Qualification

The R&A has confirmed the schedule of events that will make up The Open Qualifying Series for 2023 and the exemption categories for The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool.

Golfers aiming to book their place in The Open will have opportunities at 15 professional events in 10 countries.

A total of 34 places are available through events being played around the world on the PGA TOUR, DP World Tour, Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia and Sunshine Tour. The number of places at Final Qualifying has been increased by four to provide a minimum of 16 places through events being held at Burnham & Berrow, Dundonald Links, Royal Cinque Ports and West Lancashire on 4 July.

Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, Executive Director – Championships at The R&A, said, “We have created an exciting schedule of events which takes in many regions around the world and provides the chance for golfers to earn a place in The Open at Royal Liverpool. We are grateful to our colleagues at the professional tours for their support and look forward to seeing who emerges from each event to book a sought-after place in the Championship this year.”

Twenty-three golfers have already earned places through the Joburg Open, ISPS HANDA Australian Open, the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, the World City Championship presented by the Hong Kong Golf Club, the Wells Fargo Championship, the Mizuno Open and the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday. 

In Asia, two further places will be available through the KOLON Korea Open, which is co-sanctioned by the Korean Golf Association and Asian Tour.

On the DP World Tour, three places will be awarded at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo, Made in Himmerland and Genesis Scottish Open, a co-sanctioned event with the PGA TOUR.

In a change to previous criteria, qualifying places will now be awarded to the leading players who make the cut and are not already exempt as of the closing date of entries for The Open on 1 June.

Any golfer earning a qualifying place who then becomes exempt under one or more categories before the closing date of entries will result in that place being awarded to the next non-exempt golfer, which will determined by a reserve list for each event played before 1 June.

The R&A has also confirmed the exemption categories for The 151st Open.

A new exemption has been added for elite amateur golfers in which the player who accumulates the most points awarded by the World Amateur Golf Ranking® in the St Andrews Links Trophy, The Amateur Championship and European Amateur Championship will earn a place in The Open.

Regional Qualifying for The 151st Open will be held on Monday 26 June at 14 venues across Great Britain & Ireland, with Final Qualifying then being held on Tuesday 4 July at Dundonald Links, Royal Cinque Ports, Royal Porthcawl and West Lancashire.

In order to allow for full recovery from the impact of last year’s drought at Burnham & Berrow, Final Qualifying has been switched to Royal Porthcawl in Wales for this year only and will revert to the prestigious Somerset venue in 2024.

All entrants will have their choice of Burnham & Berrow defaulted to Royal Porthcawl and should contact entries@randa.org if they wish to change their preferred choices.