Final Qualifying

One of the most thrilling days in the golfing calendar is set to serve up more drama than ever as a host of big names compete in Final Qualifying for The 151st Open.

Four spectacular links venues – Dundonald Links, Royal Cinque Ports, Royal Porthcawl and West Lancashire – will each welcome fields of 72 on Tuesday 4 July, with players competing over 36 holes as they seek the coveted prize of Open qualification.

The number of Open places available at Final Qualifying has increased, meaning 19 players in total will earn spots at Royal Liverpool.

You will be able to follow all the action in our live blog, which will be available here from 6:30am on Tuesday.

This year’s FQ field is certainly not short of familiar names and Sergio Garcia – a two-time Open runner-up who finished joint second behind Rory McIlroy when the Championship was last held at Hoylake, in 2014 – is among those teeing it up at West Lancashire.

VIEW THE FULL FINAL QUALIFYING DRAW

Garcia is due to play alongside his 2014 Ryder Cup team-mate Jamie Donaldson and Matthew Jordan, a Royal Liverpool member who made it through FQ last year and is now looking to qualify again for The Open at his home club.

Other notable competitors at West Lancashire include Graeme McDowell, Victor Dubuisson, Matt Wallace and Aaron Wise, while John Parry, Sam Bairstow and Barclay Brown will, like Jordan, be aiming to progress at Final Qualifying for the second year in succession.

Brown is joined in the West Lancs field by fellow amateur Matthew McClean, a Northern Irishman who has competed in the Masters and US Open already this year following his success in the 2022 US Mid-Amateur.

An eye-catching group at Dundonald Links features Michael Block – the unlikely star of this year’s PGA Championship. Block will play alongside Ratchanon ‘TK’ Chantananuwat, the talented Thai teenager who made the semi-finals of last week’s Amateur Championship, and Alex Wrigley, another successful Final Qualifying participant from 2022.

Also in action at Dundonald are the likes of Mackenzie Hughes, Peter Uihlein, Aaron Rai, Jason Kokrak and Sebastian Munoz.

Ryan Riley will be another to tee it up at the Scottish venue after an incredible experience in Regional Qualifying. The amateur hit the first tee shot of the day at Goswick, but was then forced to return home to Darlington. After a four-hour round trip he was able to make it back for a play-off, in which he sensationally holed out for eagle with his second shot to make it through to Final Qualifying.

A host of talented amateurs are among the standout names in the field at Royal Cinque Ports, including England’s John Gough – the leading European in the World Amateur Golf Rankings – and Sweden’s Albert Hansson.

Aaron van Hauwe, a 15-year-old Frenchman who came through Regional Qualifying at Ferndown, will also play on the Kent coast. Van Hauwe has been paired with David Howell, a veteran of 14 previous Open appearances.

Branden Grace, who holds the record for the lowest round in Open history, is another name to look out for at Cinque Ports, together with Charl Schwartzel, Thomas Detry, Dean Burmester and David Puig.

Monty Scowsill, meanwhile, will be aiming to make it to The Open by qualifying on the Deal coast, two years after he was agonisingly beaten in the final of The Amateur Championship by Laird Shepherd.

Along with Garcia at West Lancashire, another former Open runner-up is in the Final Qualifying field at Royal Porthcawl. Marc Leishman, who featured in the play-off won by Zach Johnson at St Andrews eight years ago, will play alongside Robert Dinwiddie, who made it through FQ in 2022 before shooting an excellent first round in The 150th Open.

Royal Porthcawl’s field also includes Cameron Tringale, Jazz Janewattananond, Anirban Lahiri, Laurie Canter and Matthew Southgate, together with Connor Worsdall and Oliver Farr, who made it through FQ in 2021 and 2022 respectively.