The field for the 154th Open Championship was published on June 15, with the tournament set for July 16–19 at Royal Birkdale in Southport, Merseyside. The 156-man lineup includes players who qualified through exemptions, the Open Qualifying Series, and two routes that did not exist before 2025: a dedicated LIV Golf category and a Last-Chance Qualifier at the host venue on Monday, July 13.

Royal Birkdale will stage The Open for the 11th time, following Scottie Scheffler’s victory at Royal Portrush in 2025.

LIV Golf Exemption

The R&A created the LIV Golf category ahead of the 2025 Open. It awards one place to the highest-ranked player in the LIV Golf individual standings, through a designated cutoff event, who is not already exempt by another route. The player must also finish in the top five of those standings.

Sergio Garcia was the first to use the pathway, qualifying for Royal Portrush in 2025 after finishing fourth in the LIV standings through the Dallas event. For 2026, Joaquin Niemann earned the spot after the LIV Golf Andalucia event.

Niemann joins a field that already includes LIV-affiliated players who qualified via other categories, such as Tyrrell Hatton, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and Cameron Smith, all of whom appear on the official exemptions list.

Last-Chance Qualifier

One final place in the field will be decided on Monday, July 13, when up to 12 players compete in an 18-hole stroke-play event at Royal Birkdale itself.

Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, the R&A’s Chief Championships Officer, said the event “will provide fans with the opportunity to watch high quality, competitive golf which will generate drama and intrigue as players compete to earn the final place in the Championship.”

The entry criteria follow a fixed order of priority:

• The leading two non-exempt players in the OWGR published on July 6.
• The runner-up in The Amateur Championship, provided they remain an amateur on July 13.
• Players who lost a playoff at Final Qualifying.
• Players who finished one position behind those who secured a Final Qualifying place.
• Players who tied for a qualifying spot in Open Qualifying Series events but missed out on OWGR tiebreaker or a playoff for first.

The R&A said the first two reserves for The Open will compete in the Monday event and retain their reserve status until the full field starts on Thursday.

Open Qualifying Series

The Open Qualifying Series, which has operated since 2013, runs through 15 events in 13 countries and spans the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, KPGA Tour, Sunshine Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, and Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.

Qualifiers confirmed so far include Tom McKibbin (Hong Kong Open), Adam Scott, Si Woo Kim, and Michael Hollick (Australian Open), Naoyuki Kataoka (Japan Open), Marco Penge (Open de España), Daniel Berger (Arnold Palmer Invitational), J.T. Poston (Memorial Tournament), and Bud Cauley, Jesper Svensson, and Jackson Suber (RBC Canadian Open). Places from the Open d’Italia and Genesis Scottish Open had not yet been filled at publication.

Masters and R&A Alignment

In August 2025, Augusta National and the R&A jointly announced aligned qualification criteria that award invitations to winners of select national opens, including the Scottish Open, Spanish Open, Japan Open, Hong Kong Open, Australian Open, and South African Open. Several of the OQS qualifiers in this field entered through events covered by that agreement.

What Still Has to Happen

The published field remains provisional. Regional Qualifying was held on June 22, and Final Qualifying takes place on June 30 at four venues: Burnham & Berrow, Dundonald Links, Royal Cinque Ports, and West Lancashire. Late OQS events will add further names before the Last-Chance Qualifier decides the 156th and final spot on July 13.

The Open’s official exemptions page also lists several exempt players who had not yet entered as of June 14, including Tiger Woods, John Daly, Ernie Els, and Justin Leonard. Whether those players take up their places will shape the final field over the coming weeks.