The Open field 2025: Player line-up for Royal Portrush, exemption categories and how golfers qualify for major spot
The Open takes place at Royal Portrush from July 17-20; Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are both looking to claim their second major win of the season; Watch the opening round live on Thursday from 6.30am on Sky Sports Golf
Sunday 13 July 2025 20:12, UK
The field is set for the final men's major of the year, but who has qualified for The 153rd Open and will get their opportunity to win the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush?
The Open returns to Northern Ireland for the first time since 2019, with Scottie Scheffler arriving as pre-tournament favourite and Rory McIlroy looking to lift the Claret Jug on home soil and register a sixth major title.
Xander Schauffele returns as defending champion - after last year's victory at Royal Troon - and JJ Spaun chases back-to-back major titles, following his win at the US Open last month, with Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa and Bryson DeChambeau all looking to add to their major tally.
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The final three places in the 156-man field were up for grabs at the Genesis Scottish Open, where the leading three players - not already exempt - who made the cut at The Renaissance Club secured a last-minute major invite.
Chris Gotterup claimed a two-shot victory over McIlroy and Marco Penge - who were already exempt - to secure a debut at The Open, while Nicolai Hojgaard sealed the second qualifying place after finishing in tied-fourth.
Matti Schmid earned the last spot available in The Open ahead of Andy Sullivan thanks to his superior position in the Official World Golf Ranking, having both ended the week on six under.
The R&A also confirmed on Sunday that two-time champion Ernie Els had withdrawn, with Si Woo Kim - the next player on the alternate list, taken from the previous week's world ranking - replacing him in the field.
Who else has recently qualified for The Open?
Six players have earned their spots via the latest world rankings, published on July 7, with Aldrich Potgieter (50), Nicolas Echavarria (51), Brian Campbell (55), Michael Kim (56), Bud Cauley (59) and Davis Thompson (60) all going through.
John Parry, Haotong Li, Daniel Hillier and Shaun Norris all had their spots confirmed via the Race to Dubai rankings the previous day, with the first five DP World Tour members - not already exempt - and in the top 20 in the rankings earning a spot.
Former world No 1 Lee Westwood was among 20 players to progress through Final Qualifying on July 1 and secure his major return, while Adrien Saddier and Martin Couvra booked their spots with their Italian Open finishes.
Field for the 153rd Open Championship
Correct as of July 13; USA unless stated; (x) denotes amateurs
Ludvig Åberg (Swe)
Cameron Adam (Sco) (x)
Mikiya Akutsu (Jpn)
Byeong Hun An (Kor)
John Axelsen (Den)
Daniel Berger
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa)
Akshay Bhatia
George Bloor (Eng)
Keegan Bradley
Daniel Brown (Eng)
Dean Burmester (Rsa)
Sam Burns
Brian Campbell
Laurie Canter (Eng)
Patrick Cantlay
John Catlin
Bud Cauley
Sebastian Cave (Eng) (x)
KJ Choi (Kor)
Stewart Cink
Wyndham Clark
Darren Clarke (NIrl)
Corey Conners (Can)
Martin Couvra (Fra)
Jason Day (Aus)
Bryson DeChambeau
Thomas Detry (Bel)
Nicolas Echavarria (Col)
Harris English
Ethan Fang (x)
OJ Farrell (Eng)
Darren Fichardt (Rsa)
Tony Finau
Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng)
Tommy Fleetwood (Eng)
Rickie Fowler
Ryan Fox (Nzl)
Sergio Garcia (Esp)
Lucas Glover
Chris Gotterup
Connor Graham (Sco) (x)
Max Greyserman
Ben Griffin
Julien Guerrier (Fra)
Harry Hall (Eng)
Brian Harman
Padraig Harrington (Irl)
Justin Hasting (Cay) (x)
Tyrrell Hatton (Eng)
Russell Henley
Lucas Herbert (Aus)
Angel Hidalgo (Esp)
Daniel Hillier (Nzl)
Tom Hoge
Nicolai Hojgaard (Den)
Rasmus Hojgaard (Den)
Rikuya Hoshino (Jpn)
Viktor Hovland (Nor)
Mackenzie Hughes (Can)
Sungjae Im (Kor)
Shugo Imahira (Jpn)
Stephan Jaeger (Ger)
Filip Jakubcik (Cze) (x)
Zach Johnson
Dustin Johnson
Ryggs Johnston
Frazer Jones (Eng) (x)
Matthew Jordan (Eng)
Sadom Kaewkanjana (Tha)
Takumi Kanaya (Jpn)
Riki Kawamoto (Jpn)
Michael Kim
Si Woo Kim (Kor)
Tom Kim (Kor)
Nathan Kimsey (Eng)
Chris Kirk
Curtis Knipes (Eng)
Brooks Koepka
Jason Kokrak
Romain Langasque (Fra)
Thriston Lawrence (Rsa)
Min Woo Lee (Aus)
Marc Leishman (Aus)
Justin Leonard
Haotong Li (Chn)
Oliver Lindell (Fin)
Shane Lowry (Irl)
Curtis Luck (Aus)
Robert MacIntyre (Sco)
Matteo Manassero (Ita)
Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)
Denny McCarthy
Matt McCarty
Rory McIlroy (NIrl)
Tom McKibbin (NIrl)
Maverick McNealy
Phil Mickelson
Guido Migliozzi (Ita)
Francesco Molinari (Ita)
Collin Morikawa
Dylan Naidoo (Rsa)
Bryan Newman (Rsa) (x)
Joaquin Niemann (Chl)
Niklas Norgaard (Den)
Shaun Norris (Rsa)
Andrew Novak
Thorbjorn Olesen (Den)
Jacob Skov Olesen (Den)
Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa)
Carlos Ortiz (Mex)
John Parry (Eng)
Matthieu Pavon (Fra)
Ryan Peake (Aus)
Taylor Pendrith (Can)
Marco Penge (Eng)
JT Poston
Aldrich Potgieter (Rsa)
Jon Rahm (Esp)
Aaron Rai (Eng)
Patrick Reed
Kristoffer Reitan (Nor)
Davis Riley
Justin Rose (Eng)
Antoine Rozner (Fra)
Adrien Saddier (Fra)
Jesper Sandborg (Swe)
Xander Schauffele
Scottie Scheffler
Matti Schmid (Ger)
Adam Scott (Aus)
Jordan Smith (Eng)
Cameron Smith (Aus)
Elvis Smylie (Aus)
Sebastian Soderberg (Swe)
Younghan Song (Kor)
JJ Spaun
Jordan Spieth
Henrik Stenson (Swe)
Sepp Straka (Aut)
Justin Suh
Jesper Svensson (Swe)
Nick Taylor (Can)
Richard Teder (Est) (x)
Sahith Theegala
Justin Thomas
Davis Thompson
Daniel van Tonder (Rsa)
Jhonattan Vegas (Ven)
Matt Wallace (Eng)
Justin Walters (Rsa)
Lee Westwood (Eng)
Cameron Young
Daniel Young (Sco)
Kevin Yu (Tpe)
Sampson Zheng (Chn)
Past champions not playing (winning year in brackets):
Ben Curtis (2003), John Daly (1995), David Duval (2001), Ernie Els (Rsa) (2002, 2012), Todd Hamilton (2004), Paul Lawrie (Sco) (1999), Tiger Woods (2000, 2005, 2006)
How do players qualify for The Open?
All past champions under the age of 60 get to return, along with the top 10 and ties from the previous year at Royal Troon and the last six winners of the other three majors.
The world's top 50 at the start of July, the leading 25 in last year's Race to Dubai standings and everyone who reaches the PGA Tour's season-ending Tour Championship the previous season all get a spot, as do the past three winners of the BMW PGA Championship and The Players.
There is a new category for the leading player - not already exempt - in the LIV Golf League standings, plus places available to winners of the biggest amateur events and those who top the Order of Merits in a variety of tours.
The Open Qualifying Series - which includes the Genesis Scottish Open - offers golfers around the world opportunities to earn qualification spots at certain events across the calendar, with 20 of those places coming through Final Qualifying.
When is The Open live on Sky Sports?
Sky Sports is once again the exclusive home of The Open, with live coverage from all seven days of tournament week from July 14-20 and round-the-clock coverage of the final men's major of the year.
There are seven hours of live coverage on the Monday and Tuesday practice days at Royal Portrush before a bumper nine hours of live programming on Wednesday, starting at 9am each morning.
Wall-to-wall coverage of The Open then begins at 6.30am on Thursday July 17, with live action available for all four tournament days and a host of extra feeds also available. Not got Sky? Stream The Open and more with no contract.
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