Final Qualifying for The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool takes on place on Tuesday July 4th. Here is everything you need to know as players look to book their spots for the final Major Championship of 2023.
How does Final Qualifying work?
Four links venues will each welcome fields of 72, with players competing over 36 holes as they chase a coveted spot at The Open, golf’s oldest Major.
Where is Final Qualifying taking place?
Final Qualifying is taking place at Dundonald Links, Royal Cinque Ports, Royal Porthcawl and West Lancashire.
Who is playing and where?
Matthew Jordan, a member at Royal Liverpool, is looking to qualify through Final Qualifying for the second year running as he targets a spot at his home club. He is among those heading to West Lancashire, featuring European Major Champions and Ryder Cup stars. DP World Tour winners Matt Wallace, Jamie Donaldson, Maximilian Kieffer and Victor Dubuisson and PGA TOUR winner Aaron Wise also in the field.
At Royal Cinque Ports, Hero Cup duo Thomas Detry and Antoine Rozner are chasing a return to The Open, with Dale Whitnell aiming to build on his first DP World Tour win with a first Major start in more than a decade.
In Scotland, at Dundonald, Rafa Cabrera Bello is hoping fond memories of his victory at the venue in the 2017 Scottish Open can guide him through Final Qualifying. English duo Aaron Rai and Robert Rock are also in the draw. Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes and leading Thai teenager Ratchanon ‘TK’ Chantananuwat, who made the semi-finals of last week’s Amateur Championship, provide an international flavour along with club professional Michael Block, who was an unlikely star at the US PGA Championship in May.
English pair Daniel Gavins and Matthew Southgate are in action at Royal Porthcawl – host of this year’s Senior Open presented by Rolex – alongside recent European Challenge Tour winner Stuart Manley, Jazz Janewattananond, former Open runner-up Marc Leishman and Robert Dinwiddie, who came through Final Qualifying last year.
Click here for the full draw for all four venues.
Who are among the amateurs on show?
Barclay Brown is aiming to make it through Final Qualifying for the second year running, while he is joined in the field at West Lancashire by Northern Ireland’s Matthew McClean, who has already competed at both the Masters Tournament and U.S. Open so far this year following his win in the 2022 US Mid-Amateur.
At Royal Cinque Ports, John Gough – the leading European in the World Amateur Golf Rankings – will hope to showcase his skills after impressing over the opening two rounds on just his second DP World Tour start last week at The Belfry.
Ryan Riley will tee it up at Dundonald, having secured his spot at Final Qualifying by holing out for eagle in a play-off at Regional Qualifying last week.
How many places will be available through Final Qualifying?
The R&A has confirmed that it will increase the number of places available through Final Qualifying from 16 to 19. An additional place will be allocated to three of the four venues being used based on a strength of field calculation carried out when all competing golfers have started the first round and the actual strength of field is known.
Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, Executive Director – Championships, said: “We know that there are many golfers aiming to secure a place in The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool and so are pleased to offer more places through Final Qualifying.
“We look forward to seeing who will emerge from the field of competing professional tour players, club professionals and elite amateur golfers to earn a coveted spot in the Championship.”
How else can players qualify for The Open?
As was the case for the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo, the leading three players not already exempt who make the cut at the upcoming Made in HimmerLand and Genesis Scottish Open will qualify.
In the event of a tie for a qualifying place, the player with the higher ranking in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) will be awarded a place.
Who has already qualified?
Ancer, Abraham
Arnaus, Adri
Ballester, Jose Luis
Barron, Haydn
Bezuidenhout, Christiaan
Bjork, Alexander
Bland, Richard
Bradbury, Dan
Bradley, Keegan
Burns, Sam
Campillo, Jorge
Canizares, Alejandro
Cantlay, Patrick
Cink, Stewart
Clark, Wyndham
Clarke, Darren
Conners, Corey
Crowe, Harrison (a)
Daly, John
Day, Jason
DeChambeau, Bryson
Els, Ernie
English, Harris
Ferguson, Ewen
Fernandez De Oliveira, Mateo (a)
Finau, Tony
Fischer, Zack
Fitzpatrick, Matt
Fleetwood, Tommy
Fowler, Rickie
Fox, Ryan
Gooch, Talor
Griffin, Ben
Grillo, Emiliano
Han, Seungsu
Harman, Brian
Harrington, Padraig
Hatton, Tyrrell
Henley, Russell
Herbert, Lucas
Higa, Kazuki
Hillier, Daniel
Hirata, Kensei
Hodges, Lee
Hoge, Tom
Højgaard, Rasmus
Homa, Max
Horschel, Billy
Hoshino, Rikuya
Hovland, Viktor
Im, Sungjae
Iwata, Hiroshi
Johnson, Dustin
Johnson, Zach
Kanaya, Takumi
Kang, Kyungnam
Kho, Taichi
Kim, Bio
Kim, Michael
Kim, Si Woo
Kim, Tom
Kirk, Chris
Kitayama, Kurt
Koepka, Brooks
Lamprecht, Christo
Langasque, Romain
Larrazabal, Pablo
Lawrence, Thriston
Lee, KH
Lee, Min Woo
Long, Hurly
Lowry, Shane
Luiten, Joost
MacIntyre, Robert
Maguire, Alex
Matsuyama, Hideki
McCarthy, Denny
McIlroy, Rory
Meronk, Adrian
Micheluzzi, David
Mickelson, Phil
Migliozzi, Guido
Molinari, Francesco
Moore, Taylor
Morikawa, Collin
Mullinax, Trey
Nakajima, Keita
Niemann, Joaquin
Noren, Alex
Olesen, Thorbjorn
Oosthuizen, Louis
Otaegui, Adrian
Paul, Yannik
Perez, Victor
Pieters, Thomas
Poston, JT
Power, Seamus
Putnam, Andrew
Rahm, Jon
Ramsay, Richie
Reed, Patrick
Riley, Davis
Rose, Justin
Schauffele, Xander
Scheffler, Scottie
Schenk, Adam
Scott, Adam
Semikawa, Taiga
Sharma, Shubhankar
Shinkwin, Callum
Siem, Marcel
Smith, Cameron
Smith, Jordan
Smyth, Travis
Spieth, Jordan
Stallings, Scott
Stenson, Henrik
Straka, Sepp
Strydom, Ockie
Syme, Connor
Taylor, Nick
Theegala, Sahith
Thomas, Justin
Todd, Brendon
Valimaki, Sami
Wiebe, Gunner
Willett, Danny
Wilson, Oliver
Woodland, Gary
Yasumori, Kazuki
Young, Cameron
