2017 Open Championship

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
Lengths of the course for previous Opens:
 * 2008: 7173 yd, par 70
 * 1998: 7018 yd, par 70
 * 1991: 6940 yd, par 70
 * 1983: 6968 yd, par 71
 * 1976: 7001 yd, par 72
 * 1971: 7080 yd, par 73
 * 1965: 7037 yd, par 73
 * 1961: 6844 yd, par 72
 * 1954: 6867 yd, 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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

Grace scorecard

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Final round
Sunday, 23 July 2017

Beginning the round with a three-shot lead, Jordan Spieth bogeyed three of his first four holes to fall into a tie with Matt Kuchar. A birdie at the 5th combined with a bogey by Kuchar at the 6th allowed Spieth to re-open a two-stroke advantage, but a bogey-birdie swing at the 9th evened the score heading to the back-nine. The score remained level until the 13th, when Spieth hit his tee shot well to the right of the fairway. Forced to take an unplayable lie and drop from the practice area, he managed to get up-and-down to save bogey while Kuchar took the lead by making par. At the par-3 14th, however, Spieth nearly holed his tee shot and converted the birdie attempt to tie Kuchar. Then at the par-5 15th, Spieth made a 48 ft eagle putt to take the lead once again. With birdies on the next two holes Spieth played 14–17 in five-under to take a two-stroke lead heading to the last. When Kuchar found a greenside bunker and made bogey, Spieth was able to tap in for par and win the championship by three strokes. Li Haotong birdied his last four holes for 63 (−7) and jump into third place at 274 (−6), the best finish for an Asian player at the Open Championship since Lu Liang-Huan in 1971, also at Royal Birkdale. With the victory, Spieth joined Jack Nicklaus as the only golfers to win three legs of the career Grand Slam before the age of 24.

Final leaderboard
Note: Top 10 and ties qualify for the 2018 Open Championship; top 4 and ties qualify for the 2018 Masters Tournament
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Scorecard
Final round Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
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