The final field is set for the 2026 Open Championship, with the world’s best golfers heading to Royal Birkdale in pursuit of the Claret Jug. From major champions and rising stars to LIV Golf standouts and players who earned their place through Final Qualifying, this year’s championship features one of the deepest fields in golf.
As always, The Open brings together players from multiple tours through a variety of qualification pathways, ensuring a mix of established stars, former champions, international talent, and exciting newcomers. However, the 156-player field has also undergone several late changes, with injuries forcing some notable withdrawals in the days leading up to the championship.
Full British Open Championship Field
Here is a complete list of players participating in the 2026 British Open Championship field, per the PGA Tour:
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British Open champions under 60 on July 20
Scottie Scheffler
Xander Schauffele
Brian Harman
Cameron Smith
Collin Morikawa
Shane Lowry
Francesco Molinari
Jordan Spieth
Henrik Stenson
Rory McIlroy
Darren Clarke
Louis Oosthuizen
Stewart Cink
Padraig Harrington
David Duval
Top 10 and ties 2025 British Open
Harris English
Chris Gotterup
Wyndham Clark
Matt Fitzpatrick
Haotong Li
Robert MacIntyre
Corey Conners
Russell Henley
Bryson DeChambeau
Masters champion (five-year exemption)
Jon Rahm
PGA champions (five-year exemption)
Aaron Rai
Brooks Koepka
Justin Thomas
U.S. Open champion (five-year exemption)
J.J. Spaun
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The Players champions (three-year exemption)
Cameron Young
BMW PGA champions (three-year exemption)
Alex Noren
Ryan Fox
Top 25 in 2025 Race to Dubai
Tyrrell Hatton
Tommy Fleetwood
Laurie Canter
Kristoffer Reitan
Adrien Saddier
John Parry
Aaron Rai
Keita Nakajima
Jordan Smith
Dan Brown
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
Daniel Hiller
Martin Couvra
Angel Ayora
Nicolai Højgaard
Justin Rose
Joakim Lagergren
Rasmus Højgaard
Top 30 from the 2025 FedEx Cup
Patrick Cantlay
Keegan Bradley
Sam Burns
Ben Griffin
Viktor Hovland
Akshay Bhatia
Harry Hall
Nick Taylor
Ludvig Åberg
Maverick McNealy
Andrew Novak
Jacob Bridgeman
Sungjae Im
Hideki Matsuyama
Sepp Straka
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Top 50 from May 25 world ranking
Patrick Reed
Kurt Kitayama
Min Woo Lee
Ryan Gerard
Rickie Fowler
Jake Knapp
Jason Day
Alex Smalley
Gary Woodland
Michael Kim
Matt McCarty
Top five from the leading 20 players in FedExCup through Travelers Championship
Alex Fitzpatrick
Top five from leading 20 players in Race to Dubai through BMW International Open
Hennie Du Plessis
Bernd Wiesberger
Jayden Schaper
Andy Sullivan
Dan Bradbury
Leading player from LIV Golf through LIV Golf-Andalucia
Joaquin Niemann
Top five players from OWGR Federation ranking on May 23, 2026
Travis Smyth
Kazuki Higa
Kota Kaneko
Scott Vincent
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U.S. Amateur champion
Mason Howell
Asia-Pacific Amateur champion
Fifa Laopakdee
Latin America Amateur champion
Mateo Pulcini
Africa Amateur champion
Jack Buchanan
British Amateur champion
Stuart Gregan
European Amateur champion
a – Tim Wiedemeyer
Open Amateur Series winner
a – Lev Grinberg
Open Qualifying Series – Spanish Open
Marco Penge
Open Qualifying Series – Japan Open
Naoyuki Kataoka
Open Qualifying Series – Hong Kong Open
Tom McKibbin
Open Qualifying Series – Australian Open
Michael Hollick
Adam Scott
Si Woo Kim
Open Qualifying Series – New Zealand Open
Lucas Herbert
Open Qualifying Series – South African Open
Casey Jarvis
Francesco Laporta
Frederic LaCroix
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Open Qualifying Series – Argentina Open
Alistair Docherty
Open Qualifying Series – Arnold Palmer Invitational
Daniel Berger
Open Qualifying Series – Singapore Open
Jeong Woo Ham
Cameron John
Open Qualifying Series – Korea Open
Jiho Yang
Open Qualifying Series – Mizuno Open
Shaun Norris
Ryutaro Nagano
Ren Yonezawa
Open Qualifying Series – the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday
J.T. Poston
Open Qualifying Series – Canadian Open
Bud Cauley
Jesper Svensson
Jackson Suber
Open Qualifying Series – Italian Open
Eugenio Chacarra.
Open Qualifying Series – Genesis Scottish Open
Johnny Keefer
Michael Thorbjornsen
Victor Perez
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Final qualifying
James Nicholas
Caleb Surratt
Austen Truslow
Tom Sloman
a – Alejandro De Castro Piera
Jack McDonald
Matthew Baldwin
a – David Howard
Marcus Plunkett
a – Nevill Ruiter
Baard Skogen
M.J. Daffue
Matthew Southgate
Peter Uihlein
Antoine Rozner
Sam Bairstow
Kazuma Kobori
Tiger Christensen
Josele Ballester
Matthew Jordan
To fill the field from the July 5, 2026, world ranking
Sam Stevens
Nico 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
Sahith Theegala
Louis Oosthuizen Withdraws From Field
Former Open champion Louis Oosthuizen has withdrawn from the 2026 Open Championship because of a back injury, ending his streak of appearances at golf’s oldest major.
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The 2010 Champion Golfer of the Year announced on social media that he will also miss next week’s LIV Golf UK event, saying his focus is on making a full recovery before returning to competition.
“Not the update I was hoping to share. Unfortunately, due to a back injury, I’ve had to make the difficult decision to withdraw from both The Open Championship and LIV Golf’s JCB event,” Oosthuizen said.
“It’s incredibly disappointing to miss two events I always look forward to, but my priority now is to focus on my recovery and make sure I’m fully fit before returning to competition.”
Oosthuizen, who also withdrew before the final round of LIV Golf Andalucia, will miss The Open for the first time since 2008. His place in the field goes to fellow South African Aldrich Potgieter.
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