The 147th Open: Four places on offer at this week's Mizuno Open

Former PGA champion YE Yang is hoping to book a return to The 147th Open this week at the Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open in Japan.

The tournament is the fourth of the 12 events in this year's Open Qualifying Series, with Yang teeing up alongside the likes of Ryo Ishikawa and Shingo Katayama at The Royal in Ibaraki.

There are four places available for Carnoustie in July, with South African Shaun Norris the only player in the field already exempt for the third major of the season.

In the event of a tie for a qualifying place, the player with the highest world ranking will earn a place at The 147th Open, which starts on July 15.

Yang famously became the first Asian player to win a major when he held off Tiger Woods to win the PGA Championship at Hazeltine in 2009, coming from two shots behind on the final day to earn an impressive three-stroke victory.

The South Korean, now 46, also enjoyed a third-place finish at the US Open in 2011, albeit 10 strokes behind runaway winner Rory McIlroy, and Yang's world ranking tumbled to 895 earlier this year.

But a victory at The Crowns on the Japan Tour at the end of April has revived Yang's career, and he is back up to 322nd in the world rankings heading into the Mizuno Open.

Yang has made seven previous Open appearances, but none since 2014 when his major exemptions for winning the PGA expired.

Ishikawa was regarded by many as a future major champion when he broke into the world's top 30 back in 2009, but he was unable to retain a card for the PGA Tour and is now ranked just inside the top 200 despite some consistent results on the Japan Tour.

Now 26, Ishikawa has won 14 times on the Japan Tour, including the Mizuno Open in 2009.