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The 2026 Open Championship will have a field of 156 when the tournament starts July 16 at Royal Birkdale. On Tuesday, June 30, there were 20 new names added to the pending tee sheet.
Tuesday was the grueling 36-hole final qualifying at four locations (three in England, one in Scotland). The day started with 288 golfers entered across those four qualifiers, and only the top five finishers from each would escape.
Remaining spots will be filled at the Genesis Scottish Open by "the leading three players, not already exempt, who make the cut," as well as at the R&A's Last-Chance Qualifier, new this year, the week of the Open Championship.
The 2026 Open, which was first contested in 1860, will be at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England. This will be the 154th British Open and 11th at Birkdale. Jordan Spieth won in 2017, the last time it was there.
This list is as of June 30, 2026.
There are seven amateurs (as of now) in the field and they'll need to maintain their amateur status in order to play. Jackson Koivun, who earned exemption via the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the Men's World Amateur Golf Ranking winner for 2025, turned pro after competing in the U.S. Open, thus forfeiting his spot in the British Open.
Tiger Woods is going to miss the Open. His last round in competition was at the 2024 Open. Bob Harig reported in May that Woods didn't submit an entry to the 2026 Open.
The original exempt list from the R&A had Mickelson's name on it but he's not playing, meaning he and Woods both will miss all four majors in 2026.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: 20 names added to British Open field, which is up to 134 for Royal Birkdale
Continue reading...
Tuesday was the grueling 36-hole final qualifying at four locations (three in England, one in Scotland). The day started with 288 golfers entered across those four qualifiers, and only the top five finishers from each would escape.
Remaining spots will be filled at the Genesis Scottish Open by "the leading three players, not already exempt, who make the cut," as well as at the R&A's Last-Chance Qualifier, new this year, the week of the Open Championship.
The 2026 Open, which was first contested in 1860, will be at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England. This will be the 154th British Open and 11th at Birkdale. Jordan Spieth won in 2017, the last time it was there.
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Players exempt into the 2026 Open Championship
This list is as of June 30, 2026.
- Ludvig Aberg
- Angel Ayora
- Samuel Bairstow
- Matthew Baldwin
- Josele Ballester
- Daniel Berger
- Akshay Bhatia
- Baard Bjoernevik
- Keegan Bradley
- Jacob Bridgeman
- Dan Brown
- Jack Buchanan (a)
- Sam Burns
- Laurie Canter
- Patrick Cantlay
- Bud Cauley
- Eugenio Chacarra
- Tiger Christensen
- Stewart Cink
- Wyndham Clark
- Darren Clarke
- Corey Conners
- Martin Couvra
- MJ Daffue
- Jason Day
- Alejandro de Castro Piera (a)
- Bryson DeChambeau
- Alistair Docherty
- David Duval
- Harris English
- Matt Fitzpatrick
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Rickie Fowler
- Ryan Fox
- Ryan Gerard
- Chris Gotterup
- Stuart Grehan (a)
- Ben Griffin
- Lev Grinberg (a)
- Harry Hall
- Jeongwoo Ham
- Brian Harman
- Padraig Harrington
- Tyrrell Hatton
- Russell Henley
- Lucas Herbert
- Kazuki Higa
- Daniel Hillier
- Nicolai Hojgaard
- Rasmus Hojgaard
- Michael Hollick
- 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
- Kurt Kitayama
- Jake Knapp
- Kazuma Kobori
- Brooks Koepka
- Frederic LaCroix
- Joakim Lagergren
- Fifa Laopakdee (a)
- Francesco Laporta
- Paul Lawrie
- Min Woo Lee
- Justin Leonard
- Haotong Li
- Shane Lowry
- Robert MacIntyre
- Hideki Matsuyama
- Matt McCarty
- Jack McDonald
- Tom McKibbin
- Rory McIlroy
- Maverick McNealy
- 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
- Mateo Pulcini (a)
- Jon Rahm
- Aaron Rai
- Patrick Reed
- Kris Reitan
- Justin Rose
- Antoine Rozner
- Nevill Ruiter (a)
- Adrien Saddier
- Xander Schauffele
- Scottie Scheffler
- Adam Scott
- Tom Sloman
- Alex Smalley
- Cameron Smith
- Jordan Smith
- Elvis Smylie
- Travis Smyth
- Matthew Southgate
- J.J. Spaun
- Jordan Spieth
- Henrik Stenson
- Sepp Straka
- Jackson Suber
- Caleb Surrat
- Jesper Svensson
- Nick Taylor
- Justin Thomas
- Austen Truslow
- Peter Uihlein
- Scott Vincent
- Tim Wiedemeyer (a)
- Gary Woodland
- Jiho Yang
- Ren Yonezawa
- Cameron Young
There are seven amateurs (as of now) in the field and they'll need to maintain their amateur status in order to play. Jackson Koivun, who earned exemption via the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the Men's World Amateur Golf Ranking winner for 2025, turned pro after competing in the U.S. Open, thus forfeiting his spot in the British Open.
Past Open champions who are exempt but not playing
- Ben Curtis
- John Daly
- Ernie Els
- Todd Hamilton
- Zach Johnson
- Justin Leonard
- Phil Mickelson
- Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson status for 2026 British Open
Tiger Woods is going to miss the Open. His last round in competition was at the 2024 Open. Bob Harig reported in May that Woods didn't submit an entry to the 2026 Open.
The original exempt list from the R&A had Mickelson's name on it but he's not playing, meaning he and Woods both will miss all four majors in 2026.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: 20 names added to British Open field, which is up to 134 for Royal Birkdale
Continue reading...
