Naoyuki Kataoka

Naoyuki Kataoka’s triumph at the 2025 Japan Open Golf Championship brought with it an exemption for The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale.

The 28-year-old from Japan will now make his debut when golf’s original championship returns to Southport in July.

October’s victory at Nikko Country Club in Tochigi, his first success since the Japan Players Championship by Sato Shokuhin in 2021, came after a playoff with Satoshi Hara after the pair each finished the week at three-under-par. One Royal Birkdale place was available at the event as part of the Open Qualifying Series (OQS).

It means Kataoka follows in the footsteps of countryman Hideki Matsuyama who won the Championship in 2016, and three time Champion Golfer Seve Ballesteros who earned back-to-back successes in 1977 and 1978.