The 2019 Open Championship was the 148th Open Championship, played at Royal Portrush Golf Club in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It was the second Open Championship at Portrush, which last hosted in 1951, won by Max Faulkner. Royal Portrush saw major alterations in preparation for the tournament, including replacing two of the holes.
Shane Lowry won his first major title by six strokes over Tommy Fleetwood. Ranked 33rd coming into the tournament, Lowry's previous biggest wins were the 2015 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and the 2019 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Lowry became the second player from the Republic of Ireland to win a major after Pádraig Harrington.
Lowry shot 67 in both the first and second rounds to share the lead with J. B. Holmes after 36 holes. He shot a course record (since the 2016 renovation) 63 in the third round to have a four-stroke lead over Tommy Fleetwood going into the final day. After shooting a 72 in challenging conditions on the last day, Lowry was able to convert a four-shot 54-hole lead into major victory, after failing to do the same at the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont. Fleetwood finished solo second for the second time in a major, having previously achieved the feat at the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
Major champions Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell, and Rory McIlroy competed in a major in their native Northern Ireland for the first time. Clarke was given the honour of the opening tee shot and described the event as a watershed moment for Northern Ireland, as hosting was seen as unrealistic during the years when violence ravaged the province. McIlroy was the pre-tournament favourite but shot an 8-over-par 79 in the first round, which included a quadruple bogey eight on the first hole, a double bogey five on the 16th, and a triple bogey seven on the 18th. Despite shooting a 6-under-par 65 in the second round for a two-over-par total, he missed the cut by a single stroke. Clarke also missed the cut, and McDowell finished tied-57th.
Defending champion Francesco Molinari made the cut on the number and finished tied for 11th with a 3-under-par 281. Brooks Koepka finished tied 4th to become the fifth player, after Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods, to finish top-five in all four majors in a single season.
The 36-hole cut was 143 (+1) and better; 73 advanced to the weekend, but no amateurs, so the Silver Medal was not awarded.
Media The 2019 Open Championship was televised by the Comcast Group in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland (both on Sky Sports), and the United States (Golf Channel on its cable service on Thursday and Friday, while on NBC its broadcast service on weekends). It was the fourth year of both channels airing the tournament, but the first since Comcast acquired Sky in late 2018, vertically integrating the two. At the 2019 Players Championship, Comcast integrated the two channels' coverage for the first time since the acquisition, and is expected to feature coverage from both networks' commentators.
Venue
Changes to the course for the Open
Specialists Mackenzie & Ebert oversaw changes to the course in preparation for the 2019 Open. The work began in 2015 and it was the first major changes to the Harry Colt designed links since the 1930s. Changes included: Removing the 17th and 18th holes. Holes 7 to 16 became holes 9 to 18. Two new holes (the current 7th and 8th), which were created with land taken from the Valley course. Reshaping some of the greens. Nine holes had new tees, there were several new bunkers, and the course was lengthened by 201 yards.
Card of the course Dunluce Links – Championship tees HoleNameYardsPar HoleNameYardsPar1Hughie's4214 10Himalayas44742Giant's Grave574511P.G. Stevenson's47443Islay177312Dhu Varren53254Fred Daly's482413Feather Bed19435White Rocks374414Causeway47346Harry Colt's194315Skerries42647Curran Point592516Calamity Corner23638Dunluce434417Purgatory40849Tavern432418Babington's4744Out3,68036In3,66435 Total 7,34471 If required a three-hole aggregate playoff, followed by sudden death, would have used the 1st, 13th, and 18th holes.
Length of the course for the previous Open: 1951: , par 72
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 21 July 2019
Stewart Cink (2) Darren Clarke (2) David Duval Ernie Els (2) Pádraig Harrington Zach Johnson (2) Paul Lawrie Tom Lehman Rory McIlroy (2,3,4,5,10,11,12,15) Phil Mickelson (2,4,12,15) Francesco Molinari (2,3,4,5,6,12,15) Louis Oosthuizen (2,4) Jordan Spieth (2,3,4,8,9,15) Henrik Stenson (2,4,15) Tiger Woods (3,4,9,12,15)
John Daly and Todd Hamilton did not play. Eligible but did not enter: Ian Baker-Finch, Mark Calcavecchia, Ben Curtis, Justin Leonard
2. The Open Champions for 2009–2018
3. Top 10 finishers and ties in the 2018 Open Championship
Tony Finau (4,12,15) Kevin Kisner (4) Matt Kuchar (4) Eddie Pepperell (4,5) Justin Rose (4,5,12,15) Xander Schauffele (4,5,12)
Kevin Chappell did not play due to injury.
4. Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) for Week 21, 2019
Kiradech Aphibarnrat (5) Lucas Bjerregaard (5) Keegan Bradley (12) Rafa Cabrera-Bello (5) Patrick Cantlay (12) Paul Casey (12,15) Jason Day (10,12) Bryson DeChambeau (12,15) Matt Fitzpatrick (5) Tommy Fleetwood (5,12,15) Rickie Fowler (12,15) Jim Furyk Sergio García (5,9,15) Justin Harding Tyrrell Hatton (5,15) Billy Horschel (12) Dustin Johnson (8,12,15) Brooks Koepka (8,10,12,15) Marc Leishman (12) Li Haotong (5) Shane Lowry Hideki Matsuyama (12) Alex Norén (5,6,15) Pan Cheng-tsung Ian Poulter (15) Andrew Putnam Jon Rahm (5,12,15) Patrick Reed (5,9,12,15) Adam Scott Webb Simpson (11,12,15) Cameron Smith (12) Brandt Snedeker Justin Thomas (10,12,15) Matt Wallace (5) Bubba Watson (12,15) Gary Woodland (8,12)
Kevin Na (12) did not play due to a neck injury.
5. Top 30 on the 2018 Race to Dubai
Alexander Björk Jorge Campillo Ryan Fox Russell Knox Alexander Lévy Thorbjørn Olesen (15) Adrián Otaegui Thomas Pieters Shubhankar Sharma (16) Brandon Stone Andy Sullivan Lee Westwood Danny Willett (9)
6. Last three BMW PGA Championship winners
Chris Wood
7. Top 5 players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2019 Race to Dubai through the BMW International Open
Kurt Kitayama David Lipsky Robert MacIntyre Richard Sterne Erik van Rooyen
8. Last five U.S. Open winners
9. Last five Masters Tournament winners
10. Last six PGA Championship winners
Jimmy Walker
11. Last three Players Championship winners
Kim Si-woo
12. The 30 qualifiers for the 2018 Tour Championship
Patton Kizzire Kyle Stanley Aaron Wise
13. Top 5 players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2019 FedEx Cup points list through the Travelers Championship
Ryan Palmer Chez Reavie
Charles Howell III did not play.
14. Winner of the 2018 Open de Argentina
Isidro Benítez
15. Playing members of the 2018 Ryder Cup teams
16. Winner of the 2018 Asian Tour Order of Merit
17. Winner of the 2018 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit
Jake McLeod (OQS Australia)
18. Winner of the 2018–19 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit
Zander Lombard
19. Winner of the 2018 Japan Open
Yuki Inamori
20. Winner of the 2019 Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup Golf
Yosuke Asaji
21. Top 2 on the 2018 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List
Shugo Imahira Shaun Norris
22. Top player, not already exempt, on the 2019 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List through the Japan Golf Tour Championship
Mikumu Horikawa
23. Winner of the 2018 Senior Open Championship
Miguel Ángel Jiménez
24. Winner of the 2019 Amateur Championship
James Sugrue (a)
25. Winner of the 2018 U.S. Amateur Viktor Hovland forfeited his exemption by turning professional in June 2019.
26. Winners of the 2019 European Amateur
Matti Schmid (a)
27. Recipient of the 2018 Mark H. McCormack Medal Braden Thornberry forfeited his exemption by turning professional in December 2018.
28. Winner of the 2018 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship
Takumi Kanaya (a)
Open Qualifying Series The Open Qualifying Series (OQS) consisted of twelve events from the six major tours and the Korean Tour. 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.
Location Tournament Date Spots Top Qualifiers Australia Emirates Australian Open 18 Nov 3 10 Abraham Ancer, Jake McLeod (17), Dimitrios Papadatos Africa South African Open 9 Dec 3 10 Romain Langasque, Oliver Wilson Charl Schwartzel did not play due to a wrist injury. Singapore SMBC Singapore Open 20 Jan 4 12 Yoshinori Fujimoto, Jazz Janewattananond, Prom Meesawat, Mun Do-yeob United States Arnold Palmer Invitational 10 Mar 3 10 Im Sung-jae, Kang Sung-hoon, Keith Mitchell Japan Mizuno Open 2 Jun 4 12 Gunn Charoenkul, Yuta Ikeda, Chan Kim, Park Sang-hyun Canada RBC Canadian Open 9 Jun 3 10 Adam Hadwin, Graeme McDowell Only two eligible players finished in the top 10. Korea Kolon Korea Open 23 Jun 2 8 Hwang Inn-choon, Jang Dong-kyu Spain Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters 30 Jun 3 10 Adri Arnaus, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Mike Lorenzo-Vera United States Rocket Mortgage Classic 30 Jun 2 8 Nate Lashley, Doc Redman Ireland Dubai Duty Free Irish Open 7 Jul 3 10 Robert Rock, Paul Waring, Bernd Wiesberger Scotland Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open 14 Jul 3 10 Nino Bertasio, Benjamin Hébert, Andrew Johnston United States John Deere Classic 14 Jul 1 5 Dylan Frittelli
Final Qualifying The Final Qualifying events were played on 2 July at four courses covering Scotland and the North-West, Central and South-coast regions of England. Three qualifying places were available at each location, with 72 golfers competing at each. Sam Locke and Ashton Turner were successful at Final Qualifying for the second consecutive year. Brandon Wu was exempt from regional qualifying because he was ranked in the top ten in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, while Tom Thurloway was exempted by winning the 2018 English Amateur closed championship. Other qualifiers were exempted from regional qualifying by virtue of a top 1000 Official World Golf Ranking at the date of entry.
Location Qualifiers Fairmont St Andrews Sam Locke, Connor Syme, Brandon Wu (a) Notts (Hollinwell) Tom Thurloway (a), Ashton Turner, Andrew Wilson (R) Prince's Austin Connelly, Curtis Knipes (a) (R), Callum Shinkwin St Annes Old Links Matthew Baldwin, Garrick Porteous, Jack Senior
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. The first 14 alternates were added using the week 25 rankings on 26 June; two of those declined spots and were replaced by the next two alternates. From the Week 25 (week ending 23 June) Official World Golf Ranking:
An Byeong-hun (ranked 53) J. B. Holmes (54) Emiliano Grillo (57) Scott Piercy (59) Branden Grace (60) Luke List (67) Jason Kokrak (70) Ryan Moore (75) Tom Lewis (76) Charley Hoffman (78) Joost Luiten (79) Lucas Glover (80) Joel Dahmen (81) Corey Conners (82) Andrea Pavan (83)