullivan (above), Bernd Wiesberger, Dan Bradbury and Hennie du Plessis will all tee it up at Royal Birkdale as the highest-placed players, on completion of the BMW International Open, not already exempt for the Championship.

Meanwhile a further 15 players, including Max Homa and Sahith Theegala, will join them in the field having qualified due to their standings in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Other players gaining exemptions through their world rankings are: Sam Stevens, Nico Echavarria, Pierceson Coody, Ryo Hisatsune, Michael Brennan, David Puig, Tom Kim, Eric Cole, Keith Mitchell, Matt Wallace, Sami Valimaki, Thomas Detry and Max Greyserman.

This comes one week after another thrilling day of Final Qualifying saw 20 players earn places at Royal Birkdale for The 154th Open.

Qualification specialists, Open regulars and amateur stars were among the players who made it through from Burnham & Berrow, Dundonald Links, Royal Cinque Ports and West Lancashire on Tuesday, 30 June.

Matthew Jordan produced one of the standout moments of the day. His stunning approach shot during a three-player play-off at West Lancashire all but sealed his Open return. A full list of qualifiers and results can be found here.

A full list of qualification pathways, along with players already exempt for The 154th Open, can be found below.

Already exempt

  • The Open Champions aged 60 or under on 19 July 2026 (for all Champions up to and including 2023).
  • The Open Champions aged 55 or under on 19 July 2026 (for all Champions from 2024).
  • The Open Champions for 2015-2025.
  • First 10 players and anyone tying for 10th place at The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush in 2025.
  • The Senior Open champion for 2025.
  • The US Amateur champion for 2025*.
  • First 30 players from the Final 2025 FedExCup Points List.
  • The Mark H McCormack Medal (Men’s World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®)) winner for 2025*.
  • The BMW PGA Championship winners for 2023-2025.
  • The Masters Tournament champions for 2022-2025.
  • The PGA champions for 2022-2025.
  • The US Open champions for 2022-2025.
  • THE PLAYERS champions for 2024-2025.
  • OQS Spain qualifier.
  • OQS Japan (Japan Open Golf Championship) qualifier.
  • Asia-Pacific Amateur champion*.
  • OQS Hong Kong qualifier.
  • Top 25 in the final Race to Dubai rankings.
  • OQS Australia qualifiers.
  • Latin America Amateur champion*.
  • Africa Amateur Champion*.
  • OQS New Zealand qualifier.
  • OQS South Africa qualifiers.
  • OQS Argentina qualifier.
  • OQS USA (Arnold Palmer Invitational) qualifier.
  • OQS Singapore qualifiers.
  • OQS Korea qualifier.
  • OQS USA (the Memorial Tournament) qualifier.
  • Leading player in the 2026 LIV Golf Individual Season Rankings, on completion of LIV Golf Andalucia
  • OQS Canada qualifiers.
  • The Amateur Champion for 2026*.
  • The European Amateur Champion for 2026*.
  • The Open Amateur Series winner for 2026*.
  • OQS Italy qualifier.
  • Players from Final Qualifying
Xander Schauffele looks at the Claret Jug

Xander Schauffele is among the Champion Golfers to have already gained an exemption.

Exempt players

A - F

Ludvig Aberg; Angel Ayora; Sam Bairstow; Matthew Baldwin; Jose Luis Ballester Barrio; Daniel Berger; Akshay Bhatia; Dan Bradbury; Keegan Bradley; Michael Brennan; Jacob Bridgeman; Daniel Brown; Jack Buchanan (a); Sam Burns; Laurie Canter; Patrick Cantlay; Bud Cauley; Eugenio Chacarra; Tiger Christensen; Stewart Cink; Wyndham Clark; Darren Clarke; Eric Cole; Corey Conners; Pierceson Coody; Martin Couvra; MJ Daffue; Jason Day; Alejandro De Castro Piera; Bryson DeChambeau; Thomas Detry; Alistair Docherty; Hennie du Plessis; David Duval; Nico Echavarria; Harris English; Alex Fitzpatrick; Matt Fitzpatrick; Tommy Fleetwood; Rickie Fowler; Ryan Fox.

G - L

Ryan Gerard; Chris Gotterup; Stuart Grehan; Max Greyserman; Ben Griffin; Lev Grinberg; Harry Hall; Jeongwoo Ham; Brian Harman; Padraig Harrington; Tyrrell Hatton; Russell Henley; Lucas Herbert; Kazuki Higa; Daniel Hillier; Ryo Hisatsune; Nicolai Hojgaard; Rasmus Hojgaard; Michael Hollick; Max Homa; Billy Horschel; Viktor Hovland; David Howard (a); Mason Howell (a); Sungjae Im; Casey Jarvis; Cameron John; Matthew Jordan; Kota Kaneko; Naoyuki Kataoka; Michael Kim; Si Woo Kim; Tom Kim; Kurt Kitiyama; Jake Knapp; Kazuma Kobori; Brooks Koepka; Frederic Lacroix; Joakim Lagergren; Fifa Laopakdee (a); Francesco Laporta; Min Woo Lee; Haotong Li; Shane Lowry.

M - R

Robert MacIntyre; Hideki Matsuyama; Matt McCarty; Jack McDonald; Rory McIlroy; Tom McKibbin; Maverick McNealy; Keith Mitchell; Francesco Molinari; Collin Morikawa; Ryutaro Nagano; Keita Nakajima; Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen; James Nicholas; Joaquin Niemann; Alex Noren; Shaun Norris; Andrew Novak; Louis Oosthuizen; John Parry; Marco Penge; Marcus Plunkett; J.T. Poston; David Puig; Mateo Pulcini (a); Jon Rahm; Aaron Rai; Patrick Reed; Kristoffer Reitan; Justin Rose; Antoine Rozner; Nevill Ruiter (a).

S - Z

Adrien Saddier; Jayden Schaper; Xander Schauffele; Scottie Scheffler; Adam Scott; Baard Bjoernevik Skogen; Tom Sloman; Alex Smalley; Cameron Smith; Jordan Smith; Travis Smyth; Matthew Southgate; JJ Spaun; Jordan Spieth; Henrik Stenson; Sam Stevens; Sepp Straka; Jackson Suber; Andy Sullivan; Caleb Surratt; Jesper Svensson; Nick Taylor; Sahith Theegala; Justin Thomas; Austin Truslow; Peter Uihlein; Sami Valimaki; Scott Vincent; Matt Wallace; Tim Wiedemeyer; Bernd Weisberger; Gary Woodland; Jiho Yang; Ren Yonezawa; Cameron Young.

This list is up to date as of Tuesday 7 July and will be updated as further exemptions are finalised.

Exemption categories

Find out what exemptions have already been earned for Royal Birkdale.

Read more
The Open de Espana trophy

One place will be available through OQS Spain.

Kurt Kitayama in action at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard offers one qualifying place.

April and May

  • The Masters Champion for 2026 (winner Rory McIlroy already exempt) – 12 April.
  • PGA Champion for 2026 (winner Aaron Rai already exempt) – 17 May.
  • Top 5 from the Federation Ranking List (Koti Kaneko, Kazuki Higa, Travis Smyth, Casey Jarvis and Scott Vincent have gained exemptions).
  • Top 50 from the Official World Golf Ranking – 24 May.
The Claret Jug at the KOLON Korea Open

One place was available at OQS Korea.

June and July

  • Leading player in the 2026 LIV Golf Individual Season Rankings, on completion of LIV Golf Andalucia (Joaquin Niemann gains exemption) – 7 June.
  • US Open champion for 2026 (winner Wyndham Clark is already exempt) – 21 June.
  • European Amateur champion for 2026* (Tim Wiedemeyer gains exemption) – 27 June.
  • Top 5 in the FedExCup points list (top 5, not already exempt within the top 20, of the FedExCup points list on completion of the Travelers Championship) - Alex Fitzpatrick gains exemption – 28 June.
  • Top 5 in the Race to Dubai Rankings (top 5, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the Race to Dubai Rankings on completion of the BMW International Open) - Jayden Schaper, Andy Sullivan, Bernd Wiesberger, Dan Bradbury, Hennie du Plessis gain exemptions – 5 July.
  • OQS Scotland - Genesis Scottish Open (three places to the leading three players, not already exempt, who make the cut) – 9 – 12 July.

*The winner must maintain their amateur status to take up the exemption.

Ryan Fox in action at the RBC Canadian Open in June 2025.

Three places are available at OQS Canada.

The Open Qualifying Series

Learn more about the schedule of OQS events for The 154th Open.

Read more

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