The Field for the 2024 Open Championship

The world’s greatest golfers are swarming the Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, Scotland, where the 152nd Open Championship will take place this week. The Old Course of Troon will be hosting the last major of the year for the tenth time, with the last being in 2016 when Henrik Stenson triumphed by three strokes. Also known as the British Open, the prestigious tournament is organized by The R&A and usually takes place on a links-style course in the United Kingdom, mainly England or Scotland. The Open Championship is included under the major championships category in the European Tour, PGA TOUR, and Japan Golf Tour calendars.

Format

The Open Championship is a 72-hole stroke play competition held over four days, with an 18-hole round daily. The first two days involve play in groups of three, as decided by the organizers, with each group teeing it off once in the morning and again in the afternoon. The final two days witness groups of two, with the golfers playing in reverse order of the aggregate score and the leaders teeing off last.

The cut comes after 36 holes, after which the top 70 golfers and ties in the 156-player field progress into the third and fourth rounds. A three-hole aggregate playoff determines the champion in case there’s a tie for the lowest score after four rounds, and if it’s still not sufficient, sudden-death extra holes will take place if necessary until there’s a winner.

The Field

One hundred fifty-six players compete for the Open Championship, gaining entry through exemptions or qualifying tournaments. The 2024 edition has seen the tournament’s exemption criteria adjusted a bit, for instance, allowing the Africa Amateur Championship winner to be exempt and ruling that Open winners from 2024 and beyond will be exempt through age 55 and not 60 as in previous editions. The entry criteria, meticulously designed to be inclusive and fair, ensure the championship runs with integrity.

It encompasses past Open champions, top-ranked players from the leading world tours and the world rankings, recent major winners, and winners and top finishers from several designated tournaments, such as the Open Qualifying Series. Even winners of designated amateur events, including the U.S. Amateur and The Amateur Championship, can gain exemption provided they remain an amateur. Regional and final qualifying events provide entry pathways for those not qualifying via exemption.

Various Exemption Categories

Open Champions aged 60 or below on July 21, 2024

These include Ernie Els, Tiger Woods, Stewart Cink, Todd Hamilton, John Daly, Darren Clarke, Cameron Smith, Louis Oosthuizen, Collin Morikawa, Francesco Molinari, Phil Mickelson, and Rory McIlroy.

Top 10 finishers and ties in the 2023 Open Championship

Some notable names in this category are Jason Day, Matthew Jordan, Max Homa, Emiliano Grillo, Tommy Fleetwood, Tom Kim, Cameron Young, Sepp Straka, Shubhankar Sharma, and Jon Rahm.

Top 50 players in the OWGR for Week 21, 2024

Key names include Justin Thomas, Ludvig Åberg, Patrick Cantlay, Bryson DeChambeau, Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler, Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland, Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama, Xander Schauffele, and Scottie Scheffler.

Top 30 in the final 2023 Race to Dubai rankings

These include Alexander Björk, Adrian Meronk, Jorge Campillo, Thorbjørn Olesen, Vincent Norman, Thriston Lawrence, Robert MacIntyre, and Joost Luiten.

Recent winners of the U.S. Open (2019–2024)

Gary Woodland

Recent winners of the BMW PGA Championship (2021–2023)

Billy Horschel

Top 30 players from the 2023 FedEx Cup points list

Taylor Moore

Recent winners of the Masters Tournament (2019–2024)

Dustin Johnson

Top 5 golfers from the OWGR’s International Federation Ranking List as of the closing date

These are Kazuma Kobori, Ryan van Velzen, David Puig, Andy Ogletree, and Keita Nakajima.

2024 Visa Open de Argentina Winner

Mason Andersen