The Claret Jug sits in front of the clubhouse at Royal Troon during media day for The 152nd Open Championship. | Photo by Richard Heathcote/R&A via Getty Images
Jack Nicklaus won The Open Championship three times, so it feels right that his Memorial Tournament will give someone a chance to play.
Similar to the U.S. Open, The Open Championship stages qualifying events all over the world. However, a significant difference between these two is that the R&A—the governing body that facilitates The Open—also designates a set of professional tournaments around the world to be part of The Open Qualifying Series.
For instance, the R&A included the Australian Open in December as part of the series, so Joaquin Niemann earned an invite with his win there. The Arnold Palmer Invitational was another. In all, 12 tournaments around the globe comprised the series, which includes this week’s Memorial Tournament.
The leading player not already exempt—who makes this week’s 36-hole cut—will receive an invite to Royal Troon for The 152nd Open Championship.
Photo by Jane Barlow/Getty Images
The first tee at Royal Troon.
Only one spot is available at Muirfield Village.
Twenty-one players in this 73-man field have not clinched a spot in The Open, and they are listed below:
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Cam Davis
Thomas Detry
Nick Dunlap
Chris Gotterup
Adam Hadwin
Lee Hodges
Tom Hoge
Jake Knapp
Matt Kuchar
Peter Malnati
Alex Noren
Taylor Pendrith
Seamus Power
Andrew Putnam
Davis Riley
Patrick Rodgers
Justin Rose
Brandt Snedeker
Adam Svensson
Davis Thompson
Should a tie for this qualifying spot occur, the invite will go to whoever has the higher ranking in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) entering this week.
Regardless, somebody on this list will earn a trip to Royal Troon, so keep an eye on these players—as they will be playing a ‘game within the game’ in Ohio.
Within this group, eight players have never played in The Open before: Dunlap, Gotterup, Knapp, Malnati, Pendrith, Rodgers, Svensson, and Thompson.
Not only does the Memorial Tournament offer even more than an elevated purse, extra FedEx Cup points, and the opportunity to shake hands with Jack Nicklaus afterward, but it will also send one player to The Open, perhaps for the first time.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
