The Open 2026: Here’s everybody in the field (so far) at Royal Birkdale

There’s less than a month until the oldest championship in golf is contested for the 154th time and the anticipation is building for the 2026 Open Championship, to be held at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England.

That’s particularly the case after the finish of the U.S. Open and a handful more players earned spots into the R&A field. The total number of exemption competitors to earn a tee time and have committed to play in the 156-player Birkdale field is up to 113. Meanwhile, 20 more players earned spots in the field via Final Qualifying at four sites on June 30 and five more joined off the Race to Dubai points list on Sunday.

This is the 11th time the R&A is bringing the Open to Royal Birkdale. Since the course staged the Open for the first time in 1954, only St. Andrews has hosted the championship more times. And it also has an impressive list of past champions:

1954: Peter Thomson
1961: Arnold Palmer
1965: Peter Thomson
1971: Lee Trevino
1976: Johnny Miller
1983: Tom Watson
1991: Ian Baker-Finch
1998: Mark O’Meara
2008: Padraig Harrington
2017: Jordan Spieth

Jordan Spieth was The Open winner in 2017, the last time Royal Birkdale hosted the championship. Dan Mullan/Getty Images

R&A CEO Mark Darbon says they expect attendance to exceed 300,000 for the week, which would break the record for the most in history. More than 1 million applications for tickets were received.

Below is the list of players who have qualified to date, and the criteria for which they earned their spots. There remains two ways for players to still earn exemptions. The top finisher at the Genesis Scottish Open as an Open Qualifying Series event. One more will come from a Last Chance Qualifier being played for the first time this year in which 12 golfers will compete at Birkdale on Monday of Open Championship week for one last spot in the championship. Darbon says the field for the event will include the runner-up from our amateur championship, people that have just missed out through final qualifying, people who haven’t quite made it on the OWGR list but may be reserves already for the championship. “I think we’re going to create some drama and excitement at the start of the week,” Darbon said.

If all 156 spots are not filled, the R&A will add players off a reserve list based on their position in the World Rankings.

The field

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

Brian Harman
Cameron Smith
Collin Morikawa
Shane Lowry
Francisco Molinari
Jordan Spieth
Henrik Stenson
Zach Johnson*
Rory McIlroy
Phil Mickelson*
Ernie Els*
Darren Clarke
Louis Oosthuizen
Stewart Cink
Padraig Harrington
Tiger Woods*
Todd Hamilton*
Ben Curtis*
David Duval
Paul Lawrie*
Justin Leonard*
John Daly*

Editor’s Note: Players with an * next to their name either did not enter the championship or have since withdrawn, according to TheOpen.com website.

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

Scottie Scheffler
Xander Schauffele

3: Open Champions for 2015-2025.

Scottie Scheffler
Xander Schuaffele
Brian Harman
Cameron Smith
Collin Morikawa
Shane Lowry
Francesco Molinari
Jordan Spieth
Henrik Stenson
Zach Johnson

4: First 10 players and ties in 2025 Open at Royal Portrush

Scottie Scheffler
Harris English
Chris Gotterup
Haotong Li
Matt Fitzpatrick
Wyndham Clark
Xander Schauffele
Robert MacIntyre
Rory McIlroy
Corey Conners
Brian Harman
Russell Henley
Bryson DeChambeau

5: First 50 players on the OWGR for Week 21, 2026 (May 24)

Scottie Scheffler
Rory McIlroy
Cameron Young
Matt Fitzpatrick
Justin Rose
Collin Morikawa
Tommy Fleetwood
Xander Schauffele
J.J. Spaun
Chris Gotterup
Jon Rahm
Russell Henley
Ludvig Aberg
Aaron Rai
Robert MacIntyre
Justin Thomas
Ben Griffin
Sepp Straka
Si Woo Kim
Hideki Matsuyama
Alex Noren
Harris English
Patrick Reed
Jacob Bridgeman
Kristoffer Reitan
Akshay Bhatia
Tyrrell Hatton
Nicolai Hojgaard
Kurt Kitayama
Min Woo Lee
Viktor Hovland
Bryson DeChambeau
Patrick Cantlay
Maverick McNealy
Keegan Bradley
Sam Burns
Ryan Gerard
Rickie Fowler
Jake Knapp
Shane Lowry
Alex Smalley
Jason Day
Daniel Berger
Wyndham Clark
Marco Penge
Jordan Spieth
Gary Woodland
Michael Kim
Matt McCarty
Adam Scott

6: First 25 players in the Final Race to Dubai Rankings for 2025

Rory McIlroy
Marco Penge
Matt Fitzpatrick
Tyrrell Hatton
Tommy Fleetwood
Robert MacIntyre
Laurie Canter
Kristoffer Reitan
Adrien Saddier
Alex Noren
John Parry
Aaron Rai
Haotong Li
Keita Nakajima
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
Jordan Smith
Daniel Brown
Daniel Hillier
Martin Couvra
Angel Ayora
Nicolai Hojgaard
Justin Rose
Elvis Smylie
Joakin Lagergren
Rasmus Hojgaard

7: BMW PGA Championship winners for 2023-2025

Alex Noren
Billy Horschel
Ryan Fox

8: First 5 DP World Tour members and ties, not otherwise exempt, in the top 20 of the Race to Dubai Rankings on completion of the 2026 BMW International Open (end July 5)

Jayden Schaper
Andy Sullivan
Bernd Wiesberger
Dan Bradbury
Hennie Du Plessis

9: Masters Champions for 2022-2026

Rory McIlroy
Scottie Scheffler
Jon Rahm

10: PGA Champions for 2022-2026

Aaron Rai
Scottie Scheffler
Xander Schauffele
Brooks Koepka
Justin Thomas

11: U.S. Open Champions for 2022-2026

Wyndham Clark
J.J. Spaun
Bryson DeChambeau
Matt Fitzpatrick

12: First 30 players from the Final 2025 FedEx Cup Points List

Ludvig Aberg
Akshay Bhatia
Keegan Bradley
Jacob Bridgeman
Sam Burns
Patrick Cantlay
Corey Conners
Harris English
Tommy Fleetwood
Chris Gotterup
Ben Griffin
Harry Hall
Brian Harman
Russell Henley
Viktor Hovland
Sungjae Im
Shane Lowry
Robert MacIntyre
Hideki Matsuyama
Rory McIlroy
Maverick McNealy
Collin Morikawa
Andrew Novak
Justin Rose
Scottie Scheffler
J.J. Spaun
Sepp Straka
Nick Taylor
Justin Thomas
Cameron Young

13: Players Champions for 2024-2026

Cameron Young
Rory McIlroy
Scottie Scheffler

14: First five PGA Tour members and ties, not otherwise exempt, in the top 20 of the 2026 FedEx Cup Points List on completion of the Travelers Championship (ends June 28)

Alex Fitzpatrick

15: First player and ties, not otherwise exempt, in the 2026 LIV Golf Individual Season Standings on completion of LIV Golf Andalucia

Joaquin Niemann

16: First five players on the 2026 Federation Ranking List as of OWGR Week 21, 2026 (May 24). Places 1-4 on this List may be determined before The Open closing date, as each season-ending Included Order of Merit is published

Kazuki Higa
Casey Jarvis
Kota Kaneko
Travis Smyth
Scott Vincent

17: British Senior Open Champion for 2025

Padraig Harrington

18: U.S. Amateur Champion for 2025

Mason Howell (a)

19: Mark H McCormack Medal (Men’s World Amateur Golf Ranking) winner for 2025

N/A (Jackson Koivun earned the spot but has turned pro)

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 for 2026

Stuart Grehan (a)

24: European Amateur Champion for 2026

Tim Wiedemeyer (a)

25: Open Amateur Series winner 2026

Lev Grinberg (a)

Open Qualifying Series

Daniel Berger (USA, Arnold Palmer Invitational)
Alistair Docherty (Argentina)
Si Woo Kim (Australia)
Jeongwoo Ham (Singapore)
Lucas Herbert (New Zealand)
Michael Hollick (Australia)
Casey Jarvis (South Africa)
Cameron John (Singapore)
Naoyuki Kataoka (Japan)
Frederic Lacroix (South Africa)
Francesco Laporta (South Africa)
Tom McKibbin (Hong Kong)
Marco Penge (Spain)
Adam Scott (Australia)
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)

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