2021 Open Championship

The 2021 Open Championship, officially the 149th Open Championship, is a golf tournament that is scheduled to be played 15–18 July 2021 at Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, England. It was originally scheduled for 16–19 July 2020 but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be the 15th Open Championship played at Royal St George's, and the first since Darren Clarke won in 2011.

149th Open Championship
Tournament information
Dates15–18 July 2021
LocationSandwich, England
51.274°N 1.367°E / 51.274; 1.367
Course(s)Royal St George's Golf Club
Organized byThe R&A
Tour(s)
Statistics
Par70
Length7,204 yards (6,587 m)
Field156 players
Location Map
Royal St Georges
Location in the United Kingdom
Royal St Georges
Location in England
Royal St Georges
Location in Kent

Organisation

The Open Championship is organised by the R&A, and is included in the PGA Tour, European 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 is 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 three-hole aggregate playoff is held to determine the winner; this is followed by sudden-death extra holes if necessary until a winner emerges.

The previous record for attendance at Royal St George's was 183,000 but organisers expected the 2020 edition to exceed 200,000. Friday, Saturday and Sunday tickets sold out well in advance, with a few Thursday tickets still to be sold.[1]

Cancellation in 2020

In March 2020, The R&A released a statement regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, stating they were examining a range of scenarios for staging the championships, with the focus on proceeding as planned, but also considering other available contingency options.[2] On 6 April, the R&A announced the Championship was cancelled for 2020; it was the first time since the Second World War that the event was not held.[3]

Venue
Main article: Royal St George's Golf Club
Sandwich, the town where the 2020 tournament was scheduled to be held, is well known for its many original medieval buildings.

The 2021 Open Championship will be the 149th edition of the tournament and held at Royal St George's Golf Club. It is located in Sandwich Bay, a long sweeping inlet of the sea between Ramsgate and Deal, on the east coast of Kent, England. The coastal area consists of sand flats with their associated salt marshes and coastal sand dunes. These conditions are well suited to links golf, with Prince's Golf Club and Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club, both previous Open venues, found immediately north and south of St George's.

In preparation for the Open Championship, Royal St Georges tasked golf course architects Mackenzie and Ebert to make alterations to the course. Large bunkers at the 4th and 7th holes, and a large bare sand area to the left of the 5th hole were restored. Two bunkers to the left of the 17th green were replaced by a swale and bunkering was altered on the 18th hole. Improvements were also made to the practice facilities.[4]

Royal St George's is the only venue on the current rota located in Southern England. The 2020 tournament is the 15th edition held at the venue, having first hosted in 1894, when it became the first club outside Scotland to host the championship. The previous edition held at the venue was in 2011, won by Darren Clarke. The closest large city is London, which is located about 70 miles north west of the venue.[5]

In preparation for the Open, the local station had the platforms extended to accommodate 12-carriage trains. There is a dedicated camping and glamping area, called The Open Camping Village, which has capacity for 2,200 people. The local town has a Sandwich in bloom initiative to try to encourage much more tourist activity than in 2011.[6]

Course layout
HoleYardsPar  HoleYardsPar
14444104154
24174112433
32403123814
4495  4^134594
54194145475
61783154964
75645161633
84534174264
94124184594
Out3,62235In3,58935
Source:Total7,21170

Field

Anyone who did not qualify via exemption or the Open Qualifying Series, and has a handicap of 0.4 or lower may enter regional qualifying, and subsequently final qualifying where 12 players qualify for the Open. The 12 regional qualifying venues were scheduled to be Alwoodley, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Burhill, Caldy, Fairhaven, Frilford Heath, Kedleston Park, Minchinhampton, Moor Park, Northamptonshire County, and Rochester & Cobham Park in England, Panmure in Scotland, and County Louth in Ireland.[7] The four final qualifying venues are Notts, Prince's, and St Annes Old Links in England, and Fairmont St Andrews in Scotland.[8]

Criteria and exemptions

Each player is classified according to the first category in which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses. The criteria were updated in December 2020, with The R&A adding additional criteria and extending others.[9][10]

1. The Open Champions aged 60 or under on 19 July 2020.

Mark Calcavecchia, Stewart Cink, Darren Clarke (2), John Daly, David Duval, Ernie Els (2), Todd Hamilton, Pádraig Harrington, Zach Johnson (2), Paul Lawrie, Shane Lowry (2,3,5), Rory McIlroy (2,5,11,12,12a), Phil Mickelson (2), Francesco Molinari (2,5,6), Louis Oosthuizen (2,5,5a,12,15), Jordan Spieth (2), Henrik Stenson (2), Tiger Woods (8,15)

2. The Open Champions for 2010–2019.
3. Top 10 finishers and ties in the 2019 Open Championship.

Tony Finau (12,15), Tommy Fleetwood (5,5a,12), Rickie Fowler (12,15), Tyrrell Hatton (5,5a,6,12a), Brooks Koepka (9,10,12), Robert MacIntyre (5), Patrick Reed (5a,8,12,12a,15), Lee Westwood (5a), Danny Willett (5,6,8)

4. Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) for Week 21, 2021.[lower-alpha 1]

23 May 2021

5. Top 30 in the final 2019 Race to Dubai standings.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout (5a), Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Jorge Campillo, Paul Casey (12), Matthew Fitzpatrick (5a), Sergio García (8), Justin Harding, Benjamin Hébert, Marcus Kinhult, Kurt Kitayama, Romain Langasque, Li Haotong (15), Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Joost Luiten, Victor Perez (5a), Ian Poulter, Jon Rahm (12,12a), Erik van Rooyen, Matthias Schwab, Matt Wallace, Paul Waring, Bernd Wiesberger

5a. Top 10 in the final 2020 Race to Dubai standings.[lower-alpha 2]

Collin Morikawa (9,12a), Aaron Rai

6. Recent winners of the BMW PGA Championship (2017–2020).[lower-alpha 3]

Alex Norén

7. Top 5 players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2021 Race to Dubai through the BMW International Open.[lower-alpha 4]

27 June

8. Recent winners of the Masters Tournament (2016–2021).[lower-alpha 5]

Dustin Johnson (10,12,12a,15), 11 April

9. Recent winners of the PGA Championship (2015–2021).[lower-alpha 5]

Jason Day, Justin Thomas (12,12a,15), Jimmy Walker, 23 May

10. Recent winners of the U.S. Open (2016–2021).[lower-alpha 5]

Bryson DeChambeau (12,15), Gary Woodland (12,15), 20 June

11. Recent winners of the Players Championship (2018–2021).[lower-alpha 5]

Webb Simpson (12,15), 14 March

12. The 30 qualifiers for the 2019 Tour Championship.

Abraham Ancer (15), Patrick Cantlay (15), Corey Conners, Lucas Glover, Charles Howell III, Im Sung-jae (15), Kevin Kisner, Jason Kokrak, Matt Kuchar (15), Marc Leishman (15), Hideki Matsuyama (15), Chez Reavie, Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele (12a,15), Adam Scott (15), Brandt Snedeker

12a. The leading ten qualifiers for the 2020 Tour Championship.[lower-alpha 2]

Scottie Scheffler, Sebastián Muñoz

13. Top five players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2020–21 FedEx Cup points list through the Travelers Championship.[lower-alpha 6]

27 June

14. Winner of the 2019 Open de Argentina.

Ricardo Celia

15. Playing members of the 2019 Presidents Cup teams.

An Byeong-hun, Adam Hadwin, Joaquín Niemann, Pan Cheng-tsung, Cameron Smith

16. Winners of the 2019 and 2020 Asian Tour Order of Merit.[lower-alpha 3]

Jazz Janewattananond, 2020 tour cancelled

17. Winners of the 2019 and 2020 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.[lower-alpha 3]

Ryan Fox, March

18. Winners of the 2019–20 and 2020–21 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit.[lower-alpha 3]

J. C. Ritchie, 28 March

19. Winners of the 2019 and 2020 Japan Open.[lower-alpha 3]

Chan Kim, Yuki Inamori

20. Winners of the 2020 and 2021 Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup Golf.[lower-alpha 5]

2020 tournament cancelled, 16 May

21. Top two players on the 2019 and 2020 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List.[lower-alpha 3]

Shugo Imahira, Shaun Norris, 2020 cancelled[lower-alpha 7]

22. The top two finishers, not already exempt, in the 2021 Mizuno Open.[lower-alpha 8]
23. Winner of the 2019 and 2020 Senior Open Championship.[lower-alpha 3]

Bernhard Langer, 2020 cancelled

24. Winners of the 2020 and 2021 Amateur Championship.[lower-alpha 5]

Joe Long (a), 19 June

25. Winners of the 2019 and 2020 U.S. Amateur.[lower-alpha 3]

Andy Ogletree (a),[lower-alpha 9] Tyler Strafaci (a)

26. Winners of the 2020 and 2021 European Amateur.[lower-alpha 5]

Matthias Schmid (a)

27. Recipient of the 2019 and 2020 Mark H. McCormack Medal.[lower-alpha 3]

Cole Hammer (a), Takumi Kanaya (a)[lower-alpha 9]

28. Winner of the 2019 and 2020 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.[lower-alpha 3]

Lin Yuxin (a), 2020 cancelled

29. Winner of the 2020 and 2021 Latin America Amateur Championship.[lower-alpha 5]

Abel Gallegos (a), 2021 cancelled

Open Qualifying Series

The Open Qualifying Series (OQS) was to consist of twelve events from the six major tours, but due to the revision of the exemption categories, it was reduced to the four events that had taken place prior to postponement. Places are available to the leading players (not otherwise exempt) who finish in the top n and ties. In the event of ties, positions go to players ranked highest according to that week's OWGR.

LocationTournamentDateSpotsTopQualifiers
AustraliaEmirates Australian Open8 Dec 2019310Matt Jones, Takumi Kanaya, Aaron Pike
AfricaSouth African Open12 Jan 2020310Jaco Ahlers, Marcus Armitage, Branden Grace
SingaporeSMBC Singapore Open19 Jan 2020412Kim Joo-hyung, Ryosuke Kinoshita, Richard T. Lee, Poom Saksansin
United StatesArnold Palmer Invitational8 Mar 2020310Joel Dahmen, Danny Lee, Keith Mitchell
JapanMizuno Open31 May 2020412n/a
IrelandDubai Duty Free Irish Open31 May 2020412n/a
MoroccoTrophée Hassan II7 Jun 202015n/a
CanadaRBC Canadian Open14 Jun 2020310n/a
KoreaKolon Korea Open28 Jun 202028n/a
United StatesTravelers Championship28 Jun 202028n/a
ScotlandAberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open12 Jul 2020412n/a
United StatesJohn Deere Classic12 Jul 202015n/a
Final Qualifying

The Final Qualifying events were originally to be played on 1 July 2020 at five courses covering Scotland and the North-West, Central and South-coast regions of England. Three qualifying places were available at each location.

Final Qualifying will now be held on 29 June 2021, with a minimum of eight places in the field available.

Alternates

To make up the full field of 156, additional places are allocated in ranking order from the Official World Golf Ranking at the time that these places are made available by the Championship Committee.

Notes
  1. Originally Week 21, 2020.
  2. Additional criteria added in December 2020, following cancellation earlier in the year.
  3. 2020 winner added as criteria were revised in December 2020.
  4. Originally the 2020 BMW International Open.
  5. 2021 winner added as criteria were revised in December 2020.
  6. Originally the 2020 Travelers Championship.
  7. Due to disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Japan Golf Tour season was joined with the 2021 tournament schedule to create a 2020–21 season.
  8. Originally the leading player, not already exempt, on the 2020 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List through the Japan Golf Tour Championship.
  9. Exemption forfeited by turning professional.

Media

The 2020 Open Championship was to be televised by Comcast in both the United Kingdom and the United States, domestically in the UK with the Sky Sports brand, and in the United States by their Golf Channel brand, including broadcast network coverage on weekends.

References
  1. "Royal Troon to host 2023 Open, extending Muirfield and Turnberry wait". Guardian. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  2. "Statement from the R&A on the COVID-19 pandemic". TheOpen.com. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  3. "The 149th Open cancelled for this year and will return to Sandwich in 2021". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2020-04-06.
  4. "Royal St George's". Mackenzie and Ebert. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  5. "RoyalStGeorge-London". Google Maps. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  6. "The Open 2020 golf championship in Sandwich: Everything you need to know including tickets and transport". KentOnline. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  7. "Regional Qualifying 2020". theopen.com. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  8. "Final Qualifying 2020". theopen.com. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  9. "Exemptions for The 149th Open | Updates confirmed ahead of Championship at Royal St George's". The Open Championship. The R&A. 18 December 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  10. "The 149th Open | Exemptions". The Open Championship. The R&A. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
Preceded by
2021 U.S. Open		 Major Championships Succeeded by
2022 Masters
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