2021 Open Championship


The 2021 Open Championship, officially the 149th Open Championship, was a golf tournament played 15–18 July 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 was the 15th Open Championship at Royal St George's, and the first since Darren Clarke won in 2011.
The championship was won by Collin Morikawa with a score of 265, 15-under-par, two strokes ahead of Jordan Spieth. Morikawa became the first player to win on his Open Championship debut since Ben Curtis in 2003, also at Royal St George's. He also became the first male golfer to win two majors on debut – backing up his 2020 PGA Championship success.
Lee Westwood broke Jay Haas's record of playing in the most majors without a win, with 88.

Organisation

The Open Championship was organised by the R&A, and was included in the PGA Tour, European Tour, and Japan Golf Tour calendars under the major championships category. The tournament was a 72-hole stroke play competition held over 4 days, with 18 holes played each day. Play was in groups of three for the first two days, and groups of two in the final two days. Groupings for the first two days were decided by the organisers, with each group having one morning, and one afternoon tee time. On the final two days, players teed off in reverse order of aggregate score, with the leaders last. After 36 holes there was a cut, after which the top 70 and ties progressed through to compete in the third and fourth rounds. In the event of a tie for the lowest score after four rounds, a four-hole aggregate playoff would be held to determine the winner; this would be followed by sudden-death extra holes if necessary until a winner emerged.
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. With COVID-19 restrictions in place, up to 32,000 fans were allowed to attend each day of the tournament.

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. 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. Only the Open Championships for men were not played; the Women's Open was played behind closed doors.

Venue

The 2021 Open Championship was the 149th edition of the tournament and was 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 George's 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.
Royal St George's is the only venue on the current rota located in Southern England. The 2021 tournament was 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, about west-northwest.
To accommodate for the tournament, 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, with a capacity for 2,200 people. The local town had a Sandwich in bloom initiative to try to encourage much more tourist activity than in 2011.

Course layout

Lengths of the course for previous Opens
  • 2011:, par 70
  • 2003:, par 71
  • 1993:, par 70
  • 1985:, par 70
  • 1981:, par 70

    Field

The Open Championship field was made up of 156 players, who gained entry through various exemption criteria and qualifying tournaments. The criteria included past Open champions, recent major winners, top ranked players in the world rankings and from the leading world tours, and winners and high finishers from various designated tournaments, including the Open Qualifying Series; the winners of designated amateur events, including The Amateur Championship and U.S. Amateur, also gained exemption provided they remain an amateur. Anyone not qualifying via exemption, and had a handicap of 0.4 or lower, could gain entry through regional and final qualifying events.

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. Further adjustments were announced in May and June 2021, with additional places being available through final qualifying, and several additional exemptions added through nominated European Tour, PGA Tour, and Challenge Tour events.
1. The Open Champions aged 60 or under on 19 July 2020.
2. The Open Champions for 2010–2019.
3. Top 10 finishers and ties in the 2019 Open Championship.
  • Tony Finau
  • Tommy Fleetwood
  • Rickie Fowler
  • Tyrrell Hatton
  • Brooks Koepka
  • Robert MacIntyre
  • Patrick Reed
  • Lee Westwood
  • Danny Willett
4. Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking for Week 21, 2021.
  • Abraham Ancer
  • Daniel Berger
  • Christiaan Bezuidenhout
  • Sam Burns
  • Patrick Cantlay
  • Paul Casey
  • Corey Conners
  • Bryson DeChambeau
  • Harris English
  • Matt Fitzpatrick
  • Sergio García
  • Brian Harman
  • Max Homa
  • Billy Horschel
  • Viktor Hovland
  • Dustin Johnson
  • Kevin Kisner
  • Jason Kokrak
  • Marc Leishman
  • Collin Morikawa
  • Joaquín Niemann
  • Ryan Palmer
  • Victor Perez
  • Jon Rahm
  • Justin Rose
  • Xander Schauffele
  • Scottie Scheffler
  • Adam Scott
  • Webb Simpson
  • Cameron Smith
  • Justin Thomas
  • Will Zalatoris
  • Im Sung-jae and Kim Si-woo withdrew to focus on the Olympic Games.
  • Kevin Na withdrew, pointing to the COVID-19 related travel requirements.
  • Matthew Wolff withdrew with no reason given.
  • Hideki Matsuyama withdrew after testing positive for COVID-19.
4a. Additional exemptions awarded from the Official World Golf Ranking for Week 26, 2021.
  • Kevin Streelman
  • Russell Henley
  • Carlos Ortiz
  • Charley Hoffman
  • Brendon Todd
  • Mackenzie Hughes
  • Chris Kirk
  • Talor Gooch
  • Lanto Griffin
  • Cameron Tringale
  • Lee Kyoung-hoon withdrew due to the upcoming birth of his child.
  • Bubba Watson withdrew due being a close contact of someone who had tested positive for COVID-19.
5. Top 30 in the final 2019 Race to Dubai standings.
  • Rafa Cabrera-Bello
  • Jorge Campillo
  • Justin Harding
  • Benjamin Hébert
  • Marcus Kinhult
  • Kurt Kitayama
  • Romain Langasque
  • Li Haotong
  • Mike Lorenzo-Vera
  • Joost Luiten
  • Ian Poulter
  • Erik van Rooyen
  • Matthias Schwab
  • Matt Wallace
  • Paul Waring
  • Bernd Wiesberger
5a. Top 10 in the final 2020 Race to Dubai standings.
  • Aaron Rai
6. Recent winners of the BMW PGA Championship.
  • Alex Norén
7. Top 5 players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2021 Race to Dubai through the BMW International Open.
  • Richard Bland
  • Dean Burmester
  • Garrick Higgo
  • Guido Migliozzi
  • Jason Scrivener
8. Recent winners of the Masters Tournament.
9. Recent winners of the PGA Championship.
  • Jason Day
  • Jimmy Walker
10. Recent winners of the U.S. Open.
  • Gary Woodland
11. Recent winners of the Players Championship.
12. The 30 qualifiers for the 2019 Tour Championship.
12a. The leading ten qualifiers for the 2020 Tour Championship.
  • 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.
14. Winner of the 2019 Open de Argentina.
  • Ricardo Celia
15. Playing members of the 2019 Presidents Cup teams.
  • An Byeong-hun
  • Adam Hadwin
  • Pan Cheng-tsung
16. Winners of the 2019 and 2020–21 Asian Tour Order of Merit.
  • Jazz Janewattananond
17. Winners of the 2019 and 2020–21 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.
  • Ryan Fox
  • Brad Kennedy
18. Winners of the 2019–20 and 2020–21 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit.
  • J. C. Ritchie
19. Winners of the 2019 and 2020 Japan Open.
  • Chan Kim
  • Yuki Inamori
20. Winners of the 2020 and 2021 Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup Golf.
  • Rikuya Hoshino
21. Top two players on the 2019 and 2020 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List.
22. The top two finishers, not already exempt, in the 2021 Mizuno Open.
23. Winner of the 2019 and 2020 Senior Open Championship.
24. Winners of the 2020 and 2021 Amateur Championship.
  • Joe Long
  • Laird Shepherd
25. Winners of the 2019 and 2020 U.S. Amateur.
  • Andy Ogletree
  • Tyler Strafaci
26. Winners of the 2020 and 2021 European Amateur.
  • Matti Schmid
  • Christoffer Bring
27. Recipient of the 2019 and 2020 Mark H. McCormack Medal.
  • Cole Hammer
  • Takumi Kanaya
28. Winner of the 2019 and 2020 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.
  • Lin Yuxin
29. Winner of the 2020 and 2021 Latin America Amateur Championship.
  • Abel Gallegos
30. The leading player, not already exempt, in the 2021 Kaskáda Golf Challenge.
  • Marcel Schneider
31. The leading three players, not already exempt, in the 2021 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.
  • Lucas Herbert
  • Rikard Karlberg
  • Johannes Veerman
32. The leading player, not already exempt, in the 2021 Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge.
  • Marcel Siem
33. The leading three players, not already exempt, in the 2021 Abrdn Scottish Open.
  • Thomas Detry
  • Min Woo Lee
  • Jack Senior
34. The leading player, not already exempt, in the 2021 John Deere Classic.
  • Ryan Moore withdrew due to him still recovering from a back injury.
35. Open Qualifying Series
  • Jaco Ahlers
  • Marcus Armitage
  • Joel Dahmen
  • Branden Grace
  • Matt Jones
  • Takumi Kanaya
  • Ryosuke Kinoshita
  • Richard T. Lee
  • Keith Mitchell
  • Aaron Pike
  • Poom Saksansin
  • Tom Kim withdrew.
  • Danny Lee withdrew due to injury.
36. Final Qualifying
  • Sam Bairstow
  • Daniel Croft
  • Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño
  • Sam Forgan
  • Daniel Hillier
  • Ben Hutchinson
  • Deyen Lawson
  • Richard Mansell
  • Nick Poppleton
  • Jonathan Thomson
  • Connor Worsdall
  • Louis de Jager withdrew after testing positive for COVID-19.
Reserves added to the field.
  • Emiliano Grillo
  • Keegan Bradley
  • Daniel van Tonder
  • Martin Kaymer
  • Andy Sullivan
  • Antoine Rozner
  • Troy Merritt
  • Harold Varner III
  • Brendan Steele
  • John Catlin
  • Adam Long
  • Sam Horsfield
  • Dylan Frittelli