2026 Open Championship

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The 2026 Open Championship, officially the 154th Open Championship, is the ongoing golf tournament being played from 16–19 July 2026 at Royal Birkdale Golf Club. It is the 11th time that the Open is being held at the club.[1][2]

Dates16–19 July 2026
LocationSouthport, Merseyside,
England
53.622°N 3.033°W / 53.622; -3.033
CourseRoyal Birkdale Golf Club
Organized byThe R&A
Quick facts Tournament information, Dates ...
154th Open Championship
Tournament information
Dates16–19 July 2026
LocationSouthport, Merseyside,
England
53.622°N 3.033°W / 53.622; -3.033
CourseRoyal Birkdale Golf Club
Organized byThe R&A
Tours
Royal Birkdale is located in the United Kingdom
Royal Birkdale
Royal Birkdale
Location in the United Kingdom
Royal Birkdale is located in England
Royal Birkdale
Royal Birkdale
Location in England
Royal Birkdale is located in Merseyside
Royal Birkdale
Royal Birkdale
Location in Merseyside
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Course changes

Since the 2017 Open Championship, the course has undergone a renovation. The principal change has come on the back nine; the former par-3 14th was removed, the par-5 15th relocated and became the 14th hole, and a new 15th hole—a par-3—inserted.

Field

The Open Championship field is made up of 156 players, who gained entry through various exemption criteria and qualifying tournaments. The criteria include past Open champions, recent major winners, top ranked players in the world rankings and from the leading world tours, and winners and high finishers from various designated tournaments, including the Open Qualifying Series; the winners of designated amateur events, including The Amateur Championship and U.S. Amateur, also gained exemption provided they remain an amateur. Anyone not qualifying via exemption, and with a handicap of 0.4 or lower, can gain entry through regional and final qualifying events.

Criteria and exemptions

Each player is classified according to the first category in which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses.[3][a]

1. The Open Champions aged 60 or under on 19 July 2026 (for all champions before 2024)

2. The Open Champions aged 55 or under on 19 July 2026 (for all champions from 2024)

3. The Open Champions for 2015–2025[b]

4. Top 10 finishers and ties in the 2025 Open Championship

5. Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) for Week 21, 2026

6. Top 25 in the final 2025 Race to Dubai rankings

7. Recent winners of the BMW PGA Championship (2023–2025)

8. Top five players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2026 Race to Dubai Rankings through the BMW International Open

9. Recent winners of the Masters Tournament (2022–2026)

10. Recent winners of the PGA Championship (2022–2026)

11. Recent winners of the U.S. Open (2022–2026)

12. Top 30 players from the 2025 FedEx Cup points list

13. Recent winners of The Players Championship (2024–2026)

14. Top five players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2026 FedEx Cup points list through the Travelers Championship

15. Top player, not already exempt, in the top 5 of the 2026 LIV Golf League individual standings through LIV Golf Andalucía

16. Top five players from the OWGR's International Federation Ranking List as of Week 21, 2026

17. Winner of the 2025 Senior Open Championship

18. Winner of the 2025 U.S. Amateur[d]

19. Recipient of the 2025 Mark H. McCormack Medal[d]

20. Winner of the 2025 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship[d]

21. Winner of the 2026 Latin America Amateur Championship[d]

  • Mateo Pulcini (a)

22. Winner of the 2026 Africa Amateur Championship[d]

  • Jack Buchanan (a)

23. Winner of the 2026 Amateur Championship[d]

24. Winner of the 2026 European Amateur[d]

25. Winner of the 2026 Open Amateur Series[d][f]

Open Qualifying Series

The Open Qualifying Series (OQS) for the 2026 Open Championship consisted of 15 events. Places were available to the leading players (not otherwise exempt) who made the cut. In the event of ties, positions went to players ranked highest according to that week's OWGR.[6]

More information Location, Tournament ...
LocationTournamentDateSpotsQualifiers
SpainOpen de España12 Oct 20251Marco Penge (5,6)
JapanJapan Open Golf Championship19 Oct 20251Naoyuki Kataoka
Hong KongLink Hong Kong Open1 Nov 20251Tom McKibbin
AustraliaCrown Australian Open7 Dec 20253Michael Hollick, Kim Si-woo (5), Adam Scott (5)
New ZealandNew Zealand Open1 Mar 20261Lucas Herbert
South AfricaInvestec South African Open Championship1 Mar 20263Casey Jarvis (16), Frédéric Lacroix, Francesco Laporta
ArgentinaVisa Argentina Open1 Mar 20261Alistair Docherty
United StatesArnold Palmer Invitational8 Mar 20261Daniel Berger (5)
SingaporeSingapore Open26 Apr 20262Ham Jeong-woo, Cameron John
KoreaKolon Korea Open24 May 20261Yang Ji-ho
JapanGateway to The Open Mizuno Open31 May 20263Ryutaro Nagano, Shaun Norris, Ren Yonezawa
United StatesMemorial Tournament7 Jun 20261J. T. Poston
CanadaRBC Canadian Open14 Jun 20263Bud Cauley, Jackson Suber, Jesper Svensson
ItalyDS Automobiles Open d'Italia28 Jun 20261Eugenio Chacarra
ScotlandGenesis Scottish Open12 Jul 20263Johnny Keefer, Victor Perez, Michael Thorbjornsen
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Final qualifying

Regional qualifying events were held on 22 June at 16 locations.[7][8] Final qualifying events were played on 30 June at four locations.[9]

More information Location, Spots ...
LocationSpotsQualifiers[a][g]
Burnham & Berrow5Alejandro de Castro (a), James Nicholas, Tom Sloman (R), Caleb Surratt, Austen Truslow
Dundonald Links5Jack McDonald, Matthew Baldwin, David Howard (a,R), Nevill Ruiter (a), Marcus Plunkett
Royal Cinque Ports5M. J. Daffue, Antoine Rozner, Bård Skogen, Matthew Southgate, Peter Uihlein
West Lancashire5Sam Bairstow, Josele Ballester, Tiger Christensen (R), Matthew Jordan, Kazuma Kobori
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Last-Chance Qualifier

One spot was given to the winner of an 18-hole qualifier held on 13 July, three days before the start of the Championship. The field for the Last-Chance Qualifier consisted of twelve players who narrowly failed to qualify through other means.[10]

Additional players added to the field

In order to fill additional places or replace exempt players who had withdrawn prior to the start of the Championship, and maintain the full field of 156, additional players were taken in ranking order from the Official World Golf Ranking as of 6 July.

Notes

  1. [a]
    (a) – denotes amateur.
  2. [b]
    All will be aged 55 or under on 19 July 2026.
  3. [c]
    Qualified via the Open Qualifying Series before becoming exempt.
  4. [d]
    Players must remain amateurs in order to be exempt under this category.
  5. [e]
    Forfeited his exemption by turning professional.[5]
  6. [f]
    Cumulative World Amateur Golf Ranking points from the St Andrews Links Trophy, The Amateur Championship, and the European Amateur.
  7. [g]
    (R) – denotes a player who progressed through regional qualifying.
  8. [h]
    Aldrich Potgieter replaced Louis Oosthuizen.[4]

References

External links

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