The Open Championship is essentially ‘open’ to any golfer with a handicap index of 0.4 or better, and casting the net out wide means that the field varies greatly each year.
The world’s top 50 get in automatically as well as Major winners of the past five years, previous Open winners, qualifiers for the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship, top-10 finishers last year and various other tournament winners and high finishers.
However, pros outside of the world’s top 50 who don’t meet the eligibility have to go through Final Qualifying, if they so choose, meaning that plenty of big names miss out on the chance to compete for the Claret Jug.
This year’s 151st Open at Royal Liverpool will once again have a stacked field with almost all of the world’s very best players, but some stars of the game look to have missed out – with a limited number of spots available at the Made in HimmerLand and Scottish Open tournaments.
Take a look at some big names who will be watching on from the sidelines this year…
Tiger Woods
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As a three-time Champion Golfer of the Year, Woods is in The Open until he’s 60 but he’ll miss the championship for just the fifth time in his career this year.
He’ll be sad to miss Hoylake, having famously won his third Claret Jug there over the baked fairways in 2006 where he hit just one driver all week on the way to a two stroke victory.
The 15-time Major champion also missed the PGA Championship and US Open as he continues his recovery from ankle surgery in April.
The subtalar fusion surgery he had was thought to alleviate pain in an arthritic joint below the ankle, so he should be able to return to professional golf once he has recovered and hopefully experience less pain when walking.
Will Zalatoris
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The talented American will return to pro golf in September following back surgery, with the then-World No.8 going under the knife in April. Zalatoris will have missed every Major this year as well as the chance to make his Ryder Cup debut for Team USA.
He’s still 13th in the world despite having not played since March. The Californian has finished runner-up in all three of the other Majors but has had a withdrawal and a T28 in his two Open starts to date.
Sergio Garcia
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The Spaniard misses his first Open Championship since 1997 after failing to advance through Final Qualifying at West Lancashire Golf Club.
Garcia shot six-under-par for 36-holes, which was three strokes shy of taking one…
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