As always, the Open Championship will be the last major of the season and will take place from July 16-19.
Royal Birkdale will play host to the tournament, as it goes to Merseyside, following Scottie Scheffler’s sublime victory at Royal Portrush in 2025.
Jordan Spieth was the Champion Golfer of the Year the last time the Open headed to Southport in 2017. The American took a three-shot victory over compatriot Matt Kuchar, achieving his second wire-to-wire major victory and third overall.
A series of stars from the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, and LIV Golf, as well as Open champions from previous years, will head to the famous links for the 154th running of the tournament.
A large field will line up at Birkdale, having qualified through a number of different routes throughout the season.
Previous Open champions are given exemptions into the tournament until they are 60, or 55 if their victory came after 2024. Louis Oosthuizen, Darren Clarke and David Duval will take up their places in the field under this exemption.
In 2025, the R&A announced the creation of a new LIV Golf category. One spot went to the LIV Golfer not otherwise exempt who finished highest in the LIV Golf standings, plus they had to be in the top five, through the LIV Dallas event at the end of June.
Sergio Garcia became the first-ever player to qualify for The Open via these LIV rankings. He was fourth in the list through the Dallas event, which meant he could play at Portrush, as each player ranked above him had already qualified. In 2026, Joaquin Niemann earned the LIV spot.
In June 2025, the R&A revealed that the Last-Chance Qualifier on 13 July next year will see up to 12 players compete for a spot at Birkdale by competing over 18 holes at the Merseyside venue to decide who earns the final place in the field ahead of the draw being announced.
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Conditions to earn a spot in the Last-Chance Qualifier were announced in the following December, with the invited players announced on 7 July.
The qualifier will take place on the Monday of Championship week, with Youtube sensation Wesley Bryan and former Amateur champion Aldrich Potgeiter both set to be in the field.
This of course will run alongside the traditional Regional and Final Qualifying events that take place in the weeks leading up to the Open Championship.
They offer places in the world’s oldest major to a variety of players, with Lee Westwood and Harry Hall competing at Royal Portrush due to their success in these events.
ALSO: How to qualify for The Open Championship
On August 26, 2025, the Masters announced several new criteria for qualification, which concerned winning national championships. You can read more about this here.
This was announced jointly with the R&A to align aspects of the qualification criteria, awarding invitations to winners/top finishers of select national opens beginning immediately.
The Open Qualifying Series has existed since 2013 and offers players entry into The Open through events across the world. Beginning later in 2025, players can qualify at Birkdale through 15 events in 13 countries. Marco Penge, Tom McKibbin and Lucas Herbert earned their place in Southport via the OQS.
So, who will lift the Claret Jug next summer? Here is the field for The Open Championship in 2026:
2026 Open Championship field
Ludvig Åberg
Angel Ayora
Sam Bairstow
Matthew Baldwin
Jose Luis Ballester
Daniel Berger
Akshay Bhatia
Dan Bradbury
Keegan Bradley
Michael Brennan
Jacob Bridgeman
Daniel Brown
Jack Buchanan (a)
Laurie Canter
Bud Cauley
Eugenio Chacarra
Tiger Christensen
Stewart Cink
Darren Clarke
Eric Cole
Corey Conners
Pierceson Coody
Martin Couvra
MJ Daffue
Jason Day
Alejandro De Castro Piera (a)
Joe Dean
Thomas Detry
Alistair Docherty
Hennie Du Plessis
David Duval
Nico Echavarria
Harris English
Alex Fitzpatrick
Rickie Fowler
Ryan Fox
Ryan Gerard
Chris Gotterup
Stuart Grehan (a)
Max Greyserman
Ben Griffin
Lev Grinberg (a)
Harry Hall
Jeongwoo Ham
Padraig Harrington
Tyrrell Hatton
Russell Henley
Lucas Herbert
Kazuki Higa
Daniel Hillier
Ryo Hisatsune
Nicolai Hojgaard
Rasmus Hojgaard
Michael Hollick
Max Homa
Billy Horschel
David Howard (a)
Mason Howell (a)
Sungjae Im
Casey Jarvis
Cameron John
Matthew Jordan
Kota Kaneko
Naoyuki Kataoka
Johnny Keefer
Si Woo Kim
Michael Kim
Tom Kim
Kurt Kitayama
Jake Knapp
Kazuma Kobori
Frederic Lacroix
Joakim Lagergren
Fifa Laopakdee (a)
Francesco Laporta
Min Woo Lee
Haotong Li
Matt McCarty
Jack McDonald
Tom McKibbin
Maverick McNealy
Keith Mitchell
Francesco Molinari
Ryutaro Nagano
Keita Nakajima
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
James Nicholas
Jaoquin Niemann
Alex Noren
Shaun Norris
Andrew Novak
John Parry
Victor Perez
Marco Penge
Marcus Plunkett
J.T Poston
Aldrich Potgeiter
David Puig
Mateo Pulcini (must remain an amateur)
Aaron Rai
Patrick Reed
Kristoffer Reitan
Justin Rose
Antoine Rozner
Nevill Ruiter (a)
Adrien Saddier
Jayden Schaper
Adam Scott
Baard Bjoernevik Skogen
Tom Sloman
Alex Smalley
Jordan Smith
Travis Smyth
Matthew Southgate
J.J. Spaun
Henrik Stenson
Sam Stevens
Jackson Suber
Andy Sullivan
Caleb Surratt
Jesper Svensson
Nick Taylor
Sahith Theegala
Michael Thorbjornsen
Austen Truslow
Peter Uihlein
Sami Valimaki
Scott Vincent
Matt Wallace
Tim Wiedemeyer (a)
Bernd Wiesberger
Gary Woodland
Jiho Yang
Ren Yonezewa
Cameron Young
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is ‘The Open’ Championship? The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. First played in 1860 at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland, it is the only major held outside the United States.
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2. Who organises The Open Championship? The Open Championship is organised by The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A), one of the oldest and most prestigious golf clubs in the world.
3. Where is The Open Championship usually held? The Open Championship is typically held in the United Kingdom. It is played on a rotation of links courses across England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
4. How often does The Open Championship take place? The Open Championship is an annual event, typically taking place in mid-July.
5. What is the format of The Open Championship? The Open is a 72-hole stroke play tournament that takes place over four days. If two or more players are tied at the end of the four rounds, a four-hole aggregate playoff is used to determine the winner.
6. Who holds the record for the most Open Championship wins? The record for the most Open Championship wins is held jointly by Harry Vardon, who won six times between 1896 and 1914.
7. Who was the youngest winner of The Open Championship? The youngest winner of The Open Championship is Young Tom Morris, who was 17 years and 5 months old when he won in 1868.
8. What is the Claret Jug? The Claret Jug, officially known as the Golf Champion Trophy, has been awarded to the winner of The Open Championship since 1873. It’s one of the most iconic trophies in the sport of golf.
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