Four Scots and 13 players on the LIV Golf League roster have already qualified for the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in July, after the R&A confirmed their exemptions criteria.
The R&A’s have pivoted their exemption categories away from the Official World Golf Rankings. Instead they will expand their Open Qualifying Series to 15 events in nine countries.
While previously players had to finish in the top 10 to gain an Open exemption at Qualifying Series events, they will now have only to make the cut.
34 places from the Open Qualifying Series
The full schedule for The Open Qualifying Series for The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool is live!
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— The Open (@TheOpen) February 21, 2023
The best three non-exempt players in three PGA Tour events and three DP World Tour events – including The Scottish Open – will secure Open places.
Tournaments on the Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia and Sunshine Tour also form part of The Open Qualifying Series.
The Asian Tour returns after it was removed from the Qualifying Series last year, after the tour became affiliated with LIV Golf. Two events on their 2023 tour schedule, at Hong Kong and in Korea, will have six qualifying places.
Final qualifying, to be held at four courses around Britain on July 4, will provide an increased number of 16 qualifiers. The Scottish FQ venue this year is Dundonald Links in Ayrshire.
Four Scots – Ewen Ferguson, Robert MacIntyre, Aberdeen’s Richie Ramsay and Dundee-based Connor Syme – are already exempt into the Open. They all finished in the top 30 in the Race to Dubai rankings on the DP World Tour last year.
No exemptions from LIV Golf schedule
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There are no direct exemptions from the 2023 LIV Golf League schedule, which begins this week in Mexico.
The 13 LIV contracted players who are exempt include the four former Open winners, Louis Oosthuizen, Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson and defending champion Cameron Smith.
Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau are both exempt by virtue of finishing within the top 10 and ties at last year’s 150th Open at St Andrews.
Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed retain their existing exemptions from previous major title wins. Both are in their final year of a five-year exemption.
Three more LIV players – Thomas Pieters, Adrian Otaegui and Richard Bland, qualify as they finished in the top 30 on the 2022 DP World Tour.
Two further players, Chile’s Joaquim Niemann and American Talor Gooch, qualify from the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings from last season.
The R&A have also added a sixth place for another amateur player. They will run a points qualification from the cumulative finishes at three of the summer’s prominent amateur championships – The St Andrews Links Trophy – played at the Old Course – The Amateur Championship and European Amateur Championship.
The R&A’s executive director championships Johnnie Cole-Hamilton said: “We have created an exciting schedule of events which takes in many regions around the world and provides the chance for golfers to earn a place in The Open at Royal Liverpool.
“We are grateful to our colleagues at the professional tours for their support and look forward to seeing who emerges from each event to book a sought-after place in the Championship this year.”