The 149th Open: Who has still yet to qualify for next week’s major at Royal St George’s?

The field is almost set for the final men’s major of the year, leaving plenty of players battling to secure one of the five remaining places available for The Open.

This week provides one last opportunity for players to book a last-minute invite to Royal St George’s, with former major champions and Ryder Cup winners among those in action this week without their major spot finalised.

Three qualification spots will be available to the leading three players at the abrdn Scottish Open that are not already exempt, with one addition place up for grabs at both the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic and the Challenge Tour’s Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge.

Several players have already withdrawn from this year’s contest due to travel restrictions or to prioritise the Olympic Games, with the list of alternates continuing to change, but here’s a look who currently is not at The Open as things stand (as of July 7)…

Former world No 1 Martin Kaymer is the highest-ranked player in action at The Renaissance Club currently not guaranteed a spot for The Open, while four-time European Tour winner Andy Sullivan – who has featured in The Open every year since 2015 – is also not yet in the field.

The pair are currently second and third on the reserve list, currently based on the Official World Golf Ranking on July 5, with France’s Antoine Rozner in fourth and also still not in The Open field despite winning the Qatar Masters earlier in the year.

John Catlin and Jonathan Caldwell, winners on the European Tour this season, are both yet to qualify, with Sam Horsfield and Rasmus Hojgaard – both two-time winners during last year’s Race to Dubai campaign – among the others bidding to claim a major invite.

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2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell is looking to avoid missing The Open for the third time in four editions, with Nicolas Colsaerts, Jamie Donaldson, Ross Fisher, Thorbjorn Olesen and Thomas Pieters among the other former Ryder Cup players also not in The Open as things stand.

Haotong Li – who carded a final-round 63 on his way to a third-place finish in the 2017 contest – and Eddie Pepperell, who claimed a share of sixth the following year, are not in the field, with Calum Hill and Marc Warren among the Scottish contingent aiming to grab a late major berth.

Over on the PGA Tour, US Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker has elected to skip the US Senior Open to tee it up at TPC Deere Run, where he is a three-time winner, with only 15 players in the Illinois field currently eligible for The Open the following week.

England’s Tom Lewis has yet to qualify from The Open, a decade on from holding the first-round lead as an amateur at Royal St George’s, while Ireland’s Seamus Power will be looking to build on a top-10 finish at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and secure a major debut.

Last week’s winner Cam Davis is in the Illinois field and currently first reserve for next week, with Harold Varner III and Troy Merritt among the others involved and chasing a major return.

Who will secure a late invite to The Open? Watch the abrdn Scottish Open and John Deere Classic throughout the week live on Sky Sports Golf.

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