The Open Championship 2026: Full Field And How They Qualified For Royal Birkdale

It's nearly time for the 154th Open Championship and the field for Royal Birkdale is almost complete.

After the R&A added a further 15 players from the Official World Golf Ranking that took the field up to 152 with 156 starters set to tee off on the Southport coast for the first round of the Open on Thursday July 16.

The top three finishers at the Genesis Scottish Open not otherwise exempt will claim places in the field for Birkdale, with one final spot up for grabs in Monday's first-ever Last-Chance Qualifier.

Scottie Scheffler is the defending Open champion after his triumph at Royal Portrush last year, while Jordan Spieth claimed an epic Claret Jug success on the last visit to Birkdale back in 2017.

This will be the 11th time the popular Southport links has hosted The Open, with only St Andrews staging it more times since Birkdale's debut back in 1954.

Some of the sport's biggest icons have won the Claret Jug at Birkdale, with Peter Thomson winning the first and last of his five Open titles there in 1954 and 1965.

Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Ian Baker-Finch, Mark O'Meara and Padraig Harrington are on the star-studded list of Open champions at Birkdale, but who will join them?

Here's the full field for the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale and how they qualified via the R&A qualifying criteria and exemption categories

1: Open Champions aged 60 or under on July 19 2026. (for all winners up to and including 2023)

• Brian Harman
• Cameron Smith
• Collin Morikawa
• Shane Lowry
• Francisco Molinari
• Jordan Spieth
• Henrik Stenson
• Rory McIlroy
• Darren Clarke
• Louis Oosthuizen
• Stewart Cink
• Padraig Harrington
• David Duval

2: Open Champions aged 55 or under on 19 July 2026. (for all winners from 2024 onwards)

• Scottie Scheffler
• Xander Schauffele

4: The 2025 Open top 10 and ties

• Harris English
• Chris Gotterup
• Haotong Li
• Matt Fitzpatrick
• Wyndham Clark
• Robert MacIntyre
• Corey Conners
• Russell Henley
• Bryson DeChambeau

5: Top 50 in the OWGR after Week 21

• Cameron Young
• Justin Rose
• Tommy Fleetwood
• J.J. Spaun
• Jon Rahm
• Ludvig Aberg
• Aaron Rai
• Justin Thomas
• Ben Griffin
• Sepp Straka
• Si Woo Kim
• Hideki Matsuyama
• Alex Noren
• Patrick Reed
• Jacob Bridgeman
• Kristoffer Reitan
• Akshay Bhatia
• Tyrrell Hatton
• Nicolai Hojgaard
• Kurt Kitayama
• Min Woo Lee
• Viktor Hovland
• Patrick Cantlay
• Maverick McNealy
• Keegan Bradley
• Sam Burns
• Ryan Gerard
• Rickie Fowler
• Jake Knapp
• Alex Smalley
• Jason Day
• Daniel Berger
• Marco Penge
• Gary Woodland
• Michael Kim
• Matt McCarty
• Adam Scott

6: Top 25 in 2025 Race to Dubai

• Laurie Canter
• Adrien Saddier
• John Parry
• Keita Nakajima
• Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
• Jordan Smith
• Daniel Brown
• Daniel Hillier
• Martin Couvra
• Angel Ayora
• Joakin Lagergren
• Rasmus Hojgaard

7: BMW PGA Championship winners 2023-2025

• Billy Horschel
• Ryan Fox

8: First 5 DP World Tour members in top 20 of Race to Dubai after 2026 BMW International Open

• Jayden Schaper
• Andy Sullivan
• Bernd Wiesberger
• Dan Bradbury
• Hennie Du Plessis

10: PGA Champions for 2022-2026

• Brooks Koepka

12: Top 30 in 2025 FedEx Cup points list

• Harry Hall
• Sungjae Im
• Andrew Novak
• Nick Taylor

14: First 5 PGA Tour members in FedEx Cup top 20 After Travelers Championship

• Alex Fitzpatrick

15: Top LIV Golfer in individual standings after Andalucia

• Joaquin Niemann

16: First 5 players on 2026 Federation Ranking List as of OWGR Week 21

• Kazuki Higa
• Casey Jarvis
• Kota Kaneko
• Travis Smyth
• Scott Vincent

18: US Amateur Champion 2025

• Mason Howell (a)

20: Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion 2025

• Fifa Laopakdee (a)

21: Latin America Amateur Champion 2026

• Mateo Pulcini (a)

22: Africa Amateur Champion 2026

• Jack Buchanan (a)

23: British Amateur Champion 2026

• Stuart Grehan (a)

24: European Amateur Champion 2026

• Tim Wiedemeyer (a)

25: Open Amateur Series winner 2026

• Lev Grinberg (a)

Open Qualifying Series

• Alistair Docherty (Argentina)
• Jeongwoo Ham (Singapore)
• Lucas Herbert (New Zealand)
• Michael Hollick (Australia)
• Cameron John (Singapore)
• Naoyuki Kataoka (Japan)
• Frederic Lacroix (South Africa)
• Francesco Laporta (South Africa)
• Tom McKibbin (Hong Kong)
• Jiho Yang (South Korea)
• Shaun Norris (Mizuno Open)
• Ryutaro Nagano (Mizuno Open)
• Ren Yonezawa (Mizuno Open)
• J.T. Poston (Memorial)
• Bud Cauley (RBC Canadian Open)
• Jackson Suber (RBC Canadian Open)
• Jesper Svensson (RBC Canadian Open)
• Eugenio Chacarra (Italian Open)
• TBD (Scottish Open)
• TBD (Scottish Open)
• TBD (Scottish Open)

Final Qualifying

• Matthew Baldwin
• Sam Bairstow
• Josele Ballester
• Tiger Christensen
• M.J. Daffue
• Alejandro De Castro Piera (a)
• David Howard (a)
• Matthew Jordan
• Kazuma Kobori
• Jack McDonald
• James Nicholas
• Marcus Plunkett
• Antoine Rozner
• Nevill Ruiter (a)
• Baard Bjoernevik Skogen
• Tom Sloman
• Matthew Southgate
• Caleb Surratt
• Austen Truslow
• Peter Uihlein

Highest ranked not exempt in OWGR Week 27

• Sam Stevens
• Nicolas Echavarria
• Pierceson Coody
• Ryo Hisatsune
• Michael Brennan
• David Puig
• Tom Kim
• Eric Cole
• Keith Mitchell
• Matt Wallace
• Sami Valimaki
• Max Homa
• Thomas Detry
• Max Greyserman
• Sahith Theegala

Past Open champions not playing in 2026

• Zach Johnson
• Phil Mickelson
• Ernie Els
• Tiger Woods
• Todd Hamilton
• Ben Curtis
• Paul Lawrie
• Justin Leonard
• John Daly

Open Championship withdrawals

Two players earned their place in the field but then had to withdraw. Jackson Koivun had a spot for Birkdale as the best amateur in the world for 2025, but he turned pro after the US Open and had to forfeit his entry.

LIV Golf player Elvis Smylie got a spot for his Race To Dubai ranking last year, but he had to withdraw from the Open due to a rib injury.

• Koivun, Jackson
• Smylie, Elvis

Open Championship qualifying criteria - exemption categories

• 1. The Open Champions aged 60 or under on 19 July 2026. (for all Champions up to and including 2023).
• 2. The Open Champions aged 55 or under on 19 July 2026. (for all Champions from 2024).
• 3. The Open Champions for 2015-2025.
• 4. First 10 players and anyone tying for 10th place in The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush in 2025.
• 5. The first 50 players on the OWGR for Week 21, 2026.
• 6. First 25 players in the Final Race to Dubai Rankings for 2025.
• 7. The BMW PGA Championship winners for 2023-2025.
• 8. First 5 DP World Tour members and any DP World Tour members tying for 5th place, not otherwise exempt, in the top 20 of the Race to Dubai Rankings on completion of the 2026 BMW International Open.
• 9. The Masters Tournament Champions for 2022-2026.
• 10. The PGA Champions for 2022-2026.
• 11. The US Open Champions for 2022-2026.
• 12. First 30 players from the Final 2025 FedExCup Points List.
• 13. The Players Champions for 2024-2026.
• 14. First 5 PGA Tour members and any PGA Tour members tying for 5th place, not otherwise exempt, in the top 20 of the PGA Tour FedExCup Points List for 2026 on completion of the 2026 Travelers Championship.
• 15. The first player and anyone tying for that place, not otherwise exempt, in the 2026 LIV Golf Individual Season Standings on completion of LIV Golf Andalucia.
• 16. The first 5 players on the 2026 Federation Ranking List as of OWGR Week 21, 2026. Places 1-4 on this List may be determined before The Open closing date, as each season-ending Included Order of Merit is published.
• 17. The Senior Open Champion for 2025.
• 18. The US Amateur Champion for 2025.
• 19. The Mark H McCormack Medal (Men’s World Amateur Golf Ranking winner for 2025.
• 20. The Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion 2025.
• 21. The Latin America Amateur Champion 2026.
• 22. The Africa Amateur Champion 2026.
• 23. The Amateur Champion for 2026.
• 24. The European Amateur Champion for 2026.
• 25. The Open Amateur Series winner 2026.