The 2023 British Open Championship format remains unchanged from 2023, with the R&A-run major championship remaining in July and being played at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England.
The 2023 British Open Championship field is 156 players. Players have qualified through myriad criteria, including the Open Qualifying Series and Final Qualifying.
The remainder of the players in the field qualify through dozens of other categories.
British Open Championship format
The British Open Championship format is a 72-hole event. The field is divided into morning and afternoon waves for the first two rounds, with players competing in threesomes each day. The same threesomes play together in each of the first two rounds, all played from the first tee. There's one round in the morning wave and one round in the afternoon wave.
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A cut is made after 36 holes to the top 70 players and ties, including the amateurs in the field.
For the third and fourth rounds, pairings and tee times are made based on each player's total score through two and three rounds, respectively. Players with the highest total score go first, then in descending order until the two players with the lowest total score in the final group.
The player with the lowest total score after 72 holes is the winner.
A playoff to settle any ties after 72 holes will be played under rules different than the PGA Tour. The British Open Championship playoff format is a four-hole, aggregate-score format, with holes played 1, 17 and 18 together by any qualifying players. The player with the lowest combined score on those playoff holes wins. If any players are tied after the aggregate playoff, the playoff then becomes a sudden-death playoff, played hole-by-hole until a winner is determined.
The winning player will get a five-year PGA Tour exemption and a lifetime exemption (to age 60) into the British Open Championship. The winner is exempt into the next five editions of the Masters, US Open and PGA Championship and The Players. The winner earns 600 FedEx Cup points and the 2023 British Open Championship winner's share of the purse.