Twelve more players earn Open spots

A further 12 players have secured their places in The 149^th Open at Royal St George’s following the conclusion of the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.

May 24 represents the cut-off date at which the top 50 from the Official World Golf Rankings are granted an Open exemption.

While many of the top 50 were already exempt prior to this date, a dozen golfers have now booked their spots at Sandwich through their world ranking.

Viktor Hovland, Daniel Berger, Billy Horschel, Harris English, Will Zalatoris, Matthew Wolff, Ryan Palmer, Kevin Na, Sam Burns, Max Homa, Brian Harman and Si-Woo Kim are the players to have gained exemptions.

Hovland, Zalatoris, Wolff, Burns and Homa are set to make their maiden Open appearances at Royal St George’s, joining an exciting list of debutants that also features 2020 PGA Champion Collin Morikawa.

Berger and Kim have each played in three previous Opens, while English, Harman and Palmer have made five appearances in golf’s original major, with the latter’s debut coming at Royal St George’s a decade ago when he finished in a tie for 30th.

Horschel and Na, meanwhile, both boast plenty of links experience, having featured in six and eight Opens respectively.

Phil Mickelson, who won this year’s PGA Championship in such thrilling fashion to become the oldest major champion in history at the age of 50, was already exempt for The 149^th Open courtesy of his memorable victory at Muirfield in 2013.

Click here to see an updated list of the players with exemptions for Royal St George’s.