Field
Each year, around two thirds of The Open Championship field consists of players that are fully exempt from qualifying for the Open. Below is a list of the exemption categories, and the players who were exempt for the 2009 Open. Each player is classified according to the first category by which they qualified, with other categories they also fall into being shown in parentheses. Some categories are not shown as all players in that category had already qualified from an earlier category:
1. First 10 and anyone tying for 10th place in the 2008 Open Championship
Robert Allenby (5,15), Stephen Ames (5), Paul Casey (5,6,7,19), Ben Curtis (3,4,5,15,19), Ernie Els (3,4,5,15), Jim Furyk (5,15,19), Pádraig Harrington (3,4,5,6,13,19), David Howell, Anthony Kim (5,15,19), Greg Norman (3), Ian Poulter (5,6,19), Henrik Stenson (5,6,14,19), Steve Stricker (5,15,19), Chris Wood
- Robert Karlsson (5,6,19) withdrew prior to the tournament due to an eye problem.
2. Past Open Champions born between 17 July 1943 and 19 July 1948
(Eligible but did not compete: Tony Jacklin, Johnny Miller)
3. Past Open Champions aged 60 or under on 19 July 2008
Mark Calcavecchia, John Daly, David Duval (4), Nick Faldo, Todd Hamilton (4), Paul Lawrie (4), Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard (5,15,19), Sandy Lyle, Mark O'Meara, Tom Watson, Tiger Woods (4,5,11,12,13)
(Eligible but did not compete: Ian Baker-Finch, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Price, Bill Rogers)
4. The Open Champions for 1999-2008
5. The first 50 players on the Official World Golf Rankings for Week 21, 2009
Ángel Cabrera (11,12), Chad Campbell (15,19), K. J. Choi (15), Stewart Cink (15,19), Tim Clark (15), Luke Donald, Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, Ross Fisher (6), Sergio García (6,14,15,19), Retief Goosen (6), Miguel Ángel Jiménez (6,7,19), Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson (12), Martin Kaymer (6), Søren Kjeldsen (6), Hunter Mahan (15,19), Graeme McDowell (6,19), Rory McIlroy, Geoff Ogilvy (11), Sean O'Hair, Kenny Perry (15,19), Álvaro Quirós (6), Justin Rose (19), Rory Sabbatini, Adam Scott, Vijay Singh (13,15), David Toms, Camilo Villegas (15), Nick Watney, Mike Weir (15), Lee Westwood (6,19), Oliver Wilson (6,19)
- Trevor Immelman (12,15) withdrew prior to the tournament due to a wrist injury.
- Phil Mickelson (12,13,14,15,19) withdrew prior to the tournament due to his wife's recovery from breast cancer surgery.
- Shingo Katayama (23,24) withdrew prior to the tournament due a back injury.
- Jeev Milkha Singh (6,20) withdrew prior to the tournament due a rib injury.
6. First 30 in the PGA European Tour Final Order of Merit for 2008
Darren Clarke, Richard Finch, Richard Green, Søren Hansen (19), Peter Hanson, Peter Hedblom, James Kingston, Pablo Larrazábal, Paul McGinley, Damien McGrane, Francesco Molinari, Colin Montgomerie, Charl Schwartzel, Anthony Wall
7. The BMW PGA Championship winners for 2007-2009
Anders Hansen
8. First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt having applied above, in the top 20 of the 2009 PGA European Tour Race to Dubai on completion of the 2009 BMW PGA Championship
Louis Oosthuizen, Robert Rock, Thongchai Jaidee
9. 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
Nick Dougherty, Johan Edfors
10. The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2009 Open de France ALSTOM and the 2009 Barclays Scottish Open.
11. The U.S. Open Champions for 2005-2009
Michael Campbell, Lucas Glover
12. The U.S. Masters Champions for 2005-2009
13. The U.S. PGA Champions for 2004-2008
14. The U.S. PGA Tour Players Champions for 2007-2009
15. Top 30 on the Official 2008 PGA Tour FedEx Cup points list
Stuart Appleby, Briny Baird, Ken Duke, Dudley Hart, Ryuji Imada, Billy Mayfair, Carl Pettersson, Andrés Romero, Kevin Sutherland, D. J. Trahan, Bubba Watson
- Dudley Hart withdrew prior to the tournament.
16. 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 2009 PGA Tour on completion of the HP Byron Nelson Championship
Brian Gay, Charley Hoffman, Charles Howell III
17. 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 2009 AT&T National
Paul Goydos, Bryce Molder
18. The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2009 AT&T National and the 2009 John Deere Classic
Brandt Snedeker
- Brett Quigley qualified at the John Deere Classic, but declined the invitation in order to attend the memorial service for the wife of fellow player Chris Smith
19. Playing members of the 2008 Ryder Cup teams
J. B. Holmes, Boo Weekley
20. First place on the 2008 Asian Tour Order of Merit
21. First place on the 2008 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit
Mark Brown
22. First place on the 2008 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit
Richard Sterne
23. The 2008 Japan Open Champion
24. First 2, not exempt, on the Official Money List of the Japan Golf Tour for 2008
Prayad Marksaeng, Azuma Yano
25. The leading 4 players, not exempt, in the 2009 Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic
Ryo Ishikawa, Tomohiro Kondo, Kenichi Kuboya, David Smail
26. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, not exempt having applied (25) above, in a cumulative money list taken from all official 2009 Japan Golf Tour events up to and including the 2009 Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic
Yuta Ikeda, Koumei Oda
27. The Senior British Open Champion for 2008
Bruce Vaughan
28. The 2009 Amateur Champion
Matteo Manassero (a)
29. The 2008 U.S. Amateur Champion
(U.S. Amateur winner Danny Lee turned professional in April 2009 and forfeited his automatic exemption.)
30. The 2008 European Individual Amateur Champion
Stephan Gross (a)
International Final Qualifying
- Africa: Jaco Ahlers, Marc Cayeux, Jeremy Kavanagh
- Australasia: Josh Geary, Tim Wood, Michael Wright
- Asia: Gaganjeet Bhullar, Liang Wen-chong, Terry Pilkadaris, Tim Stewart
- America: James Driscoll, Fredrik Jacobson, Richard S. Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Martin Laird, Davis Love III, Jeff Overton
- Tim Wilkinson withdrew prior to the tournament due to thumb surgery.
- Europe: Paul Broadhurst, Rhys Davies, David Drysdale, Rafael Echenique, Oliver Fisher, Branden Grace, Raphaël Jacquelin, Gary Orr, Richie Ramsay, Graeme Storm
Local Final Qualifying
- Glasgow Golf Club - Gailes Links: Thomas Aiken, Peter Baker, David Higgins, Elliot Saltman
- Kilmarnock (Barassie): Markus Brier, Peter Ellebye, Daniel Gaunt, Lloyd Saltman
- Western Gailes: Fredrik Andersson Hed, Thomas Haylock, Steve Surry, Daniel Wardrop
Alternates
Drawn from the Official World Golf Rankings of 5 July 2009 (provide the player was entered in the Open and did not withdraw from qualifying):
- Mathew Goggin replaced Trevor Immelman.
- Ben Crane replaced Phil Mickelson.
- Steve Marino replaced Shingo Katayama.
- Rod Pampling entered the field as no players not already qualified finished in the top 5 at the Barclays Scottish Open.
- Thomas Levet replaced Brett Quigley.
- John Senden replaced Jeev Milkha Singh.
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