2022 Open Championship preview and criteria
ST. ANDREWS – The 2022 Open Championship, officially the 150th Open Championship, is a golf tournament to be played 14–17 July on the Old Course at St Andrews, Scotland. Collin Morikawa will defend the Claret Jug he won last year at Royal St. Georges.
The Open Championship is organized by the R&A, and is included in the PGA Tour, European Tour/DP World Tour, and Japan Golf Tour calendars under the major championships category. The tournament is a 72-hole (4 rounds) stroke play competition held over 4 days, with 18 holes played each day. Play is in groups of three for the first two days, and groups of two in the final two days. Groupings for the first two days are decided by the organisers, with each group having one morning, and one afternoon tee time. On the final two days, players tee off in reverse order of aggregate score, with the leaders last. After 36 holes there was a cut, after which the top 70 and ties progress through to compete in the third and fourth rounds. In the event of a tie for the lowest score after four rounds, a four-hole aggregate playoff will be held to determine the winner; this will be followed by sudden-death extra holes if necessary until a winner emerges.
The 2022 event will be the 30th Open Championship played at the Old Course at St Andrews. The most recent was in 2015, when Zach Johnson won the four-hole playoff against Jason Day and Jordan Spieth for his second major title.
- Course layout history and changes
Previous and current lengths of the course for The Open Championship on Old Course St. Andrews (since 1950)
- 2022: 7,297 yards (6,672 m)
- 2015: 7,297 yards (6,672 m)
- 2010: 7,305 yards (6,680 m)
- 2005: 7,279 yards (6,656 m)
- 2000: 7,115 yards (6,506 m)
- 1995: 6,933 yards (6,340 m)
- 1990: 6,933 yards (6,340 m)
- 1984: 6,933 yards (6,340 m)
- 1978: 6,933 yards (6,340 m)
- 1970: 6,957 yards (6,361 m)
- 1964: 6,926 yards (6,333 m)
- 1960: 6,936 yards (6,342 m)
- 1955: 6,936 yards (6,342 m)
- Field and criteria
The Open Championship field is made up of 156 players, who gained entry through various exemption criteria and qualifying tournaments. The criteria included past Open champions, recent major winners, top ranked players in the world rankings and from the leading world tours, and winners and high finishers from various designated tournaments, including the Open Qualifying Series; the winners of designated amateur events, including The Amateur Championship and U.S. Amateur, also gained exemption provided they remain an amateur. Anyone not qualifying via exemption, and had a handicap of 0.4 or lower, can gain entry through regional and final qualifying events.
Each player is classified according to the first category in which he qualified, but other categories are shown:
1. British Open champions aged 60 or under
2. The Open Champions for 2011–2021
3. Top 10 finishers and ties in the 2021 Open Championship
4. Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) for Week 21, 2022
6. Recent winners of the BMW PGA Championship (2018–2021)
7. Recent winners of the U.S. Open (2017–2022)
8. Recent winners of the Masters Tournament (2017–2022)
9. Recent winners of the PGA Championship (2016–2022)
10. Top five players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2022 DP World Tour Rankings through the BMW International Open
11. Recent winners of the Players Championship (2019–2022)
12. The top 30 players from the 2021 FedEx Cup Playoffs
13. Top five players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2021–22 FedEx Cup points list through the Travelers Championship
14. Playing members of the 2020 Ryder Cup teams
15. Winner of the 2021–22 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit
16. Winner of the 2021–22 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit
17. Top two players on the 2020–21 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List
18. The top player, not already exempt, on the 2022 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List through the Japan Golf Tour Championship
19. Winner of the 2021 Visa Open de Argentina
20. Winner of the 2021 British Senior Open Championship
21. Recent Winner of the 2022 Amateur Championship*
22. Winner of the 2021 U.S. Amateur*
23. Winner of the 2022 European Amateur*
24. Recipient of the 2021 Mark H. McCormack Medal*
25. Winner of the 2021 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship*
26. Winner of the 2022 Latin America Amateur Championship*
27. Winner of the 2021 Japan Open Golf Championship
28. Winner of the 2022 Asia Pacific Open Golf Championship Diamond Cup
Full exemptions can be found here
NOTE:
*Players qualifying in this category must remain an amateur through the conclusion of the British Open. Otherwise, their exemptions would be forfeited if any player turned professional prior to the start of the tournament.
- Open qualifying series
The Open Qualifying Series for the 2022 Open Championship consists of 12 events. Places are available to the leading players (not otherwise exempt) who finished in the top n and ties. In the event of ties, positions went to players ranked highest according to that week's OWGR.
- Additional players to alternately exempt into the field
In order to fill additional places or replace exempt players who had withdrawn prior to the start of the Championship, and maintain the full field of 156, additional players were either taken in ranking order from Official World Golf Ranking at the time they were added, or from Final Qualifying.
For live tournament coverage and update scores, visit TheOpen.com and follow Open Championship on social media:
- Twitter: @TheOpen
- Instagram: @TheOpen
The Open Championship official sponsors:
- Official timekeeper: Rolex
- Official vehicle transportation partner: Mercedes-Benz
- Official computer-scoring: Infosys
- Official logistic partner: Doosan
- Official television broadcasters: Sky Sports (U.K. and Europe) and NBC Sports (U.S. and North America)
