Who’s in the 2017 British Open Championship field and how they qualified

The 2017 British Open Championship field for the week at Royal Birkdale in England, has taken shape, and the game's only non-US major championship should see a field of strong contenders from around the world.

The British Open Championship field is set in two ways. The first is earning an exemption by falling into one of 39 categories set forth by the R&A, including winning majors and other important tournaments, finishing highly in season-long points races or having high enough standing in the Official World Golf Ranking.

The other piece of it is through one day of Final Open Qualifying at five sites in a 36-hole, one-day event.

A golfer has to be one of the best on the planet to qualify for the British Open Championship. They can get a British Open Championship exemption if they meet one of 39 criteria to get an invitation.

British Open Championship qualifying and exemption categories

1. Former Open champions under the age of 60 as of July 23, 2017: Stewart Cink, Darren Clarke, Ben Curtis, John Daly, David Duval, Ernie Els, Todd Hamilton, Padraig Harrington, Zach Johnson, Paul Lawrie, Tom Lehman, Sandy Lyle, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Mark O'Meara, Louis Oosthuizen, Henrik Stenson
2. The last 10 Open champions: N/A
3. Open champions now over 60 finishing in a tie for 10th place or better from 2012-2016 Open Championship: N/A
4. Top 10 finishers and ties from 2016 Open Championship: Sergio Garcia, Bill Haas, Tyrrell Hatton, J.B. Holmes, Dustin Johnson, Andrew Johnston, Soren Kjeldsen, Steve Stricker
5. The top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking as of Week 21 in 2017: Daniel Berger, Wesley Bryan, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Paul Casey, Kevin Chappell, Jason Day, Ross Fisher, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Rickie Fowler, Branden Grace, Emiliano Grillo, Adam Hadwin, Billy Horschel, Si Woo Kim, Kevin Kisner, Russell Kno, Brooks Koepka, Matt Kuchar, Marc Leishman, Hideki Matsuyama, William McGirt, Francesco Molinari, Ryan Moore, Alex Noren, Pat Perez, Thomas Pieters, Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Justin Rose, Charl Schwartzel, Adam Scott, Brandt Snedeker, Jordan Spieth, Hideto Tanihara, Justin Thomas, Jimmy Walker, Bubba Watson, Bernd Wiesberger, Danny Willett, Gary Woodland
6. The top 30 in the 2016 Race to Dubai final standings: Richard Bland, Haotong Li, Scott Hend, David Horsey, Thongchai Jaidee, Martin Kaymer, Shane Lowry, Joost Luiten, Thorbjorn Olesen, Andy Sullivan, Jeunghun Wang, Lee Westwood, Chris Wood
7. The last three winners of the BMW PGA Championship: Byeong-hun An
8. First 5 European Tour members, not otherwise exempt, in the top 20 of the Race to Dubai after the 2017 BMW International Open: Dylan Frittelli, Pablo Larrzabal, Alex Levy, David Lipsky, Fabrizio Zanotti
9. The last 5 US Open Championship champions: N/A
10. The last 5 Masters champions: N/A
11. The last 5 PGA Champions: Jason Dufner
12. The last 3 Players champions: N/A
13. The 30 players to qualify for the 2016 Tour Championship: Roberto Castro, Kevin Na, Sean O'Hair, Jhonattan Vegas
14. First 5 PGA Tour members and any PGA TOUR members tying for 5th place, not already exempt, in the top 20 of the PGA Tour's 2016-17 FedExCup points list after the 2017 Travelers Championship: Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Charley Hoffman, Brendan Steele
15. The 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist in men's golf: N/A
16. The 2016 Open de Argenina champion: Kent Bulle
17. The 2017 Kolon Korean Open champion and runner-up: Yikeun Chang, Giwhan Kim
18. The 2016 U.S. and European Ryder Cup teams: N/A
19. The winner of the 2016 Asian Tour Order of Merit: N/A
20. The winner of the 2016 Australasian Tour Order of Merit: Matthew Griffin
21. The winner of the 2016 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit: Brandon Stone
22. The 2016 Japan Open winner: N/A
23. The top two players from the 2016 Japan Tour Order of Merit: Yuta Ikeda
24. First 2, not already exempt, in the Japan Tour Order of Merit through the 2017 Japan Tour Championship: Yusaku Miyazato, Shaun Norris
25. The 2016 Senior Open Champion: Paul Broadhurst
26. The 2017 Amateur Champion: Harry Ellis
27. The 2016 U.S. Amateur Champion: N/A
28. The 2016 and 2017 European Amateur champions: Luca Cianchetti
29. The 2016 Mark H. McCormack Medal winner: Maverick McNealy
30. 2017 Open Qualifying Series -- Top 3 players, not already exempt, in the top 10 from the 2016 Emirates Australian Open: Aaron Baddeley, Ashley Hall, Cameron Smith
31. 2017 Open Qualifying Series -- Top 4 players, not already exempt, in the top 12 from the 2017 SMBC Singapore Open: Phachara Khongwatmai, Jbe Kruger, Prayad Marksaeng, Younghan Song
32. 2017 Open Qualifying Series -- Top 3 players, not already exempt, in the top 10 from the 2017 Joburg Open: Darren Fichardt, Stuart Manley, Paul Waring
33. 2017 Open Qualifying Series -- Top 4 players, not already exempt, in the top 12 from the 2017 Mizuno Open: Adam Bland, Michael Hendry, Chan Kim, K.T. Kim
34. 2017 Open Qualifying Series -- Top 3 players, not already exempt, in the top 10 from the 2017 Open de France: Alexander Bjork, Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Peter Uihlein
35. 2017 Open Qualifying Series -- Top 4 players, not already exempt, in the top 12 from the 2017 Quicken Loans National: Kyle Stanley, Charles Howell III, Martin Laird, Sung Kang
36. 2017 Open Qualifying Series -- Top 3 players, not already exempt, in the top 10 from the 2017 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open: Richie Ramsay, Ryan Fox, David Drysdale
37. 2017 Open Qualifying Series -- Top 4 players, not already exempt, in the top 12 from the 2017 Greenbrier Classic: Xander Schauffele, Robert Streb, Jamie Lovemark, Sebastian Munoz
38. 2017 Open Qualifying Series -- Top 3 players, not already exempt, in the top 10 from the 2017 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open: Callum Shinkwin, Matthieu Pavon, Andrew Dodt
39. 2017 Open Qualifying Series -- Top 1 player, not already exempt, in the top 5 from the 2017 John Deere Clasic: Bryson DeChambeau

British Open Championship Final Open Qualifying results and qualifiers

• Gailes Links: Connor Syme (a), Julian Suri, Ryan McCarthy
• Woburn: Shiv Kapur, Toby Tree, Ian Poulter
• Royal Cinque Ports: Matthew Southgate, Robert Dinwiddie, Austin Connelly
• Hillside: Haydn McCullen, Nicholas McCarhy, Adam Hodkinson
• Notts Hollinwell: Mark Foster, Joe Dean, Laurie Canter