The road to The Open begins in Australia this week with three players in the field at the Emirates Australian Open set to secure their place at St Andrews in 2015.

The Emirates Australian Open is the first of 14 events in nine countries on five continents that will make up the 2015 Open Qualifying Series. In total, 44 places are available in the field for the 144th staging of golf’s most international Major Championship from 16-19 July.

The leading three players, who finish in the top ten at The Australian Golf Club in Sydney and who are not already exempt, will earn a place in The Open. In the event of a tie, the qualifying place(s) will go to the player with the highest position in the Official World Golf Ranking at the commencement of the event.

Six players in the 156-man field have already secured exemptions for The Open including Open Champion and world number one Rory McIlroy who will defend his Australian Open title this week.  2013 Masters champion and 2012 Open runner-up Adam Scott is also exempt along with fellow Australians John Senden and Geoff Ogilvy. American Ryder Cup player Jordan Spieth and US Amateur champion Gunn Yang of South Korea are also set to play in The Open at the Home of Golf in July.

The Open Qualifying Series gives players the opportunity to qualify at events on the PGA TOUR, the European Tour, the PGA Tour of Australasia, the Asian Tour, the Japan Golf Tour and the Sunshine Tour.

Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of The R&A, said, “The Open Qualifying Series proved very successful in its first year in 2014 and was welcomed by players and spectators. We are delighted to welcome two new events to the Series this year, on the Asian Tour and the PGA TOUR, and look forward to working with each of the Tours once again. One of our key aims with the Series is to continue to enhance the global appeal of The Open and we want to give players the opportunity to qualify through events in their region of the world.”

The 2015 Open Qualifying Series will include the Thailand Golf Championship, played from 11-14 December 2014 at Amata Spring, for the first time. The Series continues with the Joburg Open in South Africa in February and the Mizuno Open in Japan in May.

*There is one place in the John Deere Classic due to the logistics of qualifiers travelling to play in The Open at short notice.

Related Links

Overview / Emirates Australian Open Tournament page
Scores / Emirates Australian Open Leaderboard
Tee Times / Emirates Australian Open Tee Times