And then there were four. Following an eventful weekend at the Greenbrier Classic and the French Open, only four spots in the 156-player British Open field remain open. The results on the PGA Tour and European Tour this weekend will determine the final additions to the field.
British Open Championship field 2014: The final field set for Hoylake
The 143rd British Open is a week away and the 156-player field is nearly set. Only four open spots remain with players attempting to play their way in this weekend.
Streeter Lecka
With the new Open Qualifying Series structure, players on the PGA Tour and European Tour have an opportunity to play their way into the field at Royal Liverpool. A top 12 finish can earn an unqualified player a spot in the field, just as it did for George McNeill, Chris Stroud, Cameron Tringale and Billy Hurley III at the Greenbrier Classic last week. On the European Tour, Robert Karlsson, Michael Hoey and Victor Riu earned their spots with solid finishes at the French Open.
Ryo Ishikawa and Thorbjorn Olesen were also added to the field. Olesen was given a spot after Charles Howell III withdrew, and Ishikawa replaces Steve Stricker after Stricker formally withdrew. Stricker had maintained he was unlikely to play in the event, but was considering changing his mind if he played his way into Ryder Cup contention. He appeared on his way to a strong finish at the Greenbrier Classic before a final round 74 dropped him to a tie for 35th place. Had he finished higher, he may have opted to chase the double points at Hoylake. Instead, Ishikawa will make his fifth appearance in The Open.
The final four spots will be determined over the weekend with one player earning a bid at the John Deere Classic and three spots in the field on the line at the Scottish Open. Matthew Fitzpatrick, who gave up his bid in The Open as the U.S. Amateur winner when he turned pro, will be among those competing for one of the three spots.
Here is a look at the current field heading into the final week of competition before the Open Championship.
UPDATE: We now have our three qualifiers from the Scottish Open, with just one more spot at the John Deere Classic up for grabs.
UPDATE No. 2: Brian Harman went ahead and picked up his first ever PGA Tour win, earning the final spot out of the John Deere. The field of 156 players is now set.
2014 Open Championship field |
Previous champions 60 or younger |
Phil Mickelson |
Ernie Els |
Darren Clarke |
Louis Oosthuizen |
Stewart Cink |
Padraig Harrington |
Tiger Woods |
Todd Hamilton |
Ben Curtis |
David Duval |
Paul Lawrie |
Mark O'Meara |
Justin Leonard |
John Daly |
Nick Faldo |
|
Sandy Lyle |
Previous champions with a top 10 finish since 2009 |
Tom Watson |
Top 10 and ties from 2013 Open |
Henrik Stenson |
Ian Poulter |
Adam Scott |
Lee Westwood |
Zach Johnson |
Hideki Matsuyama |
Hunter Mahan |
Francesco Molinari |
Top 50 of the OWGR on May 26 |
Matt Kuchar |
Bubba Watson |
Rory McIlroy |
Jason Day |
Sergio Garcia |
Justin Rose |
Jordan Spieth |
Jim Furyk |
Dustin Johnson |
Jason Dufner |
Luke Donald |
Jimmy Walker |
Graeme McDowell |
Charl Schwartzel |
Thomas Bjorn |
Keegan Bradley |
Victor Dubuisson |
Patrick Reed |
Miguel Angel Jimenez |
Martin Kaymer |
Jamie Donaldson |
Brandt Snedeker |
Graham DeLaet |
Webb Simpson |
Bill Haas |
Jonas Blixt |
Stephen Gallacher |
Rickie Fowler |
Ryan Moore |
Gary Woodland |
Harris English |
Joost Luiten |
Matt Jones |
John Senden |
Russell Henley |
Chris Kirk |
Matt Every |
Ryan Palmer |
Kevin Stadler |
J.B. Holmes |
K.J. Choi |
Erik Compton |
Thorbjorn Olesen |
Brooks Koepka |
Chesson Hadley |
Freddie Jacobson |
Anirban Lahiri |
Scott Stallings |
Ryo Ishikawa |
Top 30 in the 2013 Race to Dubai |
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano |
Richard Sterne |
Thongchai Jaidee |
Matteo Manassero |
Peter Uihlein |
Brett Rumford |
Branden Grace |
David Howell |
Mikko Ilonen |
Gregory Bourdy |
Tommy Fleetwood |
Bernd Wiesberger |
Chris Wood |
Paul Casey |
Non-qualified players in the top 20 of the Race to Dubai on June 30 (up to five) |
Pablo Larrazabal |
Shane Lowry |
George Coetzee |
Rafa Cabrera-Bello |
PGA Champions since 2009 (Masters, U.S. Open winners from last 5 years already exempt above) |
Y.E. Yang |
Final 30 Qualifiers for FedExCup's 2013 TOUR Championship |
Nick Watney |
Billy Horschel |
Roberto Castro |
Kevin Streelman |
Brendon de Jonge |
Boo Weekley |
D.A. Points |
Non-qualified players in the top 20 of the FedExCup on June 23 (up to five) |
Brendon Todd |
Kevin Na |
Members of the 2013 Presidents Cup teams |
Angel Cabrera |
Marc Leishman |
2013 winner of the Asian Tour Order of Merit |
Kiradech Aphibarnrat |
2013 winner of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit |
Dawie van der Walt |
2013 Japan Open winner |
Masanori Kobayashi |
Top non-qualified players from the 2013 Japan Golf Tour money list (up to two) |
Hyung-Sung Kim |
Non-qualified players from 2014 Japan Golf Tour money list on June 23 (up to two) |
Koumei Oda |
Yusaku Miyazato |
British Senior Open winner |
Mark Wiebe |
British Amateur winner |
Bradley Neil (a) |
European Amateur winner |
Ashley Chesters (a) |
Local Qualifying |
Matthew Southgate |
Chris Rodgers |
Byeong-Hun An |
Marc Warren |
Jamie McLeary |
Paul McKechnie |
Paul Dunne (a) |
Oliver Fisher |
Rhys Enoch |
John Singleton |
Christopher Hanson |
Oscar Floren |
International Final Qualifying - Australia |
Bryden Macpherson |
Rhein Gibson |
International Final Qualifying - Africa |
Jin Jeong |
Justin Walters |
International Final Qualifying - Thailand |
Hiroshi Iwata |
Cheng-Tsung Pan (a) |
Ashun Wu |
Yoshinobu Tsukada |
International Final Qualifying - Japan |
Dong-Kyu Jang |
Juvic Pagunsan |
Hyung-Tae Kim |
Tomohiro Kondo |
International Final Qualifying - Quicken Loans National |
Shawn Stefani |
Charley Hoffman |
Ben Martin |
Brendan Steele |
International Final Qualifying - Irish Open |
Matthew Baldwin |
Danny Willett |
Edoardo Molinari |
International Final Qualifying - Greenbrier Classic |
Billy Hurley III |
George McNeill |
Chris Stroud |
Cameron Tringale |
International Final Qualifying - French Open |
Michael Hoey |
Robert Karlsson |
Victor Riu |
International Final Qualifying - John Deere Classic |
Brian Harman |
International Final Qualifying - Scottish Open |
Kristoffer Broberg |
Tyrrell Hatton |
Scott Jamieson |
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