The Open de España presented by Madrid will again be one of the gateways to The Open. The R&A confirmed on Tuesday the schedule of the Open Qualifying Series for the 155th edition of the British major, which will be played at St Andrews in 2027, an official announcement that confirms what Ten-Golf had reported about the significant qualifying incentives that the Madrid tournament will again have this year.
The event, which will be played from 8 to 11 October at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, will award one spot for The Open. It will be earned by the highest-finishing player at the end of the championship who has made the cut and who is not already exempt to play the major at the Old Course. As we already reported, the tournament will also award its winner a place for the Masters de Augusta in 2027, so Madrid will again become a direct route to two of the four Majors on the calendar.
It will be the second consecutive year that the Open de España is part of the Open Qualifying Series. In 2025, Marco Penge made the most of this opportunity. The Englishman won the title at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid and, with his victory, secured his ticket both to the Masters de Augusta and to The Open de Royal Birkdale.
There is, however, an important difference between the two routes of qualification. The invitation to the Masters is linked to the champion of the Open de España, whereas the place for The Open corresponds to the highest finisher who is not already exempt. Thus, if the winner in Madrid had already secured their place at St Andrews, the ticket for the British would pass to the next eligible player in the standings, a different case to the tournament of the Green Jacket, only for the champion
The road to St Andrews begins this week
The R&A has announced a wide qualifying schedule for the 155th edition of The Open, with 19 tournaments in 15 countries belonging to the PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, DP World Tour, Asian Tour, KPGA Tour, Japan Golf Tour, Sunshine Tour and Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.
The road to St Andrews will start precisely this week at the FedEx Open de France, at Le Golf National, where the first spot will be awarded. Then will come the Open de España and, during October, the Japan Open Golf Championship and the Link Hong Kong Open.
Among the events that will award spots over the coming months are tournaments of the importance of the Australian Open, South African Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Memorial Tournament, RBC Canadian Open, Irish Open and Genesis Scottish Open.
Additionally, The R&A will maintain its traditional Regional and Final Qualifying processes during June. The Final Qualifying will be played on 29 June at Burnham & Berrow, Glasgow Gailes, Prince’s and West Lancashire.
The major new feature will be a last opportunity on the eve of the championship. On 12 July, at St Andrews, a Last-Chance Qualifier will be played which will award the final available spot for The Open, whose participant selection system will be detailed later by The R&A.
