Major season is coming to an end this week (for the men, at least) as the professional golf world homes in on Royal Liverpool, hosting the sport’s oldest championship for the 13th time. Here’s everything you need to know about the 156 golfers teeing it up at the 151st Open Championship.
2023 Open Championship preview
A return to Hoylake also means a return to the site of Rory McIlroy’s only Open Championship victory.
Entering the week as the No. 2 player in the Official World Golf Rankings, McIlroy will be the clear favorite to bring home a second Claret Jug after winning last week at the Genesis Scottish Open. He’ll be looking to win a nine-year major drought, going winless since his victories at both the Open and PGA Championship in 2014.
McIlroy faces a clear challenge from a number of players, most notably Scottie Scheffler and Cam Smith. Smith is the defending champion after he putted lights out at St. Andrews to catch and pass McIlroy on the final nine a year ago. Like McIlroy, Smith also won his final pre-Open start at LIV Golf London. Scheffler, meanwhile, is the No. 1 player in the world and hasn’t finished outside the top-12 in a start since last October.
Who is exempt into the Open?
The R&A, which runs the Open, lists 27 criteria for earning an exemption into the field at Hoylake. The rest of the field is filled out by open qualifying and the Open Qualifying Series. The exemptions are as follows.
1. The Open Champions aged 60 or under on 23 July 2023
2. The Open Champions for 2012–2022 (regardless of age)
3. Top 10 finishers and ties in the 2022 Open Championship
4. Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) for Week 21, 2023
5. Top 30 in the final 2022 DP World Tour Rankings
6. Recent winners of the BMW PGA Championship (2019–2022)
7. Top five players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2023 Race to Dubai through the BMW International Open
8. Recent winners of the U.S. Open (2018–2023)
9. Recent winners of the Masters Tournament (2018–2023)
10. Recent winners of the PGA Championship (2017–2023)
11. Recent winners of The Players Championship (2021–2023)
12. The top 30 players from the 2022 FedEx Cup points list
13. Top five players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2022–23 FedEx Cup points list through the Travelers Championship
14. Winner of the 2022 Visa Open de Argentina
15. Winner of the 2022–23 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit
16. Winner of the 2022–23 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit
17. Winner of the 2022 Japan Open Golf Championship
18. Top two players on the 2022 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List
19. The top player, not already exempt, on the 2023 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List through the BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup
20. Winner of the 2022 Senior Open Championship
21. Winner of the 2023 Amateur Championship
22. Winner of the 2022 U.S. Amateur
23. Winner of the 2023 European Amateur
24. Recipient of the 2022 Mark H. McCormack Medal
25. Winner of the 2022 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship
26. Winner of the 2023 Latin America Amateur Championship
27. Winner of the 2023 Open Amateur Series
2023 Open Championship field
Abraham Ancer
Adri Arnaus
Jose Luis Ballester Barrio (a)
Kyle Barker
Haydn Barron
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Alexander Bjork
Richard Bland
Dan Bradbury
Keegan Bradley
Sam Burns
Jorge Campillo
Alejandro Cañizares
Laurie Canter
Patrick Cantlay
Tiger Christensen (a)
Stewart Cink
Wyndham Clark
Darren Clarke
Corey Conners
Harrison Crowe
John Daly
Jason Day
Bryson DeChambeau
Thomas Detry
Ernie Els
Nacho Elvira
Harris English
Oliver Farr
Ewen Ferguson
Matthew Fernandez De Oliveira (a)
Tony Finau
Zack Fischer
Alex Fitzpatrick
Matt Fitzpatrick
Tommy Fleetwood
Rickie Fowler
Ryan Fox
Talor Gooch
Branden Grace
Ben Griffin
Emiliano Grillo
Seungsu Han
Brian Harman
Padraig Harrington
Tyrrell Hatton
Russell Henley
Lucas Herbert
Kazuki Higa
Daniel Hillier
Kensei Hirata
Lee Hodges
Tom Hoge
Nicolai Hojgaard
Rasmus Hojgaard
Max Homa
Billy Horschel
Rikuya Hoshino
Viktor Hovland
Sungjae Im
Hiroshi Iwata
Jazz Janewattananond
Dustin Johnson
Zach Johnson
Matthew Jordan
Takumi Kanaya
Kyung Nam Kang
Taichi Kho
Bio Kim
Michael Kim
Si Woo Kim
Tom Kim
Chris Kirk
Kurt Kitayama
Brooks Koepka
Christo Lamprecht (a)
Romain Langasque
Pablo Larrazabal
Thriston Lawrence
KH Lee
Min Woo Lee
David Lingmerth
Hurly Long
Shane Lowry
Joost Luiten
Robert MacIntyre
Alex Maguire (a)
Hideki Matsuyama
Denny McCarthy
Rory McIlroy
Connor McKinney
Adrian Meronk
David Micheluzzi
Phil Mickelson
Guido Migliozzi
Francesco Molinari
Taylor Moore
Collin Morikawa
Trey Mullinax
Keita Nakajima
Joaquin Niemann
Alex Noren
Thorbjorn Olesen
Louis Oosthuizen
Adrian Otaegui
Yannik Paul
Marco Penge
Victor Perez
Thomas Pieters
JT Poston
Seamus Power
Andrew Putnam
Jon Rahm
Richie Ramsay
Patrick Reed
Davis Riley
Graeme Robertson
Brandon Robinson Thompson
Martin Rohwer
Justin Rose
Antoine Rozner
Kalle Samooja
Xander Schauffele
Scottie Scheffler
Adam Schenk
Charl Schwartzel
Adam Scott
Taiga Semikawa
Shubhankar Sharma
Callum Shinkwin
Marcel Siem
Cameron Smith
Jordan Smith
Travis Smyth
Matthew Southgate
Jordan Spieth
Scott Stallings
Henrik Stenson
Michael Stewart
Sepp Straka
Ockie Strydom
Connor Syme
Nick Taylor
Sahith Theegala
Justin Thomas
Brendon Todd
Sami Välimäki
Matt Wallace
Marc Warren
Gunner Wiebe
Danny Willett
Oliver Wilson
Gary Woodland
Kazuki Yasumori
Cameron Young
