The Open 2021: Full field and how they qualified for Royal St George's
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Who is playing in the 2021 Open Championship at Royal St George's Golf Club?
Today's Golfer's 2021 Major coverage is brought to you in association with TaylorMade.
A total of 156 golfers will begin their quest to win golf's oldest Major at the 149th Open Championship on Thursday, July 15, with Shane Lowry aiming to defend the Claret Jug he won in 2019.
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The 149th Open Championship had been due to be played in 2020 but had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Thankfully it's back for 2021 with Kent's Royal St George's playing host from July 15-18.
The Sandwich links, Golf World Top 100's No.1 course in England, is the southernmost of all the courses on The Open rota and has hosted the Major 15 times, most recently in 2011.
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Darren Clarke famously lifted his first Major title then, holding off Dustin Johnson, but who will follow the Northern Irishman in Open and Royal St George's history books.
The 156-player field is made up of the world’s top golfers, best amateurs a host of qualifiers. It will be cut to the low 70 scorers (and ties) after 36 holes and, in the event of a tie after 72 holes, a four-hole aggregate play-off will take place following the completion of the final round.
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But who are all of the players and how did they qualify for the year's final men's Grand Slam?
(Parentheses denote other eligibility criteria by which players could have otherwise qualified)
1. Open champions aged 60 or under on July 19, 2020
Stewart Cink (4), Darren Clarke (2), John Daly, David Duval, Ernie Els (2), Pádraig Harrington, Zach Johnson (2), Shane Lowry (2,3,4,5), Rory McIlroy (2,4,5,11,12,12a), Phil Mickelson (2,4,9), Francesco Molinari (2,5,6), Louis Oosthuizen (2,4,5,5a,12,15), Jordan Spieth (2,4), Henrik Stenson (2)
Eligible but not expected to play: Ian Baker-Finch, Mark Calcavecchia, Ben Curtis, Todd Hamilton, Paul Lawrie, Justin Leonard, Tiger Woods (8,15)
2. Open champions for 2010–2019
3. Top 10 finishers and ties in the 2019 Open Championship
Tony Finau (4,12,15), Tommy Fleetwood (4,5,5a,12), Rickie Fowler (12,15), Tyrrell Hatton (4,5,5a,6,12a), Brooks Koepka (4,9,10,12), Robert MacIntyre (4,5), Patrick Reed (4,5a,8,12,12a,15), Lee Westwood (4,5,5a), Danny Willett (5,6,8)
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4. Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) for Week 21, 2021
Abraham Ancer (12,15), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (5,5a,18), Daniel Berger, Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay (12,15), Paul Casey (5,12), Corey Conners (12), Bryson DeChambeau (10,12,15), Harris English, Matthew Fitzpatrick (5,5a), Sergio García (5,8), Brian Harman, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Viktor Hovland, Jason Kokrak (12), Kevin Kisner (12), Dustin Johnson (8,10,12,12a,15), Marc Leishman (12,15), Collin Morikawa (5a,9,12a), Joaquín Niemann (15), Ryan Palmer, Victor Perez (5,5a), Jon Rahm (5,10,12,12a), Justin Rose (12), Xander Schauffele (12,12a,15), Scottie Scheffler (12a), Adam Scott (12,15), Webb Simpson (11,12,15), Cameron Smith (15), Justin Thomas (9,11,12,12a,15), Will Zalatoris
Eligible but have withdrawn: South Koreans Sungjae Im (12,15), Si Woo Kim will both miss the tournament to focus on the Olympics. Any South Korean athlete who wins an Olympic medal can forgo a two-year military stint, which is mandatory for males between ages 18-28. Kevin Na has withdrawn due to concerns over travel restrictons. Hideki Matsuyama has withdrawn after testing positive for Covid-19. Matthew Wolff withdrew but did not state a reason. Bubba Watson withdrew after coming into contact with Covid-19.
They will be replaced by Keegan Bradley, Emiliano Grillo, Martin Kaymer, Harold Varner III, Andy Sullivan, Brendan Steele.
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5. Top 30 in the final 2019 Race to Dubai standings
Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Jorge Campillo, Justin Harding, Benjamin Hébert, Marcus Kinhult, Kurt Kitayama, Romain Langasque, Haotong Li (15), Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Joost Luiten, Ian Poulter, Erik van Rooyen, Matthias Schwab, Matt Wallace, Paul Waring, Bernd Wiesberger
5a. Top 10 in the final 2020 Race to Dubai standings
Aaron Rai
6. Recent winners of the BMW PGA Championship (2017–2020)
Alex Norén
7. Top 5 players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2021 Race to Dubai through the BMW International Open
Jason Scrivener, Garrick Higgo, Dean Burmester
8. Recent winners of the Masters Tournament (2016–2021)
9. Recent winners of the PGA Championship (2015–2021)
Jason Day, Jimmy Walker
10. Recent winners of the US Open (2016–2021)
Gary Woodland (12,15)
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11. Recent winners of the Players Championship (2018–2021)
12. The 30 qualifiers for the 2019 Tour Championship
Lucas Glover, Matt Kuchar (15), Chez Reavie, Brandt Snedeker
Eligible but not expected to play: Charles Howell III
12a. The leading ten qualifiers for the 2020 Tour Championship
Sebastián Muñoz
13. Top five players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2020–21 FedEx Cup points list through the Travelers Championship
14. Winner of the 2019 Open de Argentina
Ricardo Celia
15. Playing members of the 2019 Presidents Cup teams
Byeong-hun An, Adam Hadwin, CT Pan
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16. Winners of the 2019 and 2020–21 Asian Tour Order of Merit
Jazz Janewattananond
17. Winners of the 2019 and 2020–21 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit
Ryan Fox, Brad Kennedy
18. Winners of the 2019–20 and 2020–21 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit
JC Ritchie
19. Winners of the 2019 and 2020 Japan Open
Chan Kim, Yuki Inamori
20. Winners of the 2020 and 2021 Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup Golf
Rikuya Hoshino
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21. Top two players on the 2019 and 2020 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List
Shaun Norris
Eligible but not expected to play: Shugo Imahira
22. The top two finishers, not already exempt, in the 2021 Mizuno Open
Ryutaro Nagano
Eligible but not expected to play: Juvic Pagunsan
23. Winner of the 2019 and 2020 Senior Open Championship
Eligible but not expected to play: Bernhard Langer
24. Winners of the 2020 and 2021 Amateur Championship
Joe Long (a), Laird Shepherd (a)
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25. Winners of the 2019 and 2020 U.S. Amateur
Andy Ogletree (a)[k], Tyler Strafaci (a)[k]
26. Winners of the 2020 and 2021 European Amateur
Matthias Schmid (a), Christoffer Bring (a)
27. Recipient of the 2019 and 2020 Mark H. McCormack Medal
Cole Hammer (a), Takumi Kanaya (a)[k]
28. Winner of the 2019 and 2020 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship
Lin Yuxin (a)
29. Winner of the 2020 and 2021 Latin America Amateur Championship
Abel Gallegos (a)
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30. The leading player, not already exempt, in the 2021 Kaskáda Golf Challenge (must have made the cut and not participated in Final Qualifying)
Marcel Schneider
31. The leading three players, not already exempt, in the 2021 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open (must have made the cut and not participated in Final Qualifying)
Lucas Herbert, Rikard Karlberg, Johnannes Veerman
32. The leading player, not already exempt, in the 2021 Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge (must have made the cut and not participated in Final Qualifying)
Marcel Siem
33. The leading three players, not already exempt, in the 2021 Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open
Min Woo Lee, Thomas Detry, Jack Senior
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34. Open Qualifying Series
Jaco Ahlers, Marcus Armitage, Joel Dahmen, Branden Grace, Matt Jones, Takumi Kanaya, Kim Joo-hyung, Ryosuke Kinoshita, Richard T Lee, Keith Mitchell, Aaron Pike, Poom Saksansin.
Eligible but have withdrawn: Danny Lee has withdrawn with injury and will be replaced by Troy Merritt. Kyoung-Hoon Lee has withdrawn due to the birth of his child and will be replaced by Antoine Rozner.
35. Final Qualifying
Ben Hutchinson, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Sam Bairstow qualified from St Annes Old Links; Nicholas Poppleton, Louis de Jager and Daniel Croft qualified from West Lancs; Deyen Lawson, Sam Forgan and Connor Worsdall qualified from Prince's; Daniel Hillier, Jonathan Thomson and Richard Mansell qualified from Hollinwell.
Read bios of all the players in The Open field here