2023 Open Championship field: Here’s who’s playing at Royal Liverpool

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