Field
World Number One Tiger Woods was the most notable absentee, as he was recovering from knee surgery.
About two thirds of the field each year consists of players that are fully exempt from qualifying for the Open. Below is the list of the exemption categories and the players who are exempt. Each player is classified according to the first category by which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses. Some categories are not shown as all players in that category had already quaified from an earlier category:
1. First 10 and anyone tying for 10th place in the 2007 Open Championship
K. J. Choi (7,15,19), Stewart Cink (7,19), Ben Curtis (3,4), Ernie Els (3,4,5,7,15,19), Sergio García (5,7,14,15), Richard Green, Pádraig Harrington (3,4,5,7), Hunter Mahan (7,15,19), Andrés Romero (5,7), Steve Stricker (7,15,19), Mike Weir (7,19)
2. Past Open Champions born between 20 July 1942 and 19 July 1948
(Eligible but not competing: Tony Jacklin, Johnny Miller, Tom Weiskopf)
3. Past Open Champions aged 60 or under on 20 July 2008
Mark Calcavecchia (15), John Daly, David Duval (4), Todd Hamilton (4), Paul Lawrie (4), Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard (7), Sandy Lyle, Greg Norman, Mark O'Meara (4), Tom Watson (28)
(Eligible but not competing: Ian Baker-Finch, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Nick Price, Bill Rogers, Tiger Woods)
4. The Open Champions for 1998-2007
5. First 20 in the PGA European Tour Final Order of Merit for 2007
Ángel Cabrera (7,11,19), Paul Casey (7), Nick Dougherty, Niclas Fasth (7), Retief Goosen (7,11,19), Anders Hansen (6), Søren Hansen (7), Peter Hanson, Grégory Havret, Søren Kjeldsen, Colin Montgomerie, Justin Rose (7,15), Henrik Stenson (7), Richard Sterne (7), Graeme Storm, Lee Westwood (7)
6. The BMW PGA Championship winners for 2006-2008
David Howell, Miguel Ángel Jiménez (7)
7. The first 50 players on the Official World Golf Rankings for Week 21, 2008
Robert Allenby, Stephen Ames (14), Stuart Appleby (19), Woody Austin (15,19), Aaron Baddeley (15), Tim Clark, Jim Furyk (15,19,23), J. B. Holmes, Trevor Immelman (12,19), Zach Johnson (12,15,19), Robert Karlsson, Martin Kaymer, Anthony Kim, Phil Mickelson (12,13,14,15,19), Geoff Ogilvy (11,15,19), Sean O'Hair, Rod Pampling, Ian Poulter, Jeff Quinney, Rory Sabbatini (15,19), Adam Scott (15,19), Vijay Singh (13,15,19), Brandt Snedeker (15), Scott Verplank (15,19), Boo Weekley, Oliver Wilson
(Eligible but not competing: Shingo Katayama, Luke Donald withdrew prior to start of tournament with a wrist injury, Toru Taniguchi withdrew prior to start of tournament with a back injury)
8. First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt having applied above, in the top 20 of the 2008 PGA European Tour Order of Merit on completion of the 2008 BMW PGA Championship
Richard Finch, Graeme McDowell, Damien McGrane
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 Open de France and including the U.S. Open
Pablo Larrazábal, Scott Strange
10. The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2008 European Open and the 2008 Barclays Scottish Open.
David Frost, Simon Khan
11. The U.S. Open Champions for 2004-2008
Michael Campbell
12. The U.S. Masters Champions for 2004-2008
13. The U.S. PGA Champions for 2003-2007
(Eligible but not competing: Shaun Micheel)
14. The U.S. PGA Tour Players Champions for 2006-2008
15. Top 20 on the Official Money List of the 2007 PGA Tour
Charles Howell III (19)
16. First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt having applied above, in the top 20 of the Official Money List of the 2008 PGA Tour on completion of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial
Bart Bryant, Ryuji Imada
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 2008 AT&T National
Rocco Mediate
(Eligible but not competing: Kenny Perry)
18. The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2008 AT&T National and the 2008 John Deere Classic
Fredrik Jacobson, Jay Williamson
19. Playing members of the 2007 Presidents Cup teams
Lucas Glover, Nick O'Hern (David Toms withdrew prior to start of tournament)
20. First place on the 2007 Asian Tour Order of Merit
Liang Wen-Chong
21. First 2 on the Order of Merit of the PGA Tour of Australasia for 2007
Craig Parry, David Smail
22. First place on the Order of Merit of the Southern Africa Sunshine Tour for 2007
James Kingston
23. The RBC Canadian Open Champion for 2007
24. The Japan Open Champion for 2007
25. First 2 on the Official Money List of the Japan Golf Tour for 2007
Brendan Jones, Hideto Tanihara
26. The leading 4 players, not exempt, in the 2008 Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic
Michio Matsumura, Prayad Marksaeng, Yoshinobu Tsukada, Azuma Yano
27. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, not exempt having applied (26) above, in a cumulative money list taken from all official Japan Golf Tour events from the 2008 Japan PGA Championship up to and including the 2008 Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic
Hiroshi Iwata, Shintaro Kai
28. The Senior British Open Champion for 2007
29. The 2008 Amateur Champion
Reinier Saxton (a)
30. The U.S. Amateur Champion for 2007
(Colt Knost turned professional and forfeited his invitation.)
31. The European Individual Amateur Champion for 2007
Benjamin Hebert (a)
International Final Qualifying
- Africa: Joshua Cunliffe, Darren Fichardt, Douglas McGuigan, Hennie Otto
- Australasia: Peter Fowler, Brad Lamb, Ewan Porter, Andrew Tampion
- Asia: Adam Blyth, Danny Chia, Lam Chih Bing, Angelo Que
- America: Craig Barlow, Rich Beem, Alex Čejka, Tom Gillis, Paul Goydos, Matt Kuchar, Doug LaBelle II, Michael Letzig, Davis Love III, Scott McCarron, Jeff Overton, Tim Petrovic, John Rollins, Kevin Stadler
- Europe: Thomas Aiken, Phillip Archer, Peter Baker, Grégory Bourdy, Ariel Cañete, Simon Dyson, Pelle Edberg, Johan Edfors, Ross Fisher, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet, David Horsey, José-Filipe Lima, Alexander Norén, Simon Wakefield, Anthony Wall, Paul Waring, Steve Webster, Martin Wiegele
Local Final Qualifying
- Hillside: Rohan Blizard (a), Jamie Elson, Jean van de Velde, Chris Wood (a)
- Southport and Ainsdale: Jon Bevan, Gary Boyd, Jamie Howarth, Thomas Sherreard (a)
- West Lancashire: Peter Appleyard, Barry Hume, Jonathan Lomas, Philip Walton
Alternates
- Camilo Villegas - took spot not taken by Kenny Perry
- Pat Perez - replaced Luke Donald
- Jerry Kelly - replaced David Toms
- Heath Slocum - replaced Toru Taniguchi
Read more about this topic: 2008 Open Championship
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