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The Open Championship – Pre-Tournament insights

Jul 17, 2024

It’s nearly here and it’s only a sleep away before Aussie golfing fans can tune into the Open Championship being held at Royal Troon. Late nights, early mornings – it doesn’t get any better!

Here’s a few insights as we approach the last major of the year with players competing for arguably the most famous golf trophy of all – the Claret jug;

  • World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler makes his first start on the PGA TOUR since winning the Travelers Championship for his sixth win of the 2024 season. Scheffler is the fourth player (ninth instance) with six or more wins in a season since 1983 and first since Tiger Woods in 2009; the last player to win seven or more times in the same season is Tiger Woods (7, 2007)
  • Three-time Open Championship winner Tiger Woods is making his fifth start of the season (WD/The Genesis Invitational, 60th/Masters Tournament, MC/PGA Championship, MC/U.S. Open) and first in the Open Championship since 2022. Woods played in two Open Championships at Royal Troon in 1997 (T24) and 2004 (T9).
  • World No. 3 Xander Schauffele enters the week with the longest streak of consecutive made cuts on the PGA TOUR with 51; Scheffler owns the second-longest streak with 40; Schauffele also has the second-most top-10s on TOUR this season with 11, two behind Scheffler’s 13
  • With 5,768 FedExCup points, Scottie Scheffler has a 2,461-point lead over Xander Schauffele in the FedExCup standings
  • Five players ranked inside the top 10 of the FedExCup have yet to win on TOUR this season with three weeks remaining in the FedExCup Regular Season (No. 4/Collin Morikawa, No. 6/Ludvig Åberg, No. 7/Sahith Theegala, No. 9/Patrick Cantlay, No. 10/Sungjae Im
  • Players currently below the top 70 in the FedExCup standings include 2018 FedExCup Champion Justin Rose, who qualified for The Open Championship via Final Qualifying and enters the week No. 75 in the FedExCup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List. Rose has only failed to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs once since their inception in 2007 (2021).
  • Entering The Open Championship, 18 of the current top 50 players in the FedExCup (36 percent) did not finish in the top 50 in 2022-23, including last week’s Genesis Scottish Open champion Robert MacIntyre, current World No. 4 Ludvig Åberg, Genesis Scottish Open runner-up Adam Scott, 2014 FedExCup Champion Billy Horschel and 2017 FedExCup Champion Justin Thomas. The top 50 players in the FedExCup standings through the first FedExCup Playoffs event at the FedEx St. Jude Championship (i.e., those that qualify for the BMW Championship), will be exempt into every Signature Event during the 2025 PGA TOUR Season.

The Open Championship notes

The field includes;

  • The top 30 in the FedExCup standings
  • 49 of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
  • 19 past Open Championship winners: Stewart Cink (2009), Darren Clarke (2011), John Daly (1995), Ernie Els (2002, 2012), Todd Hamilton (2004), Brian Harman (2023), Padraig Harrington (2007, 2008), Zach Johnson (2015), Justin Leonard (1997), Shane Lowry (2019), Rory McIlroy (2014), Phil Mickelson (2013), Francesco Molinari (2018), Collin Morikawa (2021), Louis Oosthuizen (2010), Cameron Smith (2022), Jordan Spieth (2017), Henrik Stenson (2016), Tiger Woods (2000, 2005, 2006)
  • 35 major championship winners
  • Royal Troon is hosting the Open Championship for the 10th time; previous winners: Henrik Stenson (2016), Todd Hamilton (2004), Justin Leonard (1997), Mark Calcavecchia (1989), Tom Watson (1982), Tom Weiskopf (1973), Arnold Palmer (1962), Bobby Locke (1950), Arthur Havers (1923)
  • 40 players in the field competed in the 2016 Open Championship when it was last held at Royal Troon, including five who finished inside the top 10 (in bold): Henrik Stenson/Won, Phil Mickelson/2nd, Tyrrell Hatton/T5, Rory McIlroy/T5, Dustin Johnson/T9
  • 13 players in the field competed in the 2004 Open Championship at Royal Troon, including four who finished inside the top 10 (in bold): Todd Hamilton/Won, Ernie Els/2nd, Phil Mickelson/3rd, Tiger Woods/T9
  • Seven players in the field competed in the 1997 Open Championship at Royal Troon, including four who finished inside the top 10 (in bold): Justin Leonard/Won, Darren Clarke/T2, Padraig Harrington/T5, Ernie Els/T10
  • Five players in the field are playing in the Open Championship at Royal Troon for the fourth time: Darren Clarke, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Justin Leonard and Phil Mickelson
  • Hideki Matsuyama holds the longest streak of consecutive made cuts at major championship with 17, dating back to the 2020 PGA Championship (note: DNP 2021 Open Championship)
  • Adam Scott will compete in his 94th career major championship and 93rd consecutive, the longest active streak; Scott, who is coming off a runner-up finish at the Genesis Scottish Open, will compete in his 24th consecutive Open Championship, with his best finish being a runner-up finish in 2012 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. He has played in two Open Championships at Royal Troon (T43/2016, T42/2004).
  • The last 10 winners of The Open Championship won the event for the first time, starting with Phil Mickelson in 2013. The longest streak of first-time winners at The Open Championship is 11 (1994-2004).

Top player notes

  • World No. 1 and FedExCup leader Scottie Scheffler, who enters the week with wins in six of his last 10 starts on TOUR, has one top-10 in three starts at The Open Championship (T8/2021, T21/2022, T23/2023). Scheffler looks to become the first player to win multiple majors in the same year since Brooks Koepka (2018 U.S. Open, PGA Championship).
  • 2024 U.S. Open runner-up and World No. 2 Rory McIlroy has 21 top-10 finishes in major championships since his last major title at the 2014 PGA Championship, four more than any other player in that span. McIlroy finished T5 the last time The Open Championship was contested at Royal Troon in 2016, one of seven top-10 finishes in 14 tournament appearances.
  • World No. 3 Xander Schauffele will make his seventh career appearance at The Open Championship where he owns one top-10 result (T2/2018). Schauffele is one of two players (Bryson DeChambeau) to finish inside the top 10 in the first three majors this season (T8/Masters Tournament, Won/PGA Championship, T7/U.S. Open)
  • U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau seeks to become the first player to win consecutive major championships since Jordan Spieth in 2015.
  • Defending champion Brian Harman will compete in his ninth career Open Championship, having collected one other top-10 result (T6/2022) in addition to his victory at Royal Liverpool in 2023. The 2016 event at Royal Troon is the only Open Championship that Harman has missed since 2014.
  • 2017 Open champion Jordan Spieth has the lowest cumulative score-to-par (42-under) since the last time The Open Championship was contested at Royal Troon in 2016.
  • Collin Morikawa and Jordan Spieth are the only two players since 2014 to win The Open Championship after entering the week inside the top five of the Official World Golf Ranking (Spieth/2017/No. 3, Morikawa/2021/No. 4).
  • Cameron Young will make his third start in The Open Championship this week after finishing 2nd (2022) and T8 (2023) in his first two appearances.
  • Rickie Fowler (12) and Tony Finau (11) have the most top-10 finishes in major championships without a victory since the start of the 2013 season.
  • Three players in the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking seek their first major championship victory: Ludvig Åberg (No. 4), Viktor Hovland (No. 7), Patrick Cantlay (No. 8).
  • 39 of 60 players in the field at the Olympic Men’s Golf Competition (August 1-4) are in the field at The Open, including past champions Rory McIlroy (2014) and Shane Lowry (2019) of Team Ireland and Collin Morikawa of Team USA (2021).