In the midst of debate on whether changes should be introduced to the World Ranking to integrate LIV Golf or whether the Majors should add a specific exemption for the best of the Saudi league, the Open Championship, the fourth Major of the season, has made official its qualification criteria for its next 2024 edition at Royal Troon.
The news is that there is still no specific place for LIV golfers. That is, the players of the Yassir Al Rumayyan circuit will have to continue qualifying according to the current criteria, top 50 in the world ranking, preliminaries or qualifying tournaments, as brilliantly done by the Spanish David Puig in Malaysia.
Thus, the Royal and Ancient introduces only three minor changes in its qualification criteria:
From 2024, players who win the Open will be exempt until they are 55 years old and not until they are 60 years old, as was the case until now. However, all golfers currently exempt as past champions will be able to play the Open until they are 60 years old. This will change from this year. That is, Brian Harman will be the last winner who can play the Open until he is 60.
In addition, a new exemption is offered for players competing in the Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia and Sunshine Tour through the International Golf Federation ranking. The top five ranked at the close of registrations will get a place in the Open.
An exemption has also been added for the champion of the brand new Africa Amateur Championship. This year Altin van der Merwe will enjoy it after his victory in the inaugural championship at Leopard Creek last month.
Likewise, a medical exemption has been granted to Michael Hendry after he was unable to take his place in the 151st Open last year due to a serious illness.
The 152nd Open will be played at Royal Troon from 14 to 21 July 2024.
The list of already qualified players (97) and the criterion by which they have entered is as follows:
Andersen, Mason – 15
Bjork, Alexander – 6
Boriboonsub, Denwit – OQS Malaysia
Bradbury, Dan – OQS South Africa
Bradley, Keegan – 13
Burmester, Dean – OQS South Africa
Burns, Sam – 13
Campillo, Jorge – 6
Cantlay, Patrick – 13
Cejka, Alex – 18
Cink, Stewart – 1
Clark, Wyndham – 9, 13
Clarke, Darren – 1
Conners, Corey – 13
Curtis, Ben – 1
Daly, John – 1
Day, Jason – 4, 13
DeChambeau, Bryson – 9
De La Fuente, Santiago – 24
Duval, David – 1
Els, Ernie – 1
Fichardt, Darren – OQS South Africa
Finau, Tony – 13
Fitzpatrick, Matt – 6, 9, 13
Fleetwood, Tommy – 4, 6, 13
Fowler, Rickie – 13
Fox, Ryan – 6, 7
Glover, Lucas – 13
Grillo, Emiliano – 4, 13
Hamilton, Todd – 1
Harman, Brian – 1, 3, 4, 13
Harrington, Padraig – 1
Hatton, Tyrrell – 6, 13
Hendry, Michael – 27
Henley, Russell – 13
Hillier, Daniel – 6
Hisatsune, Ryo – 6
Hojgaard, Nicolai – 6
Hojgaard, Rasmus – 6
Homa, Max – 4, 13
Horschel, Billy – 7
Hoshino, Rikuya – OQS Australia
Hovland, Viktor – 6, 13
Im, Sungjae – 13
Iwasaki, Aguri – 17
Johnson, Dustin – 10
Johnson, Zach – 1, 3
Jordan, Matthew – 4
Kim, Tom – 4, 6, 13
Kim, Si Woo – 13
Koepka, Brooks – 11
Langasque, Romain – 6
Lawrence, Thriston – 6
Lawrie, Paul – 1
Lee, Min Woo – 6
Leonard, Justin – 1
Lowry, Shane – 1, 3, 7
Luiten, Joost – 6
MacIntyre, Robert – 6
Matsuyama, Hideki – 10
McIlroy, Rory – 1, 3, 4, 6, 13
Meronk, Adrian – 6
Mickelson, Phil – 1, 3, 11
Molinari, Francesco – 1, 3
Moore, Taylor – 13
Morikawa, Collin – 1, 3, 11, 13
Niemann, Joaquin – OQS Australia
Norrman, Vincent – 6
Olesen, Thorbjorn – 6
Oosthuizen, Louis – 1
Paul, Yannik – 6
Pavon, Mathieu – 6
Perez, Victor – 6
Puig, David – OQS Malaysia
Rahm, Jon – 4, 6, 9, 10, 13
Sargent, Gordon – 22
Schauffele, Xander – 13
Scheffler, Scottie – 10, 12, 13
Schenk, Adam – 13
Scott, Adam – OQS Australia
Sharma, Shubhankar – 4
Siem, Marcel – 6
Smith, Cameron – 1, 3, 12
Smith, Jordan – 6
Soderberg, Sebastian – 6
Spieth, Jordan – 1, 3, 13
Stenson, Henrik – 1, 3
Straka, Sepp – 4, 13
Stubbs, Jasper – 23
Taylor, Nick – 13
Thomas, Justin – 11
Valimaki, Sami – 6
Wallace, Matt – 6
Wang, Jeunghun – OQS Malaysia
Woodland, Gary – 9
Woods, Tiger – 1, 10
Young, Cameron – 4
Exemption categories:
1. Open champions who are 60 years old or younger on 21 July 2024 (for all champions until 2024).
2. Open Champions who are 55 years old or younger on 21 July 2024 (for all Champions from 2024 onwards).
3. Open champions from 2013 to 2023.
4. Top ten and tied at the Open at Royal Liverpool in 2023.
5. The top 50 players in the world ranking in week 21 of 2024.
6. The top 30 in the 2023 Race to Dubai.
7. Winners of the BMW PGA Championship between 2021 and 2023.
8. The top 5 members of the DP World Tour and tied, not exempt in any other way, among the top 20 in the Race to Dubai at the end of the 2024 BMW International.
9. US Open champions between 2019 and 2024.
10. Masters champions between 2019 and 2024.
11. PGA Championship champions between 2018 and 2024.
12. The PLAYERS champions between 2022 and 2024.
13. The top 30 in the 2023 FedEx Cup.
14. The top 5 members of the PGA TOUR and tied, not exempt, within the top 20 of the FedEx Cup at the end of the 2024 Travelers Championship.
15. The champion of the 117th VISA Open of Argentina 2024.
16. The top 5 in the International Federation Ranking at the close of registrations.
17. The 2023 Japan Open champion.
18. The 2023 Senior Open champion.
19. The 2024 British Amateur champion.
20. The 2023 US Amateur champion.
21. The 2024 European Amateur champion.
22. The winner of the Mark H McCormack Medal (world number one amateur) in 2023.
23. The 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur champion.
24. The 2024 Latin America Amateur champion.
25. The winner of the 2024 Open Amateur Series.
26. The 2024 Africa Amateur champion.
27. Exemption for medical reasons.
Exemptions 19-26 can only be taken by players who retain their amateur status.
In addition, other ways to qualify are designated tournaments and preliminaries:
QUALIFYING TOURNAMENTS:
OQS South Africa – Joburg Open
OQS Australia – ISPS Handa Australian Open
OQS USA – Arnold Palmer Invitational
OQS Malaysia – IRS Prima Malaysian Open
OQS Japan – Mizuno Open
OQS Canada – RBC Canadian Open
OQS USA – Memorial Tournament presented by Workday
OQS Korea – KOLON Korea Open
OQS Netherlands – KLM Open
OQS Italy – Italian Open
OQS USA – John Deere Classic
OQS Scotland – Genesis Scottish Open
PRELIMINARIES
Final Qualifying – Burnham & Berrow
Final Qualifying – Dundonald Links
Final Qualifying – Royal Cinque Ports
Final Qualifying – West Lancashire
