Qualifying tracker

Joe Dean won the Last-Chance Qualifier at Royal Birkdale to clinch the one remaining place in The 154th Open.

The 32-year-old faced off with 11 other hopefuls in the inaugural 18-hole qualification event and took the spoils with a two-under-par 68 enough to seal his third appearance in golf’s original championship.

South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter and Matt Moloney, this year’s Amateur Championship runner-up, were the only two golfers to birdie the opening hole.

Dean stayed patient, not picking up a shot until the par-3 7th. Another followed at 11 before an eagle at 14 cancelled out a bogey either side. He parred his final three holes and won by a single stroke from Potgieter and Andrew Wilson.

Johnny Keefer, Michael Thorbjornsen and Victor Perez also left it late to book their place at Birkdale, qualifying via the Genesis Scottish Open on Sunday afternoon.

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

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

• OQS Scotland qualifiers.

• Last-Chance Qualifier winner.

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; Joe Dean; 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; Johnny Keefer; 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; Victor Perez; 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; Michael Thorbjornsen; 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 Monday 13 July.

Qualification pathways

October, November, December

• OQS Spain - Open de España presented by Madrid (Marco Penge qualified) – 9 – 12 October.

• OQS Japan - Japan Open Golf Championship (Naoyuki Kataoka qualified) – 16 – 19 October.

• Asia-Pacific Amateur champion* (Fifa Laopakdee qualified) - 26 October.

• OQS Hong Kong - Link Hong Kong Open (Tom McKibbin qualified) – 30 October – 2 November.

• Top 25 in the Final Race to Dubai Rankings (17 players qualified) – 16 November.

• OQS Australia - Australian Open (Si Woo Kim, Michael Hollick and Adam Scott qualified) – 4 – 7 December.

January, February, March

• Latin America Amateur champion* (Mateo Pulcini qualified) – 18 January.

• Africa Amateur champion* (Jack Buchanan qualified) – 7 February.

• OQS New Zealand - 105th New Zealand Open (Lucas Herbert qualified) – 26 February – 1 March.

• OQS South Africa - Investec South African Open Championship (Casey Jarvis, Frederic Lacroix and Francesco Laporta qualified) – 26 February – 1 March.

• OQS Argentina - 119 Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro (Alistair Docherty qualified) – 26 February – 1 March.

• OQS USA - Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard (Daniel Berger qualified) – 5-8 March.

• The PLAYERS champion for 2026 (winner Cameron Young already exempt) – 15 March.

April and May

• The Masters Champion for 2026 (winner Rory McIlroy already exempt) – 12 April.

• OQS Singapore - Singapore Open presented by The Business Times (Jeongwoo Ham and Cameron John qualified) – 23 - 26 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.

• OQS Korea – Kolon The 68th KOREA Open Golf Championship (Jiho Yang qualified) – 21 - 24 May.

• OQS Japan – Mizuno Open (Shaun Norris, Ryutaro Nagano and Ren Yonezawa qualified) – 28 – 31 May.

June and July

• OQS USA - the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday (J.T Poston qualified) – 4 – 7 June.

• Leading player in the 2026 LIV Golf Individual Season Rankings, on completion of LIV Golf Andalucia (Joaquin Niemann gains exemption) – 7 June.

• OQS Canada - RBC Canadian Open (Bud Cauley, Jesper Svensson and Jackson Suber qualified) – 11 – 14 June.

• The Amateur champion for 2026* (winner Stuart Grehan qualifies) – 20 June.

• US Open champion for 2026 (winner Wyndham Clark is already exempt) – 21 June.

• Regional Qualifying (124 players progressed to Final Qualifying) – 22 June.

• European Amateur champion for 2026* (Tim Wiedemeyer gains exemption) – 27 June.

• The Open Amateur Series winner for 2026* (Lev Grinberg gains exemption) – 27 June.

• OQS Italy - DS Automobiles 83° Open d'Italia (Eugenio Chacarra qualified) – 25 – 28 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.

• Final Qualifying (20 players qualified) – 30 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 (Johnny Keefer, Michael Thorbjornsen and Victor Perez qualified) – 9 – 12 July.

• Last-Chance Qualifier (one place) – 13 July.

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