The 154th Open takes place this week at Royal Birkdale on the North West coast of England.
World Number One Scottie Scheffler tees it up as the defending champion after winning his fourth Major Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland last year.
Rory McIlroy, second on the Official World Golf Ranking, is targeting his second Claret Jug success too, with a world-class field assembled for the final men’s Major of the year.
Jordan Spieth was the last golfer to win The Open at Royal Birkdale in 2017.
As we build up to one of the most eagerly anticipated weeks in not only golf but sport’s calendar, we take a closer look at the make-up of the stacked field set to competing over the world-famous Southport links…
As with the US PGA Championship and U.S. Open, The Open features 156 players. The Masters Tournament features the smallest field size of the four marquee tournaments in professional golf, with 90-100 players typically teeing it up at Augusta National.
As for this year’s Open Championship, there are players representing 29 nationalities. The United States is perhaps unsurprisingly the country with most representation, with 55 players. England has the next most with 21, with South Africa and Japan both having eight.
Open Champions
There are 14 Open champions, with Pádraig Harrington, a winner at Birkdale in 2008, the only two-time Claret Jug holder.
2011 Champion Golfer of the Year Darren Clarke, 57, is the oldest past winner in the field, while David Duval is set for his 25th Open appearance having won the title at Royal Lytham and St Annes in 2001.
The last 12 winners of The Open won the event for the first time, starting in 2013, marking the longest streak of first-time winners.
Stewart Cink (2009 - Turnberry)
Darren Clarke (2011 - Royal St George's)
David Duval (2001 - Royal Lytham and St Annes)
Brian Harman (2003 - Royal Liverpool)
Pádraig Harrington (2007 - Carnoustie, 2008 - Royal Birkdale)
Shane Lowry (2019 - Royal Portrush)
Rory McIlroy (2014 - Royal Liverpool)
Francesco Molinari (2018 - Carnoustie)
Collin Morikawa (2021 - Royal St George's)
Xander Schauffele (2024 - Royal Troon)
Scottie Scheffler (2025 - Royal Portrush)
Cameron Smith (2022 - St Andrews)
Jordan Spieth (2017 - Royal Birkdale)
Henrik Stenson (2016 - Royal Troon)
*bold denotes DP World Tour member
Major champions
There are 28 Major champions, with 50 victories between them.
Keegan Bradley (2011 US PGA Championship)
Darren Clarke (2011 Open Championship)
Wyndham Clark (2023, 2026 U.S. Open)
Stewart Cink (2009 Open Championship)
Jason Day (2015 US PGA Championship)
Bryson DeChambeau (2020, 2024 U.S. Open)
David Duval (2001 Open Championship)
Matt Fitzpatrick (2002 U.S. Open)
Brian Harman (2023 Open Championship)
Pádraig Harrington (2007, 2008 Open Championship, 2008 US PGA Championship)
Brooks Koepka (2017, 2018 U.S. Open, 2018, 2019, 2023 US PGA Championship)
Shane Lowry (2019 Open Championship)
Hideki Matsuyama (2021 Masters Tournament)
Rory McIlroy (2011 U.S. Open, 2012, 2014 US PGA Championship, 2014 Open Championship, 2025, 2026 Masters Tournament)
Francesco Molinari (2018 Open Championship)
Collin Morikawa (2020 U.S. PGA Championship, 2021 Open Championship)
Aaron Rai (2026 US PGA Championship)
Jon Rahm (2021 U.S. Open, 2023 Masters Tournament)
Patrick Reed (2018 Masters Tournament)
Justin Rose (2013 U.S. Open)
Adam Scott (2013 Masters Tournament)
Xander Schauffele (2024 US PGA Championship, 2024 Open Championship)
Scottie Scheffler (2022, 2024 Masters Tournament, 2025 US PGA Championship, 2025 Open Championship)
Cameron Smith (2022 Open Championship)
J.J. Spaun (2025 U.S. Open)
Jordan Spieth (2015 Masters Tournament, 2015 U.S. Open, 2017 Open Championship)
Henrik Stenson (2016 Open Championship)
Justin Thomas (2017, 2022 US PGA Championship)
Debutants
There are 43 players making their Open Championship debut. Of those, there are 12 DP World Tour members, including two-time winners this season Jayden Schaper, Casey Jarvis and Eugenio Chacarra.
Ángel Ayora
Michael Brennan
Jacob Bridgeman
Jack Buchanan (am)
Eugenio Chacarra
Pierceson Coody
MJ Daffue
Alejandro De Castro Piera (am)
Alistair Docherty
Hennie du Plessis
Ryan Gerard
Stuart Grehan (am)
Lev Grinberg
Jeongwoo Ham
Michael Hollick
David Howard (am)
Mason Howell (am)
Casey Jarvis
Cameron John
Kota Kaneko
Naoyuki Kataoka
Johnny Keefer
Jake Knapp
Frederic Lacroix
Joakim Lagergren
Fifa Laopakdee (am)
Francesco Laporta
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
James Nicholas
Marcus Plunkett
Mateo Pulcini (am)
Nevill Ruiter (am)
Jayden Schaper
Baard Bjoernevik Skogen
Tom Sloman
Sam Stevens
Jackson Suber
Caleb Surratt
Michael Thorbjornsen
Austen Truslow
Tim Wiedemeyer (am)
Jiho Yang
Ren Yonezawa
One liners: Get to know the 12 DP World Tour members making their Open Championship debut
Every member of the world’s top 50 is at Birkdale.
All 24 players that competed at the 2025 Ryder Cup across both Team Europe and the United States are in action.
The are ten amateurs set to vie for the Silver Medal.
Among those are Ireland’s Stuart Grehan, who won The Amateur Championship last month at Royal Liverpool. South Africa's Jack Buchanan earned his place through victory at Africa Amateur Championship, Mason Howell won last year’s US Amateur Championship and Ukrainian-born Frenchman Lev Grinberg was the winner of The Open Amateur Series.
Jack Buchanan
Alejandro De Castro Piera
Stuart Grehan
Lev Grinberg
David Howard
Mason Howell
Fifa Laopakdee
Mateo Pulcini
Nevill Ruiter
Tim Wiedemeyer
