Field
Each year, around two-thirds of The Open Championship field consists of players that are fully exempt from qualifying for the Open. The players who have already qualified for the 2010 Open Championship are listed below. Each player is classified according to the first category in which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses.[7][8]
1. Past Open Champions aged 60 or under on 18 July 2010
Mark Calcavecchia, Stewart Cink (2,5,6,16,20), Ben Curtis (2,4), John Daly, David Duval (2), Ernie Els (2,4,5,6,7,16,20), Nick Faldo, Todd Hamilton (2), Pádraig Harrington (2,4,6,7,14,16), Paul Lawrie, Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard (4,5,20), Sandy Lyle, Mark O'Meara, Tom Watson (4,5), Tiger Woods (2,4,6,12,14,16,20)
(Eligible but not playing: Ian Baker-Finch, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Price, Bill Rogers)
(Greg Norman (4) withdrew due to a shoulder injury.[9])
2. The Open Champions for 2000–2009
3. Past Open Champions born between 17 July 1944 and 19 July 1948
(Eligible but not playing: Johnny Miller)
4. Past Open Champions finishing in the top 10 and tying for 10th place in The Open Championship 2005–2009
5. First 10 and anyone tying for 10th place in the 2009 Open Championship
Thomas Aiken, Luke Donald (6,16), Mathew Goggin, Retief Goosen (6,7,16,20), Søren Hansen (7), Richard S. Johnson, Lee Westwood (6,7), Chris Wood
6. The first 50 players on the Official World Golf Rankings for Week 21, 2010
Robert Allenby (7,20), Ángel Cabrera (12,13,16,20), Paul Casey (7,8), K. J. Choi, Tim Clark (15,20), Ben Crane, Ross Fisher (7), Jim Furyk (16,20), Sergio García (7,15), Lucas Glover (12,16,20), Peter Hanson (7), Yuta Ikeda (25), Ryo Ishikawa (20), Thongchai Jaidee (7,21), Miguel Ángel Jiménez (7,8), Dustin Johnson (16), Zach Johnson (13,16,20), Robert Karlsson, Martin Kaymer (7), Matt Kuchar, Graeme McDowell (12), Rory McIlroy (7), Hunter Mahan (16,20), Phil Mickelson (13,14,16,20), Edoardo Molinari, Francesco Molinari (7), Kevin Na (16), Geoff Ogilvy (7,12,16,20), Sean O'Hair (16,20), Louis Oosthuizen, Kenny Perry (16,20), Ian Poulter (7), Álvaro Quirós (7), Charl Schwartzel (7), Adam Scott (20), Michael Sim (22), Henrik Stenson (7,15), Steve Stricker (16,20), Camilo Villegas (7,20), Nick Watney (16), Oliver Wilson (7), Yang Yong-eun (14,16,20)
(Anthony Kim (20) withdrew due to thumb surgery.[10])
7. First 30 in the PGA European Tour Final Race to Dubai for 2009
Simon Dyson, Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, Anders Hansen (23), Søren Kjeldsen, Thomas Levet, Ross McGowan, Alex Norén, Robert Rock
8. The BMW PGA Championship winners for 2008–2010
Simon Khan
9. First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt having applied above, in the top 20 of the 2010 PGA European Tour Race to Dubai on completion of the 2010 BMW PGA Championship
Fredrik Andersson Hed, Rhys Davies (the only two golfers in the top 20 of the Race to Dubai at that time who were not already exempt)
10. First 2 European Tour members and any European Tour members tying for 2nd place, not exempt, in a cumulative money list taken from all official PGA European Tour events from OWGR Week 19 up to and including the BMW International Open and including the U.S. Open
Stephen Gallacher, Grégory Havret
11. The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2010 Alstom Open de France and the 2010 Barclays Scottish Open
Alejandro Cañizares, Darren Clarke
12. The U.S. Open Champions for 2006–2010
13. The U.S. Masters Champions for 2006–2010
Trevor Immelman
14. The U.S. PGA Champions for 2005–2009
15. The U.S. PGA Tour Players Champions for 2008–2010
16. Top 30 on the Official 2009 PGA Tour FedEx Cup points list
Jason Dufner, Brian Gay, Jerry Kelly, Marc Leishman, Steve Marino, John Senden, Heath Slocum, Scott Verplank, Mike Weir (20)
(David Toms withdrew due to a shoulder injury.[10])
17. First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt having applied above, in the top 20 of the FedEx Cup points list of the 2010 PGA Tour on completion of the HP Byron Nelson Championship
Jason Bohn, Bill Haas, J. B. Holmes
18. First 2 PGA Tour members and any PGA Tour members tying for 2nd place, not exempt, in a cumulative money list taken from The Players Championship and the five PGA Tour events leading up to and including the 2010 AT&T National
Justin Rose, Bubba Watson
19. The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2010 AT&T National and the 2010 John Deere Classic
Paul Goydos, Ryan Moore
20. Playing members of the 2009 Presidents Cup teams
Vijay Singh
21. First place on the 2009 Asian Tour Order of Merit
22. First place on the 2009 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit
23. First place on the 2009 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit
24. The 2009 Japan Open Champion
Ryuichi Oda
25. First 2, not exempt, on the Official Money List of the Japan Golf Tour for 2009
Koumei Oda
26. The leading 4 players, not exempt, in the 2010 Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic
Hirofumi Miyase, Park Jae-bum, Shunsuke Sonoda, Toru Taniguchi
27. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, not exempt having applied (26) above, in a cumulative money list taken from all official 2010 Japan Golf Tour events up to and including the 2010 Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic
Kim Kyung-tae, Katsumasa Miyamoto
28. The Senior British Open Champion for 2009
Loren Roberts
29. The 2010 Amateur Champion
Jin Jeong (a)
30. The 2009 U.S. Amateur Champion
An Byeong-hun (a)
31. The 2009 European Individual Amateur Champion
Victor Dubuisson (a)
International Final Qualifying
- Australasia: Kurt Barnes, Ewan Porter, Peter Senior
- Africa: Josh Cunliffe, Darren Fichardt, Jean Hugo
- Asia: Danny Chia, Chun Jae-han (a), Hiroyuki Fujita, Noh Seung-yul
- America: Glen Day, Martin Laird, George McNeill, Cameron Percy, Tom Pernice Jr., Tim Petrovic, D. A. Points, Bo Van Pelt
- Europe: Thomas Bjørn, Andrew Coltart, Bradley Dredge, Ignacio Garrido, Estanislao Goya, José Manuel Lara, Shane Lowry, Gareth Maybin, Colin Montgomerie, Marcel Siem
Local Final Qualifying (Tuesday 29 June)
- Fairmont St Andrews: Laurie Canter (a), Mark Haastrup, Zane Scotland
- Kingsbarns Links: Jamie Abbott (a), Colm Moriarty, Tom Whitehouse
- Ladybank: Phillip Archer, Simon Edwards, Tyrrell Hatton (a)
- Scotscraig: Gary Clark, Paul Streeter, Steven Tiley
Alternates
Drawn from the Official World Golf Rankings of 4 July 2010[11] (provide the player was entered in the Open and did not withdraw from qualifying):[7]