In just under 250 days The Royal Birkdale will crown the winner of the 154th Open Championship. Golfing giants like Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Bryson Dechambeau will all take to the Southport links course – but how exactly do you qualify for the prestigious tournament?

The field will consist of 156 players when the tournament starts in July, of which 80 are already confirmed through exemption.

In total, players will have up to 20 different ways of earning their tee-time without having to go through qualifying.

Typically, the world’s best golfers qualify through exemption, most notably by being a major winner in the last five seasons or being in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings.

However, exemption can also be earned by players ranked outside the top 1,000 in the Official World Golf Rankings.

This is done by being a previous winner of the open aged 60 or under, of which there are 19. Names in this list include John Daly, Phil Mickelson, and Tiger Woods.

For those who don’t gain exemption, there are several Open Qualifying Series events taking place across the world in the new year to punch their ticket to Merseyside.

In total, there are 15 competitions that can reward players with entry to The Open. As of November 2025, three of these events have been played and three players, including Englishman Marco Penge, have qualified.

There are also a series of local qualifying tournaments open to any male professional golfer with a handicap of 0.4 or better.

Win one of those regional tournaments and you’ll progress to Final Qualifying – a one day event spread across four locations where the top five at each course take spots at The Open.

These qualifiers see plenty of drama, and were the setting of a historic moment last year where 20-year-old Richard Teder cemented his place at The 153rd Open after chipping in for eagle in a playoff hole.

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