How do golfers qualify for the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush?

The 2025 Open Championship will be played at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland from Thursday, July 17 to Sunday, July 20. 156 players will start round one, with Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schaufelle tipped to challenge for the Claret Jug. For others, just taking part in the tournament was the main goal, but how was it decided which golfers would make up the field?

There is a long list of ways in which players can qualify for the Open Championship, some of which are obvious, while others are more remote.

2025 British Open qualifying criteria

Previous Open champions under 60

Former Open champions under the age of 60 are exempt, which accounts for 16 players. They include several who would’ve qualified via other categories anyway (McIlroy, Morikawa, Shane Lowry), but this rule is the reason why LIV golfers Phil Mickelson, Cameron Smith and Henrik Stenson are playing.

Top 10 players in 2024 British Open

Players who finished in the top 10 (including ties) in last year’s Open are in. LIV star Jon Rahm is in this category, as is Justin Rose, Adam Scott, amongst others.

Major winners in the last five years

Winners of the other three men’s majors (the Masters, the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open) in the last five years automatically qualify. This group features Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Bryson DeChambeau.

BMW PGA Championship winners in the last thee years

Similarly, any player who has won the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship in the last three years is also in if not already qualified (Ryan Fox).

FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai standings

The top 30 from last year’s FedEx Cup (Justin Thomas, Sepp Straka, Sahith Theegala, etc.) and Race to Dubai (Paul Waring, Matt Wallace, Jesper Svensson, Adam Scott, etc.) also qualify, as do some players from this year’s edition.

A maximum of five players from the top 20 in the 2024 FedEx Cup standings after the Travelers Championship qualify, along with the top five from the 2024 Race to Dubai after the BMW International Open.

Top 50 from Official World Golf Ranking

Then we need to take a look at two different rankings. First up, the Official World Golf Ranking. All players who were in the top 50 as of week 21, 2025 qualify if they haven’t done so in any other category (Aaron Rai, JT Poston, Taylor Pendrith, etc.).

Top five from International Federation Ranking

The same goes for the top five players from the International Federation Ranking (for upcoming international players on the Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia, and the Sunshine Tour).

Most recent winners of certain tournaments

The most recent winners of the Argentina Open (Justin Suh), Japan Open (Shugo Imahira) and Senior British Open (KJ Chio) were rewarded for their victories with a place in the Open Championship, in addition to cash prizes.

Best performers in Open qualifying series around the world

Next come a whole list of tournaments that have been played over the last few months which have been used as Open qualifiers in different parts of the world.

LIV golf will have a large representation at Royal Portrush this year as well with 19 players participating a the 2025 Open Championship.

Similarly, a number of recent events on the PGA Tour (Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Canadian Open, Memorial, John Deere Classic) provide a spot for winners.

Last week’s Genesis Scottish Open offered the same reward on the DP World Tour, with Chris Gotterup holding off Rory McIlroy at The Renaissance Club.

Amateur event winners

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Nine amateurs are in the field, including the British, European, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa Amateur champions.

Final Open qualifying

Finally, any players who hadn’t qualified had the chance to take part in final Open qualifying in the run-up to the event.