The Open field 2025: Player line-up for Royal Portrush, exemption categories and how golfers qualify for major spot | Golf News

The field is nearly set for the final men’s major of the year, but who has qualified for The 153rd Open and how can players still earn their spot 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.

There are 153 players – as of July 7 – already confirmed to tee it up in next week’s major, exclusively live on Sky Sports, with the final three places up for grabs this week at the Genesis Scottish Open.

The leading three players – not already exempt – who make the cut at The Renaissance Club will secure a last-minute invite to The Open the following week, with past Ryder Cup players and DP World Tour regulars among those looking to secure a late major spot.

Which players in Scotland have yet to qualify?

Alex Noren earned his place in The Open last year through his finish at the Genesis Scottish Open and is going to need to do the same again, with Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald also chasing a major spot.

Danny Willett, the 2016 Masters champion, and his 2016 Ryder Cup team-mate Andy Sullivan are among the others trying to qualify, along with Scottish trio Connor Syme, Ewen Ferguson and Richie Ramsay.

Luke Clanton was awarded the Mark McCormack Medal as No 1 amateur last summer but lost his exemption by turning professional, meaning he is not in The Open as things stand, with US Ryder Cup vice-captain Brandt Snedeker looking to use a sponsor’s invite into this week’s event to earn major qualification.

Nicolai Hojgaard aims to join his brother Rasmus in The Open field, with Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Victor Perez, Pablo Larrazabal and Alex Fitzpatrick among the others still chasing a major place. The full Genesis Scottish Open field is available here.

Who 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 7; 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)

Ernie Els (Rsa)

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

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

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

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)

Justin Rose (Eng)

Antoine Rozner (Fra)

Adrien Saddier (Fra)

Jesper Sandborg (Swe)

Xander Schauffele

Scottie Scheffler

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)

Paul Waring (Eng)

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), 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 6.30pm 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.