2026 Open Championship Field

Final CaddyBytes listed field total: 156 players, sorted alphabetically by last name. All direct exemption and qualifying positions are filled. The list is complete as of July 13, although a late withdrawal could still produce an official reserve replacement before the championship begins.

This group highlights listed players who are in through Open champion, recent major champion, PLAYERS champion, Senior Open, previous Open/top-finish, or major-winning routes. Some players hold several exemption categories.

Note: several former Open champions and previously exempt players are not listed here because they are not currently in the playing field.

• OWGR Week 21: the top-50 world-ranking route remains one of the largest sources of Royal Birkdale players.
• Race to Dubai: the final 2025 Race to Dubai list supplied a major group of exemptions, and the July 5 BMW International Open checkpoint added Hennie du Plessis, Bernd Wiesberger, Jayden Schaper, Andy Sullivan, and Dan Bradbury through the 2026 Race to Dubai route.
• FedExCup: the final 2025 FedExCup list and the late-June 2026 FedExCup route added additional PGA TOUR players.
• LIV Golf route: Joaquin Niemann gained the LIV standings exemption after LIV Golf Andalucia.
• Federation Ranking List: Kota Kaneko, Kazuki Higa, Travis Smyth, Casey Jarvis, and Scott Vincent are part of that route.
• Latest OWGR reserve-list additions: Sam Stevens, Nicolas Echavarria, Pierceson Coody, Ryo Hisatsune, Michael Brennan, David Puig, Tom Kim, Eric Cole, Keith Mitchell, Matt Wallace, Sami Valimaki, Max Homa, Thomas Detry, Max Greyserman, and Sahith Theegala are included in the final field.
• Final qualifying additions: Johnny Keefer, Michael Thorbjornsen, and Victor Perez qualified through the Genesis Scottish Open, and Joe Dean claimed the final place through the Last-Chance Qualifier.

The Open Qualifying Series awarded places to the leading players, not already exempt, at selected tournaments around the world. Every 2026 OQS event is now complete, and all qualifiers are included in the final CaddyBytes Royal Birkdale field list.

🟢 Completed OQS Places in the Final Field

• OQS Spain — Open de España: Marco Penge
• OQS Japan — Japan Open: Naoyuki Kataoka
• OQS Hong Kong — Link Hong Kong Open: Tom McKibbin
• OQS Australia — Australian Open: Si Woo Kim, Michael Hollick, Adam Scott
• OQS New Zealand — New Zealand Open: Lucas Herbert
• OQS South Africa — Investec South African Open: Casey Jarvis, Frederic Lacroix, Francesco Laporta
• OQS Argentina — Visa Argentina Open: Alistair Docherty
• OQS USA — Arnold Palmer Invitational: Daniel Berger
• OQS Singapore — Singapore Open: Jeongwoo Ham, Cameron John
• OQS Korea — KOLON Korea Open: Jiho Yang
• OQS Japan — Mizuno Open: Shaun Norris, Ryutaro Nagano, Ren Yonezawa
• OQS USA — the Memorial Tournament: J.T. Poston
• OQS Canada — RBC Canadian Open: Bud Cauley, Jesper Svensson, Jackson Suber
• OQS Italy — DS Automobiles 83° Open d'Italia: Eugenio Chacarra
• OQS Scotland — Genesis Scottish Open: Johnny Keefer, Michael Thorbjornsen, Victor Perez

Regional Qualifying is the first stage of The Open’s direct qualifying route for many non-exempt players. For 2026, it fed players into the Final Qualifying stage.

• Regional Qualifying date: June 22, 2026
• Status: completed
• Result: 124 players progressed to Final Qualifying
• Next stage: Final Qualifying took place June 30 across four UK venues

Final Qualifying and the Last-Chance Qualifier are complete. Twenty players earned places at Royal Birkdale on Tuesday, June 30, across Burnham & Berrow, Dundonald Links, Royal Cinque Ports, and West Lancashire. Joe Dean then won the inaugural Last-Chance Qualifier at Royal Birkdale on Monday, July 13, to claim the final position in the 156-player field.

Burnham & Berrow

• James Nicholas
• Caleb Surratt
• Tom Sloman
• Alejandro De Castro Piera (a)
• Austin Truslow

Dundonald Links

• Jack McDonald
• Matthew Baldwin
• David Howard (a)
• Nevill Ruiter (a)
• Marcus Plunkett

Royal Cinque Ports

• Baard Bjoernevik Skogen
• MJ Daffue
• Matthew Southgate
• Peter Uihlein
• Antoine Rozner

West Lancashire

• Sam Bairstow
• Kazuma Kobori
• Jose Luis Ballester Barrio
• Tiger Christensen
• Matthew Jordan

Last-Chance Qualifier

• Date: Monday, July 13, 2026
• Venue: Royal Birkdale
• Format: 18-hole stroke play
• Winner: Joe Dean
• Winning score: 2-under 68
• Field result: Dean claimed the final Open Championship place and completed the 156-player field

Amateur players are marked with (a). Amateur exemption winners must remain amateur to take up the exemption.

• Jack Buchanan (a): Africa Amateur Champion
• Mason Howell (a): 2025 U.S. Amateur Champion
• Fifa Laopakdee (a): 2025 Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion
• Mateo Pulcini (a): 2026 Latin America Amateur Champion
• Stuart Grehan: 2026 Amateur Champion
• Tim Wiedemeyer: 2026 European Amateur Champion
• Lev Grinberg: 2026 Open Amateur Series winner
• David Howard (a): Final Qualifying
• Alejandro De Castro Piera (a): Final Qualifying
• Nevill Ruiter (a): Final Qualifying
• Marcus Plunkett: Final Qualifying

• Current CaddyBytes count: 156 players listed in the final field.
• Full field status: complete as of July 13, 2026.
• Final four additions: Johnny Keefer, Michael Thorbjornsen, and Victor Perez through the Genesis Scottish Open OQS, plus Joe Dean through the Last-Chance Qualifier.
• Final Qualifying: already complete, with 20 players advancing from the four June 30 venues.
• Genesis Scottish Open: complete — Keefer, Thorbjornsen, and Perez secured the three available OQS places.
• Last-Chance Qualifier: complete — Dean won at Royal Birkdale to secure the 156th and final place.
• Late movement: the only remaining changes would come from a withdrawal and an official reserve replacement before Round 1.

• The Open field is not just a PGA TOUR field; it is built from global R&A exemption and qualifying pathways.
• The final CaddyBytes field list has 156 players, sorted alphabetically in the full-field dropdown.
• Final Qualifying is complete, with 20 players added from four venues.
• The Race to Dubai route added five more names after the BMW International Open checkpoint.
• The latest OWGR reserve-list movement added 15 players before the final qualifying routes were completed.
• The Open Qualifying Series is complete, with Johnny Keefer, Michael Thorbjornsen, and Victor Perez claiming the three Genesis Scottish Open places.
• Joe Dean won the Last-Chance Qualifier and claimed the final position in the field.
• The confirmed 156-player list can now change only through a late withdrawal and official reserve replacement.

CaddyBytes field tracker note: updated through the completed Final Qualifying, Open Qualifying Series, Race to Dubai, OWGR reserve-list, and Last-Chance Qualifier routes. Last checked July 13, 2026; continue to monitor only for late withdrawals or official reserve replacements.