The 2017 Open Championship was a major golf championship and the 146th Open Championship, held 20–23 July at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. It was the tenth Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, which held its first in 1954.
Jordan Spieth shot four rounds in the sixties for 268 (−12), three strokes ahead of runner-up Matt Kuchar, for his third major title, and the second in which he led wire-to-wire (2015 Masters). In the third round, Branden Grace scored 62 to set a new major championship record.
This was the first year that the prize money was paid in U.S. dollars, rather than British pounds.
Media This was the second Open Championship televised domestically by Sky Sports. In the United States, it is the second Open Championship to be televised by NBC (Golf Channel's parent network).
Venue
This was the tenth Open Championship at Royal Birkdale; the ninth in 2008 saw Pádraig Harrington successfully defend his 2007 title from Carnoustie.
Course layout HoleYardsParHoleYardsPar14484 1040242422411436434514121833419931349945346414200364994155425717731643848458417567594164184734 Out3,41634 In3,74036 Total 7,15670 Lengths of the course for previous Opens: 2008: , par 70 1998: , par 70 1991: , par 70 1983: , par 71 1976: , par 72 1971: , par 73 1965: , par 73 1961: , par 72 1954: , par 73
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.
1. The Open Champions aged 60 or under on 23 July 2017
Stewart Cink (2) Darren Clarke (2) John Daly David Duval Ernie Els (2) Todd Hamilton Pádraig Harrington (2) Zach Johnson (2,17) Paul Lawrie Tom Lehman Sandy Lyle Rory McIlroy (2,3,4,5,10,12,17) Phil Mickelson (2,3,4,12,17) Mark O'Meara Louis Oosthuizen (2,4,5) Henrik Stenson (2,3,4,5,17)
Eligible but did not enter: Ian Baker-Finch, Mark Calcavecchia, Nick Faldo, Justin Leonard, Nick Price, Tiger Woods. Ben Curtis withdrew before the tournament.
2. The Open Champions for 2007–2016
3. Top 10 finishers and ties in the 2016 Open Championship
Sergio García (4,5,9,17) Bill Haas (4) Tyrrell Hatton (4,5) J. B. Holmes (4,12,17) Dustin Johnson (4,8,12,17) Andrew Johnston (5) Søren Kjeldsen (5) Steve Stricker
4. Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) for Week 21, 2017
Daniel Berger (12) Wesley Bryan Rafa Cabrera-Bello (5,17) Paul Casey (12) Kevin Chappell (12) Jason Day (10,11,12) Ross Fisher (5) Matt Fitzpatrick (5,17) Tommy Fleetwood Rickie Fowler (11,17) Branden Grace (5) Emiliano Grillo (12) Adam Hadwin Billy Horschel Kim Si-woo (11,12) Kevin Kisner (12) Russell Knox (12) Brooks Koepka (8,17) Matt Kuchar (12,17) Marc Leishman Hideki Matsuyama (12,21) William McGirt (12) Francesco Molinari (5) Ryan Moore (12,17) Alex Norén (5,6) Pat Perez Thomas Pieters (5,17) Jon Rahm Patrick Reed (12,17) Justin Rose (8,14,17) Charl Schwartzel (5,12) Adam Scott (9,12) Jordan Spieth (8,9,12,17) Hideto Tanihara (22) Justin Thomas (12) Jimmy Walker (10,12,17) Bubba Watson (9,12) Bernd Wiesberger (5) Danny Willett (5,9,17) Gary Woodland (12)
Brandt Snedeker (12,17) did not play.
5. Top 30 on the 2016 Race to Dubai
Richard Bland Scott Hend (18) David Horsey Thongchai Jaidee Martin Kaymer (8,17) Li Haotong Shane Lowry Joost Luiten Thorbjørn Olesen Andy Sullivan (17) Wang Jeung-hun Lee Westwood (17) Chris Wood (6,17)
6. Last three BMW PGA Championship winners
An Byeong-hun
7. Top 5 players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2017 Race to Dubai through the BMW International Open
Dylan Frittelli Pablo Larrazábal Alexander Lévy David Lipsky Fabrizio Zanotti
8. Last five U.S. Open winners
9. Last five Masters Tournament winners
10. Last five PGA Championship winners
Jason Dufner (12)
11. Last three Players Championship winners
12. The 30 qualifiers for the 2016 Tour Championship
Roberto Castro Kevin Na Sean O'Hair Jhonattan Vegas
13. Top 5 players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2017 FedEx Cup points list through the Travelers Championship
Brian Harman Russell Henley Charley Hoffman Brendan Steele
14. Winner of the 2016 Olympic Golf Tournament
15. Winner of the 2016 Open de Argentina
Kent Bulle
16. Winner and runner-up from the 2017 Korea Open
Chang Yi-keun Kim Gi-whan
17. Playing members of the 2016 Ryder Cup teams
18. Winner of the 2016 Asian Tour Order of Merit
19. Winner of the 2016 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit
Matthew Griffin
20. Winner of the 2016–17 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit
Brandon Stone
21. Winner of the 2016 Japan Open
22. Top 2 on the 2016 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List
Yuta Ikeda
23. Top 2, not already exempt, on the 2017 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List through the Japan Golf Tour Championship
Yūsaku Miyazato Shaun Norris
24. Winner of the 2016 Senior Open Championship
Paul Broadhurst
25. Winner of the 2017 Amateur Championship
Harry Ellis (a)
26. Winner of the 2016 U.S. Amateur Curtis Luck forfeited his exemption after turning professional in April 2017.
27. Winners of the 2016 and 2017 editions of the European Amateur
Luca Cianchetti (a) Alfie Plant (a)
28. Recipient of the 2016 Mark H. McCormack Medal
Maverick McNealy (a)
Open Qualifying Series The Open Qualifying Series (OQS) consisted of 10 events from the six major tours. Places were available to the leading players (not otherwise exempt) who finished in the top n and ties. In the event of ties, positions went to players ranked highest according to that week's OWGR.
Location Tournament Date Spots Top Qualifiers Australia Emirates Australian Open 20 Nov 3 10 Aaron Baddeley, Ashley Hall, Cameron Smith Singapore SMBC Singapore Open 22 Jan 4 12 Phachara Khongwatmai, Jbe' Kruger, Prayad Marksaeng, Song Young-han South Africa Joburg Open 26 Feb 3 10 Darren Fichardt, Stuart Manley, Paul Waring Japan Mizuno Open 28 May 4 12 Adam Bland, Michael Hendry, Chan Kim, Kim Kyung-tae France HNA Open de France 2 Jul 3 10 Alexander Björk, Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Peter Uihlein United States Quicken Loans National 2 Jul 4 12 Charles Howell III, Kang Sung-hoon, Martin Laird, Kyle Stanley Ireland Dubai Duty Free Irish Open 9 Jul 3 10 David Drysdale, Ryan Fox, Richie Ramsay United States Greenbrier Classic 9 Jul 4 12 Jamie Lovemark, Sebastián Muñoz, Xander Schauffele, Robert Streb Scotland Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open 16 Jul 3 10 Andrew Dodt, Matthieu Pavon, Callum Shinkwin United States John Deere Classic 16 Jul 1 5 Bryson DeChambeau
Final Qualifying The Final Qualifying events were played on 4 July at five courses covering Scotland and the North-West, Central and South-coast regions of England. Three qualifying places were available at each location.
Location Qualifiers Gailes Links Ryan McCarthy, Julian Suri, Connor Syme (a) Hillside Adam Hodkinson, Nick McCarthy, Haydn McCullen Notts (Hollinwell) Laurie Canter, Joe Dean, Mark Foster Royal Cinque Ports Austin Connelly, Robert Dinwiddie, Matthew Southgate Woburn Shiv Kapur, Ian Poulter, Toby Tree
Alternates To make up the full field of 156, additional places were allocated in ranking order from the Official World Golf Ranking at the time that these places were made available by the Championship Committee.
From the Week 26 (week ending 2 July) Official World Golf Ranking:
Webb Simpson (ranked 61) Anirban Lahiri (66)
From the Week 27 (week ending 9 July) Official World Golf Ranking:
Tony Finau (64) James Hahn (66)
Round summaries First round Thursday, 20 July 2017
Three Americans – Brooks Koepka, Matt Kuchar, and Jordan Spieth – shared the lead after the first round on five under par, a shot clear of England's Paul Casey and Charl Schwartzel, with Ian Poulter a further shot back. Reigning champion Henrik Stenson was one under after a 69. Rory McIlroy was five over par after six holes but recovered to finish with a one-over-par 71.
PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Brooks Koepka 65 −5 Matt Kuchar Jordan SpiethT4 Paul Casey 66 −4 Charl SchwartzelT6 Richard Bland 67 −3 Rafa Cabrera-Bello Austin Connelly Charley Hoffman Ian Poulter Justin Thomas
Second round Friday, 21 July 2017
In difficult conditions, Jordan Spieth followed his first round 65 with a 69 to lead by two strokes from Matt Kuchar. Only eight players scored under par for their second rounds, Zach Johnson's 66 being the best round of the day. Alfie Plant was the only amateur to make the cut. He eagled the par-five 15th on his way to a 73 and a 36-hole total of 144.
PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Jordan Spieth 65-69=134 −62 Matt Kuchar 65-71=136 −4T3 Brooks Koepka 65-72=137 −3 Ian Poulter 67-70=1375 Richie Ramsay 68-70=138 −2T6 Richard Bland 67-72=139 −1 Austin Connelly 67-72=139 Rory McIlroy 71-68=139 Gary Woodland 70-69=139T10 Kent Bulle 68-72=140 E Rafa Cabrera-Bello 67-73=140 Charley Hoffman 67-73=140 Russell Henley 70-70=140 Chan Kim 72-68=140 Jamie Lovemark 71-69=140 Joost Luiten 68-72=140 Hideki Matsuyama 68-72=140 Alex Norén 68-72=140 Bubba Watson 68-72=140
Amateurs: Plant (+4), Syme (+9), Cianchetti (+11), Ellis (+12), McNealy (+12)
Third round Saturday, 22 July 2017
Jordan Spieth shot a 65 to take a three-stroke lead over Matt Kuchar, who shot a 66. On an easier day of scoring, Branden Grace scored 62, breaking the long-standing men's major championship record of 63. There were also low rounds from Dustin Johnson, with a 64, and Henrik Stenson, with a 65, both getting into a tie for 7th place.
PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Jordan Spieth 65-69-65=199 −112 Matt Kuchar 65-71-66=202 −8T3 Austin Connelly 67-72-66=205 −5 Brooks Koepka 65-72-68=205T5 Branden Grace 70-74-62=206 −4 Hideki Matsuyama 68-72-66=206T7 Rafa Cabrera-Bello 67-73-67=207 −3 Dustin Johnson 71-72-64=207 Chan Kim 72-68-67=207 Henrik Stenson 69-73-65=207
Grace scorecard Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718Par444344344 443435454 Grace −1 −1 −1 −2 −3 −3 −3 −4 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −6 −6 −7 −8 −8 {|class="wikitable" span = 50 style="font-size:85%; |- | style="background:Pink; width:10px;"| |Birdie
Final round Sunday, 23 July 2017